Tearing off his jacket, Kingston rushed forward to meet us—to get tohim.
He ripped the cuffs off his shirt as he pushed them up his forearms. And he went straight to where Quinn sat beside Landon’s head.
She moved aside to make room for him. She didn’t fight him. Even though her hands never left Landon’s body. Even though I couldfeelit—her desperation to save him—radiating off her in waves.
She came to my side, shuffling over on her knees as the King dropped to his.
Beside his best friend’s head, his features hardened.
“No, you do not get to do this,” he growled, his voice fierce but broken.
Kingston glanced at me, his eyes assessing what I was doing, and I obeyed the order he didn’t give. I paused, sitting back on my heels, and he jumped in.
He took Landon’s face in his hands, sealing their lips together and exhaling—fighting to breathelife—into his best friend’s lungs. Head tilted back. Chin lifted.
Two breaths.
Controlled. Precise.
As if he’d done it a million times.
As if he knew exactly what he had to do.
Even if nothing had prepared us for something like this.
Not even experiencing it with Bill all those years ago. Definitely not the CPR course I took afterward, so I could make sure Diane never had that look on her face again.
The one I now saw on Quinn’s.
Kingston released Landon’s face, sliding to his side as I pressed my fingers into his neck. He resumed the compressions on his chest, acting out the script we’d been taught at different times.
Two rounds.
Then a pulse check.
Sure I’d felt the weak thrum of a pulse, I pressed harder.
But I couldn’t find it. I didn’t know if it was just my hope, or Kingston’s, rebounding through my fingertips.
I stared at him as he fought to save him, like there was only one way this could end. As he moved diligently. Unwilling to stop until he reached the only acceptable outcome.
And if there was a way to bring someone back from the brink of death by sheer force of will, only Kingston could have done it.
He pumped his arms, forced the beat of Landon’s heart, as if his own life depended on it.
And for the first time, I saw him—sawthem—clearly.
“You do not get to do this.” Kingston’s voice cracked again before he cleared his throat. Forcing strength into every word, he spoke with each thrust of his arms. “You willnot.”
Quinn shuddered beside me, her hands covering her mouth and teeth chattering from the cold of her wet clothes.
Or fear.
“Do you hear me?” Kingston never took his eyes off Landon’s face. “You do not—” His voice broke. “You don’t get to do this. We haven’t—You donotget to leave me like this.”
She choked back a sob. “Kingston…”
“No.” But he wasn’t speaking to her. “No. I forbid it.”
