Chapter Thirty-Four
Kay
“Why did you do that, Col?” I screamed at the man I have loved for a decade over the stranger’s shoulder.
“Who are you?” I screamed at the masked man who had just set me down on the floor of the tunnels. He pulled off his ski mask, his brown hair a mess as he eased my love against the wall. Collin shook his head when the man tried to ease him down.
“I’m Deacon, Ms. Jones. We haven’t had the pleasure yet,” he said breathlessly as he pulled off his gloves. He was covered in weapons and ammo.
I ignored him and focused on Collin. Fuck, I was so mad at him! He took a bullet for me.
“Why did you do that?” I cried.
“This world doesn’t need to lose another angel, Karina,” Col said, wincing as he leaned against the stone. He looked at his man.
“Deac—”
“Don’t talk, boss. Let me look at you,” he said, pulling open Collin’s shirt. Our eyes scanned the wound and bile rose in my throat. Red blood coated his tattoos and scars, leaving a trail down his abs. It was too much to bear. I averted my eyes, my heart hammering in my chest as my mouth trembled.
I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. We hadn’t had enough time…
A few weeks compared to a lifetime of loneliness.
I leaned against him, cupping his face when he turned his head to look down at me. His eyes met mine, slightly dazed and dilated.
“Hey, baby,” he croaked, giving me a weak smile. My eyes drifted down to the blood seeping from the hole in his tattooed chest once more as Deacon handed me some gauze from the pack on his hip.
“Here. Take this and hold it to the wound. We gotta get that bleeding down.”
I did as he asked, trying to be strong for my demon, who was watching me in silence as I tried to stop the bleeding.
Shouts sounded from the right end of the tunnel. We all looked in that direction. “What do you want me to do, boss? The car is about a block down that way,” he said, pointing to the left down the darkened tunnel. I had never been this far.
“He can’t make it that far!” I cried, pressing the gauze against Col’s bleeding chest, panic sinking its claws into my back.
The shouts became louder, and the new Mafia King looked to his man. “Hold them off—just for a minute,” he grunted as he shifted on his feet, bracing himself further into the wall. “Don’t kill anyone.”
“Yes, sir.” And then, we were alone.
“Give me that mouth,” he growled weakly, pulling me to stand in front of him. I put my hands on his chest, gauze forgotten as I held him up. He didn’t want to sit, and I didn’t have it in me to make him. His heart beating and his breathing were precious gifts I didn’t want to waste.
My lips touched his softly, and when I tried to pull away, his hand tightened in my drooping ponytail, holding me against him. I whimpered and more tears fell.
“I want you,” he pleaded against my lips as I distracted him from the pain. I pulled back to look up at him, bracing his weight on me and the wall.
“You have me,” I whispered through my trembling lips. I felt the warmth of his blood seeping through my shirt. It was the worst form of torture, out of all the pain I had come to bear in this life.
Seeing him dying was the worst.
I would endure everything all over again if it meant Collin would be alive and well.
He hissed in pain.
No, no, no, no.
“Do I, angel? Do I have you?” He cupped my head in his bloody hands, spreading the warm liquid on my cheeks as he stroked my face.
“Forever,” I whimpered, pressing my lips to his again. My tears fell down between us, and he groaned at the taste of them before pulling away. “I wanted you from the moment I saw you in that stupid burger joint. You were an angel sent from heaven to tame a demon like me—”
