And even I don’t know how many of those I have left.
The gun is taken from my grip as I see Ramsey do his thing from my peripheral, but all I can see or seem to want to focus on is Pretty Boy, because anything else is going to get me to not finish this game.
A click and nothing.
No crumbling body to the floor.
No blood flying our way.
Nothing.
Which means another round for me.
“Your turn.”
I grapple with the gun without looking at it, involuntarily brushing my fingers against Ramsey’s skin as I retrieve the gun back.
My voice and heart are in my throat as I bring the hot barrel to my flesh and flinch from the heat, I pull it away a bit since it doesn’t matter, it’ll still get the job done regardless of the distance.
Tears prick at my eyes, but I don’t focus on them. My brain heads to Dad, wiping his hands clean with a dirty rag as he smiles down at me.
“You’re somethin’, you know that?” he says, stepping away from his Nova. “I pray for the man who falls in love with you.”
“Why?” I shoot back, taking another bite of his sandwich because I told him half an hour ago to stop working and eat. “Because I’ll teach him a lesson when I make him lunch, it means eat it within a few minutes?”
“Patience, Bay,” he lightly chides. “I was in the middle of something.” He shakes his head and mutters loud enough for me to hear, “God help him, he’s going to have his hands full.”
“Levi handles me just fine.”
Dad glances over his shoulder at me with raised brows. “Handles you how?”
I know what he’s implying, but I don’t feed into it. “He hasn’t left me yet.”
“I don’t think you’d let him.” I lift my shoulders. “You thinkin’ about leavin’ your old man?”
My nose wrinkles. “For what?”
He smiles at me. “Just checking. I needed to know if I needed to get my gun out.”
“Dad…” I begin with a roll of my eyes. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need a dude in shining armor to do that.”
“It doesn’t make you weak.”
“You’re right. It makes me stupid.”
“You’re too much of an Astor, Bay. Stubborn as shit and tough as nails.”
I finger-gun him with a wink. “Bingo.”
My index finger flirts with the trigger, and that’s when I close my eyes, inhale, then yank.
Click.
“Wildfire…”You are so fucked right now. You don’t even know.“Please, stop…”
He knows I can’t, but the gun is taken from me anyway by the power-hungry dipshit crazy enough to play this fucked-up game and leave the universe to decide which one of us is going to die.
Click.
