But he keeps dragging himself closer.
Toward me. Always toward me.
“Firefly…” He coughs painfully and my entire soul shatters hearing him say it that weakly.
“I’m here!” I sob. “Hayden, please stop getting up!”
He laughs once. Actually fucking laughs.
“Can’t,” he wheezes painfully. “Still gotta get you home.”
That destroys me completely, because even beaten nearly to death… he’s still trying to save me.
Brayden looks almost annoyed by it now. “You know what your problem is, Marks?”
Hayden spits blood at his shoes.
“You should’ve stayed dead,” he says calmly.
Hayden laughs weakly through blood leaking out of his mouth. “You should’ve kept your fucking hands off her.”
Wrong answer.
Brayden kicks him directly in the face.
I scream so loudly my chest hurts as I rock in this fucking chair, trying to set my self free. He needs my help. I need to get us out of here.
Hayden collapses hard onto his back while blood streaks beneath his head now.Too much blood. There’s too much fucking blood.
“Please…” I sob desperately. “Please, Brayden…”
He ignores me completely.
“You think loving her gives you ownership.”
Hayden groans, trying to get up once again. “She was mine before you even knew her fucking name.”
Brayden’s smile disappears instantly.
Then he grabs my chair, violently dragging me closer to Hayden.
“Look at him,” Brayden snarls at me. “Look what happens when trash forgets its place.”
Hayden’s breathing sounds wetter now.
Wrong.
His chest barely rises beneath all the bruising.
Oh my God.
They’re killing him.
Right in front of me.
One of the men grabs Hayden by the hair, forcing his head upward, while another punches him directly in the mouth hard enough his teeth scatter across the concrete beside him.
I vomit beside the chair immediately.
