It was awail,and the sound chilled me to my bones.
I frowned, and then there was abang!And suddenly, pain like I had never felt in my entire life tore through my side.
“Dakota! What the fuck! You shot him!?” Logan barked, and I glanced down to find that what Logan had said must be true.
There was an unnerving amount of blood blooming beneath my hoodie, and it took my wasted ass a second to process just how serious this was.
Collapsing on top of Ronan, my vision shuttered in and out. I fought to maintain consciousness as Vox suddenly appeared in the clearing.
“V-Vox?”I mumbled, rolling off Ronan and pressing the cow’s head to my side in an effort to keep my blood inside my fucking body.
Logan immediately pointed his gun at Vox, but he hesitated as Vox held both his hands up to show he was unarmed. My friend’s face was paler than I had ever seen it. He glanced at me, then dragged his silver gaze up to meet Logan’s.
“I’m sorry! I thought he stabbed Ronan or something. Fuck, Ronan, why did you fucking scream like that?” Pretty boy Dakota was yammering, but no one was listening to him.
Logan and Vox were locked in a stare-down, and I wondered if they were going to kill him, too.
I fucking hoped not.
I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because I was fucking impulsive idiot.
Vox maintained eye contact with Logan and tilted his head toward me in a clear request to check on me.
Logan’s jaw pulsed, and another long, tense moment passed before he nodded his head once and lowered his firearm.
What the fuck? They were letting us go?
Vox was on me in seconds, his hands gently skating over my side, causing me to flinch.
He let out a distressed huff and grabbed the arm I wasn’t using to hold the cow head and sling it over his shoulder.
I groaned as he forced me to my feet, shooting one last look back at Logan, Dakota, and the still-screaming Ronan.
Dakota was doing his best to comfort Ronan, but Logan was staring at us, and I could see the conflict on his face.
He wasn’t sure if letting us go was the right call.
Fuck,Iwasn’t sure if it was the right call.
If what Ronan had said was true, and I’d really been protecting a bunch of people who hurt children, I deserved to be shot. Probably worse.
Guilt rolled through me as Vox helped me out of the woods and into the passenger seat of the G-Wagon.
My vision was fading, and the last thing I remembered before slipping into unconsciousness was Vox pressing his head against my temple in anguish.
Then, the car door slammed, and the engine rumbled to life, and I faded into the darkness of my mind, unsure if I even wanted to wake back up.
Alexa, Play: Strange - Celeste
Iwas a fucking wreck. There was no point in pretending I wasn’t. The house felt empty with Naomi gone, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how broken Cal had been.
The guilt that was weighing on me was unbearable. All the times I had pushed Cal away were playing on a fucking loop in my head, especially in the early days. He’d clearlyneededme, and all I had ever done was tell him to go away.
I was pacing the kitchen, doing what I always did, and overthinking every single moment where I could have been better for him.
That night, when he left after having dinner with us, I shouldn’t have let him go. I should have tried harder to get him to stay, toquit.
I knew Apex was fucked. That man had been conditioning him and abusing him since he was a child.
