“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I pulled my knife and lunged with that and my gun as Forest’s eyes went wide. Isaac saw me coming and fired a shot that went right into my abdomen, his arm moving down when I tried to go around him, us falling to the floor. Even with horrific pain burning through me, I couldn’t take my gaze off Forest as I went, or Winnie when she moved the gun and put it to her ownhead, pulling the trigger. It was gruesome to say the least. But it wasn’t Forest’s blood or matter that splattered everywhere.
Oleander rushed past to get to Forest while I rolled to my back with Isaac still on me, as I dug the knife in. There was more than that on me though. I could pull out a syringe with the hand that held the gun while already stabbing the person who came for me.
The gun dropped, and the needle was in Isaac’s neck. I gripped the front of his shirt, bringing him close. “You will die now like Tripp did. Fuck you for thinking you could take who’s mine.”
“And you’ll… die… as well.”
“Debatable.” Sure, there was blood spreading warmly through my clothes. His and mine. My body had also begun to go cold.
Isaac went lax on me, the drug quickly taking hold. There was way more than a lethal dose in him. I came prepared.
My eyes began to droop as I saw Isaac get thrown from me.
“No, Sheldon,” Forest cried, his bruised face filling my vision. “You have to stay with me.”
I tried to speak but couldn’t. The cold was slipping away. In its place, I felt nothing. Numb to the world with the man I loved in front of me.
“Help me lift him,” I heard Oleander say. “You can’t die here, Shel. We have to get you to a hospital.”
My breath pushed from me as I was hoisted into the air. Everything swam, my eyes closing, the room spinning too fast.
It was Forest’s hand in mine that kept me from drifting completely away until I was laid on something soft. His hand moved to my hair as I looked up at him.
“You can’t leave me,” he cried, tears falling from his eyes. “I love you.”
“Love… you.” Why did my voice sound like that?
“Sheldon?” He gently shook me. “Stay awake!”
Why would I do that when sleeping felt like such an amazing idea?
34
FOREST
“You could have died.”
Sheldon sighed, not in an exhaustive way but a sweet, my fiancé cares about me way. “But I didn’t. No major organs were hit.”
“That’s not as comforting as you think it is.” It helped, but I was still upset over everything that had happened.
After passing out on the way to the hospital, Sheldon didn’t wake again until he’d come out of surgery. He was very lucky. The fact he took a bullet to rescue me, well, I’d never forget what he’d done. The truth was, I would have done the same for him.
I snuggled in closer, careful not to touch where he was injured.
A month had passed since he was hurt, yet I still treated him like he was fragile. I couldn’t help it. After watching what I had, I worried about him.
“I have to go back to work soon,” he said.
“Not yet.”
“Eventually, you’ll need to let me out of your sight.”
I scoffed.
My job was very lenient with my situation. They’d let me continue to work from home while Sheldon recovered. I was sureJordan had something to do with that, and how well I did at work. They loved me at the shop. Never had everything been so organized.
