“You have to go,” he grits out, coughing blood. “I won’t let them have you, kitten. I can’t hear that sound again. I can’t hear you scream like that ever again.”
His eyes are blown wide, unfocused, but locked on me. For the first time, I don’t see rage. I see terror. Regret. Something almost human.
“Stop. Get up. Please…” Tears flood my vision. The world’s a blur of firelight and smoke.
His hand finds mine, slick and shaking, and he drags his forehead against mine. “I won’t let them take you. I won’t lethimhave you.”
Another shot rings out.
He grunts, the sound punched from his chest, and a new wave of blood spatters my face. “Fuck,” he hisses.
“Priest!” I press my hands against the wound. “You’re not dying! You’re not?—”
“Go.” His lips find my forehead, pressing a hot, bloody kiss. “Jump, little one.”
“I can’t leave you. Please. You’re all I have left.”
He drags a breath through his teeth. “Your father told me?—”
“No! Don’t!” I shake my head violently. “Not now. Don’t you dare?—”
“He told me…”
“STOP! You don’t get to say that now!”
A bullet tears through the air, close enough to burn my skin. His good arm bands around my waist, holding me in place.
“I don’t know what love is,” he says, each word trembling. “I don’t know how to do it. I’ve never felt it—not once—not like this. Whatever this is, it’s killing me. It’syou.”
He swallows hard, blood bubbling at his lips. “You’re under my skin, in my head. You’re every bad thing I am, and every good thing I’ll never get to be. I can’t fucking breathe without you.”
He exhales shakily, forehead pressed to mine. “I’m broken, Arlo. I’m so fucking sorry. But I love you…in the only fucked-up way I know how.”
“Then don’t leave me!” I sob, clutching his arms. “Please, Priest, jump with me—please?—”
His mouth crashes into mine.
It’s not gentle. It’s desperate, shaking, drenched in blood and salt and everything unsaid.
Another shot.
He jerks against me, grunting, his body convulsing. Blood gushes across my chest. His hand finds mine—forcing my fingers open, shoving me toward the edge.
“You’re strong enough to hate me forever. That’s why I love you.”
He shoves me with the last of his strength.
“No—” My scream tears from me, shattering whatever’s left.
The world drops away. Wind and cold and black water rising up to meet me. His blood still hot on my lips. His voice still echoing in my head.
“PRIEST!”
The river swallows me whole, the current ripping me under, and even as the darkness takes me, I can still feel him. His touch. His kiss. His goddamn love.
And I know, I’ll never forgive him.
I’ll never stop loving him.
