I’m still standing.
Which feels worth celebrating.
My side, however, feels less enthusiastic.
There’s that weird delayed moment where your body goes,Hmm. This seems unpleasant.And then all at once the pain catches up and saysSurprise, asshole.
Warmth starts spreading under my shirt.
Not ideal.
Across the unit, one of the other men tries to recover, and Ryder ends that fantasy immediately. Zane’s breathing hard, one hand braced on the wall, the other ready in case anyone else comes through the door.
No one does.
In fact, the other men seem to be backing away, if my slightly blurry vision is right.
“Ryder, that was a warning,” one of them snarls. “If he wanted you dead, you would be.”
Ryder laughs mirthlessly. “Tell Cole he won’t get another chance.”
My eyes flutter as the men seem to scatter.
This isweird…
Then she’s in front of me.
I don’t even see her cross the space. One second she’s by the wall, the next she’s grabbing my arms, my shirt, my face, trying to assess six things at once as she might actually stop breathing herself.
“Finn—”
“I’m good,” I say automatically.
I am not good.
She looks down.
Her hands are red.
That’s the moment the adrenaline leaves her face, and something else takes its place.
Horror.
She makes this tiny, broken sound I instantly hate.
“Hey.” I try for light. “It’s fine. Trust me, I’ve had uglier mornings. There was a bachelor party in Reno once?—”
“Stop.”
Her voice cracks right down the middle.
I do.
Because joking is easy. Joking is my favorite thing. Joking makes space where panic wants to live. Joking lets everybody breathe. It lets me breathe.
But Aurora’s crying.
She shakes her head, staring at the blood on her hands as evidence of some crime she personally committed.
