I want to say it back. I need to say it back. I don’t care if all of this is fucked. Gavin wouldn’t hurt me. Fear and adrenaline continue to paralyze me. Either way, I can’t say those three words back. I promised myself I’d only say those three words again when I was sure the next man would be my person. The timing and person would be worth it. Someone who protects me, sees me, and makes me feel safe and beautiful.
Still, he hid something big from me, and it’s stopping me from fully falling.
I look up at him as blood continues to pour out of his shoulders and seeps through his clothing. He presses his lips to mine, harsh and passionate. I can feel how much he loves me, even though it might be obsessively, it’s still pure. He licks at my bottom lip, demanding entry. I quickly oblige and let our tongues dance together as he claims his dominance.
A shot rings out, pulling us apart.
Maya pulled out another hidden gun.
What the hell? I thought she was out! She has two guns on her?
Gavin springs forward, disarming her as Merelyn falls to the ground with a bullet hole in her chest.
CHAPTER 33
GAVIN
Itake the gun from Maya’s hand before she can pull the trigger on me. I do what I should have done in the first place and make sure she is no longer a threat to the ones I love, and kill her. I point it between her pathetic eyes and send it. She falls to the floor, with her brain splattered across the walls.
Whoever the fuck this woman is, Coraline trusted her like family. My teeth grind against each other as I hover over her dead body. She almost took me away from the love of my life. I can’t even feel the bullet wound in my shoulder right now. All I feel is rage.
“Oh my god, Gavin!” Coraline screams behind me. I don’t like the sound of her wails. I whirl around to find Merelyn bleeding out from her chest and mouth. Georgia sits up, still dazed with tears in her eyes.
The entire room spins as I watch the only motherly figure in my life I have left, look at me with eyes begging me to save her. The person who did her best to raise me is bleeding out profusely. It keeps pouring out of her chest and onto the floor like a waterfall. Her eyes are wide, her face already pale, and hermouth is gaping. She’s clawing at her wound as Coraline and Georgia circle her urgently.
No.
“Gavin…” Georgia shakes her head, already telling me what I already know.
She’s going to die.
My heart breaks. Merelyn is looking straight at me while Coraline plugs her wounds with her hands.
“No, no, no,” Coraline repeatedly cries, doing her best to stop the bleeding, but it’s not working. The sound of sirens is nearing. I’m on my knees in an instant and lift Merelyn’s head until she’s on my lap. Her lips are turning pale blue, and there is no more light in her greying eyes.
I can’t lose her, not like this, and not right now.
“You hear those sirens, Mer.” I force a smile. “Officer Matt will be here soon. I can hear the ambulance. You’d better not go anywhere.”
I smooth her white hair back. She hangs onto my hand. Her skin is already running cold.
“We both know my time is over,” she murmurs weakly. Her breathing turns short and shallow. Blood is everywhere. On my knees, shirt, and shoes.
“Don’t say that. You have to stay awake for me, okay?” I grab her hand, pulling her to my chest. She’s right. She isn’t going to make it, but miracles happen all the time. The artist I’ve been secretly admiring showed up on my land, and we spent the most enchanting weeks of our lives together. If that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.
“You’re going to live. You’re not going anywhere.”
I grip her shoulders when she closes her eyes. She doesn’t get to go anywhere.
“I get to tell your mom what you’ve been up to all these years. It’s okay to say goodbye.” She blinks slowly, her eyes already trying to roll upwards. Georgia and Coraline continueto sob silently, grabbing towels and blankets to buy Merelyn more time.
“I’m looking at her right now,” I tell her, a rock in my throat as my muscles begin to quiver. I force a somber smile as a warm teardrop falls out of my eyes. “I got two mamas,” I scoff, my throat and chest hurting.
Merelyn can’t leave me. She’s all I have left in Sleepy Coldwater.
Her mouth parts, and a weak smile crests her face. She reaches out, her finger tips grazing my cheek. I’ve always seen her as a mother to me when I lost my own. She’s a guide. An angel to steer me to make the right choice, a path of morality, and to give me the childhood that my drunken father stole away. She’s slipping away, and there’s nothing I can do. I want to scream at the world. I want Maya to revive just so I can kill her again, but this time, I would make it slow and painful.
She can’t die.
