I almost wished I had hithim.
“Walk on,” he said sharply, nudging Frank in the back with thegun.
Frank stumbled forward a step, crashing into me. I nearly blacked out from the pain and sank to my knees. He pressed something into my hand that I caught when I wentdown.
Theknife?
Frank knelt to help me up, his eyes widened significantly. For the first time, I could see how badly his head was bleeding, like he’d been coshed over the head, and his face was a grayish white that didn’t bode well for him being able to survive the walk, let alone whatever Shane had instore.
“Whoa! You okay there, Ev?” Frank asked loudly, helping me to my feet. “Go for Shane,” he whispered in my ear. “I can hardly seestraight.”
Go for Shane? I wasn’t exactly sure how this was going to work at all — funny how they never showedthisshit on police shows. Maybe Silas was right about them after all — but I knew we had to try something or else I would die here, and Silas and I deserved far, far better thanthat.
“My arm,” I yelled, cradling my broken arm to my chest with my good one. “Shane, please help me! The bone is sticking out andeverything!”
Shane took a half-step closer, peering down at my arm like he couldn’t help himself, and I knew that was the best shot I would get. Risk aversion had a time and a place, but this was notit.
I palmed the knife I’d been holding in my good hand and stabbed at the hand that held Shane’s gun. He screamed as the blade glanced off his skin and the gun went tumbling to the ground. Frank dropped to his knees to grab it at the same time Shane did, the two of them scrambling across the fern-and-leaf covered forestfloor.
Fuck.
The knife was still in my hand, and I didn’t hesitate, not even for a second. I jammed the knife into the back of Shane’s shoulder and twisted it as hard as Icould.
He screamed and fell, and I fell with him, all out of balance and clutching my poor arm, which might never work properly again. I hit the ground hard, the knife still stuck in Shane’sback.
Shane lunged for me, grabbing my bad arm with his good arm andyanking, which was more effective than pretty much anything else he could have done. I cried out in agony and lay on my back staring up at the treetops and the pinkeningsky.
It wasnotgoing to end like this. I rolled to the side as Shane brought his good hand down toward myface…
And a gunshot ricocheted around theforest.
I pushed to my feet and found Frank, kneeling in the wet leaves and panting, both hands gripping Shane’s gun, staring at Shane’s lifeless body. He’d shot him directly in thechest.
“Jesus,” I breathed, stunned. “You… Frank…you…”
“I swear I saw two of him,” Frank wailed. “I’m just glad I hit the right one.” He slid to the side and landed on hisass.
I snorted. Then chuckled. Then buried my head in my good hand andcried.
“Come on, Everett,” Frank said. “Stand up andlet’s…”
“Frank? Everett?” someonecalled.
“Here!” Frankyelled.
I sniffled and pushed myself to myfeet.
Silas pushing through the brush a second later was like a dream of water after too long a time in the desert. I couldn’t believe he was real at first. But he was staring at me, love shining in those blue eyes I wanted to see every single day for the rest of my life, and his arms were outstretched like he wasn’t sure if he should come to me ornot.
Iranat him, clutching my broken arm to my chest because I swear to God in that minute Silas was more important. Like air. Like gravity. Like hope. And he caught me, the way he alwayshad.
The way he alwayswould.
“Fuck,” he said. “I love you. I love youso damn much. And I don’t give ashitif you don’t love me back yet, because youwillEv. You’ve changed my mind about destiny, because you and I aremeantto betogether.”
I sobbed, of course I did, but not because I was sad. For the first time in a long time I realized that I didn’thaveto be. I could love Adrian and Silas. I could be brave enough to dothat.
“You’re wrong,” I told Silas, not sure he could even understand me because I was a hot mess of tears and pain and love. “I love you. I do. I have for a while now. And you were right all along. It’s not destiny, it’s choice. And Silas Sloane? I chooseyou.I chooseus.”
