He jerks her back into place. “You think I wouldn’t track you like all my whores?”
“I’m not your whore!” she screams. “You love me. I’m your wife.”
A realization strikes me and anger steals my self control as I look at the crazy bitch. “You were the one who broke in and tried to drown me.” Lee killed the man following her, not the person threatening us.
Xavier looks down at her and she shakes her head. “No! I wasn’t there. I don’t care about her. I don’t want him. I told you that when I left him.”
Xavier stares at her then nods. “Tell him.”
Isla doesn’t hesitate to regard Lee. “This is all your fault! I fell for a vicious vigilante, and you turned into a pussy who wanted to live in the woods and make me into a housewife and stepmom to your sister. You got boring and I found a real man. I love him!”
Her words hit home, though Lee does his best not to show it. Xavier shrugs. “Whores, man, what are you going to do? They love danger.” He suddenly moves the gun from Isla’s temple, throws her onto the ground, and points it at me. “This has been fun, really, but it’s time to wrap it up. Drop your fucking gun or Silver’s dead.” Before anyone can speak or react, he adds, “Three, two…”
Adrenaline and pure terror overwhelm me, and I slam my eyes closed. A second later, I hear a thump and open my eyes to see Jay picking up Lee’s gun. He stands unarmed while Xavier smiles back at him. “That’s better.”
“Just let Silver go,” Lee says. “This is between you, me, and my wife.”
“Our wife,” Xavier corrects. A wicked grin grows on hisface and he gestures to Isla. “I have a better idea. Jay, tie her up. Feet to wrists.”
Xavier keeps the gun aimed at me as Jay obeys. Isla is then deposited on the dirt beside me, and Jay returns to stand near Lee, his weapon pointed at him again.
It strikes me suddenly that neither of us is going to survive this. If Landon and Justus had still been in town, maybe. If he wouldn’t have come alone.
“Now,” Xavier says to Lee, “I only see one way to solve this. Silver wants you. You want Isla. Isla wants me. Isn’t that just the way it goes? I’m going to do the gentlemanly thing here and let you choose.”
His words drip ice through my entire body as I realize where he’s going with it. “Give me a name and that one lives. The other dies and we can all get back to our lives. We’re missing out on New Year’s parties, for fuck’s sake.”
“No!” Isla screams. “No, Xavier, I love you. I chose you and we’ve been so happy. I’m sorry. I’m sorry about Joshua but I don’t want him. You can kill him. Kill Lee. Kill whoever you want! I only want you!”
This is it and I know it. None of us are walking out of here. There’s no way. Lee’s unarmed with a gun trained on him. Xavier stands near Isla and me, moving his gun back and forth from my head to hers.
“I’ll give you ten seconds. Say her name and she lives. One…”
The terror and despair on Lee’s face triggers a rage in me like I’ve never felt. After everything, how could any universeallow this to happen to him? “No!” My scream reverberates around the barn. “Don’t you fucking do this to him!”
Jay steps up and presses the gun to the side of Lee’s head as Xavier continues to count. “Two, three…”
“Lee,” I sob, and his tortured eyes land on mine. “It’s okay. This isn’t your fault. Do you hear me? I love you. I don’t blame you.” There’s nothing I can say that’ll comfort him in the future when I’m gone. If he has a future.
“Four…five…six.”
CHAPTER 28
LEE
My head is goingto explode, and not from the bullet aimed at it. The feel of the barrel against my skull barely registers. Isla begs Xavier for her life while Silver keeps her eyes locked on mine. Images of both of them invade and time seems to slow. Isla in her wedding dress. Silver dancing in the kitchen. Endless days with Isla and evenings with Silver. Smiles and laughs and tears and so much love.
“Seven…eight.” Xavier’s counting reaches me through the fog, and I look between the two women I’ve failed. Isla, swearing her undying love to Xavier. And Silver. Silver, not looking at the gun or Xavier or anyone else, only into my eyes, telling me it’s okay, that it’s not my fault. Her strength, the way she refuses to kneel, the way she loves until the end.
My chest feels like it’s tearing open from the inside. There’s no choice. There never was. One is history, and the guilt of a man I don’t even recognize as me anymore. Theother is devotion, raw and merciless. In that moment, I realize what love truly is. Not hearts or flowers or gifts. It’s the place your mind goes when everything else is stripped away. It’s the name that rises and leaves my lips without any conscious thought.
“Silver. Silver. Silver.”
Xavier swings the gun to Isla and fires. The sound of another gunshot follows a split second after the first. Something tears inside of me, not from a bullet but the sight of Isla with blood pouring from the side of her head. She slumps over onto her side as Xavier drops heavily to the ground.
“The fuck.” I hear the words breathed out by Jay as Arlow enters, his gun drawn. It takes Jay a second to catch up and realize Xavier was shot at the same time as Isla. I use that second of advantage to tackle him, knocking his gun out of his hand.
All my rage is unleashed, focused on him as I slam the butt of the gun into his face. Over and over, I hit him, feeling the sickening crunch of bones and spurts of blood. His screams turn to gurgles and then to nothing while images of Isla play in my head. Xavier is beyond hurting but this asshole isn’t.
