Page 210 of Stay Scared

Cade’s palms are bloody from the shattered observation frame. He keeps turning his head toward me.

“Stop moving.”

“I’m standing still.”

“You keep turning.”

“My girlfriend is bleeding.”

The word hits me almost as hard as the night did.

One officer looks between us. “Is that true?”

Cade’s mouth opens.

I beat him to it.

“It’s complicated.”

His eyes snap to mine. Under any other circumstances, I might enjoy the offense on his face.

A paramedic reaches me before he can argue. She sees the blood under my ribs and immediately catches my jacket.

“Sit down.”

“I can walk.”

“I don’t care. Sit.”

She gets me onto an equipment case beside the operator exit and cuts the edge of my shirt away from the shallow slice Rook left behind.

Cold air touches the wound.

I hiss.

Cade takes a step.

The officer puts a hand against his chest.

Cade looks down at it.

The officer removes his hand very carefully. “Stay there.”

Cade’s breathing turns heavier.

He stays.

Across the room, Owen is arguing quietly with an evidence technician over the analog camera, which somehow makes the argument sound more threatening.

“You can take the entire housing,” Owen says. “The reel stays sealed.”

“We know how evidence works.”

“You have not spent tonight proving that to me.”

Mark stands beside him, a bruise darkening half his face. He reaches between them, takes the cassette from Owen, and holds it toward the technician.

“Bag it in front of us.”