Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Her voice was calm, but I saw the way her hand shook as she tried to unlock her phone, scroll to her contacts, then lift it to her ear.
“Just stay awake, okay?” she said, patting Islah’s cheek.
“Elian?” she called into the phone, making my belly twist. “Someone got in,” she said, casting another concerned look at Islah. “Islah needs to go to urgent care. She knocked the back of her head pretty bad and she’s a little out of it. No, no. She’s okay. Alright. Yeah. Hurry,” she demanded, dropping her phone onto the ground with a loud crack without even ending the call.
“I’m okay,” Islah insisted, eyes looking small. I knew that look well. She was getting a wicked migraine.
“Yep. But we are gonna have a doctor tell us that too, okay? Elian and Serano are on their way back. They should be like five minutes, then we will get you checked out.”
“My head,” Islah whimpered.
“I know. We will see what the doctor says you can have. And if you can, I’ll get you the good shit, okay?” Cinna asked, forcing some pep into her words that I could tell she didn’t feel.
“You’re bleeding,” Islah said, glancing at Cinna’s shoulder.
“Just a flesh wound. I’m gonna use it as an excuse to make Dav wait on me hand and foot for the next week, though. See? That’s one reason the real men are better than the fictional ones,” she said.
It couldn’t have been more than two minutes later that I heard footsteps slamming out in the hall, then the turn of the knob, before the door was flying open.
Elian’s gaze was immediately on the blood on the wall, then his sister slumped on the floor.
Rushing toward her, he dropped to his knees, reaching to turn her head the same way Cinna had, checking the wound.
“Are you shot?” Serano asked, zeroing in on Cinna’s arm.
“I’m fine.”
“Come on,” Elian said, reaching for his sister and pulling her up onto her feet.
She swayed slightly but righted herself.
“I’m okay,” she insisted again.
“You were a fucking rockstar,” Cinna said. “You can tell Elian all about it in the car,” she added, leading the younger woman toward the door.
“Serano, stay with Elizabeth,” Cinna demanded.
At the mention of my name, Elian’s gaze scanned around, finding me, his gaze conflicted.
“Go,” I said, the sound barely audible even to my own ears.
Still, he heard me, but he still looked just as torn in two as he led his sister and Cinna toward and out the door.
Alone, my gaze slid away from the bloodstain Islah had left and toward the body on the floor, unnaturally still.
Dead.
“Don’t look at ‘im,” Serano said, breaking the silence. Then, when it seemed impossible for me to look away, he reached to remove his jacket, then drape it over the head and shoulders of the man. “There,” he declared. “Better.”
It wasn’t.
Not really.
Because I was pretty sure I would be seeing the image of the man with a hole in his cheek. A hole I put there. A hole I was pretty sure would have killed him given a few more minutes. If Cinna hadn’t… expedited the process.
“You’re shaking,” Serano said, very matter-of-fact, but the wideness to his eyes may have been his version of concern.
Or maybe it was pure, undiluted masculine terror at the prospect of having to comfort a hysterical woman.
“I shot him,” I said, staring at the body.
“Good.”
Was it? Good?
I mean, it was good that Cinna was alive and Islah would be okay after some medical care.
But was it good that I’d shot someone? That I probably almost killed him?
There was a knocking at the door, making me jolt hard, and Serano reached under his arm where he had a holster.
“It’s Rico,” a voice called, making Serano drop his hand, then open the door.
Rico was a tall, lithely fit man with short, dark hair, dark eyes, rugged bone structure, and tanned skin.
“Cinna called and… oh,” he said, looking down at the body. “What’s with the jacket?” he asked, making Serano nod toward me. “Oh, right,” Rico said, looking almost as lost as Serano did.
“I shot him,” I said again.
Then, I kid you not, he said, “Good.”
There was another knock, making Rico turn to open it, letting in a small, slight woman with bright blue hair and a pretty face.
Her gaze slid to the body, then right up to me.
“Okay,” she said, walking over to me. “How about you stop staring at the corpse?” she asked, reaching for me and forcibly turning me away.
“I covered him with a jacket,” Serano insisted.
“Yeah. He’s totally invisible now,” Saff drawled.
“I shot him,” I repeated for the third time. A parrot with one phrase she could repeat.
“Yeah? Seems like you didn’t really have a choice,” she said, pulling me toward the dining chair and pushing me down into it.