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When I make it outside, I collapse to my knees in the dirt and lay her down gently. I take a deep breath of fresh air, but my focus is Delilah. I press a finger to her neck to check for a pulse. Thready, but it’s there. I push her wild halo of hair away from her body, searching frantically for a gunshot wound. Her left arm is soaked in blood, but I keep searching, frantically running my hands over her skin.
I saw her take a goddamn bullet in the chest. I fucking saw it.
“Cole.” Warren’s voice above me.
“She got hit.” Without taking my gaze off Delilah, I take the shirt he passes down to me and wrap it tightly around her arm, stanching the blood flow from the impact of the first bullet. As I sweep hair from her face, my gaze travels down her body to her heart. A glint of gold around her throat catches my eye. I stare, disbelieving.
Fuck.
“Is she alive?” Melly cries, hands clasped to her heart.
“Give me those eyes, Delilah,” I order, cradling her pale face in my hands. “Baby, wake up. Don’t fucking do this to me.”
Her lashes flutter. Her beautiful, dazed eyes meet mine as they slowly open. She licks her lips and whispers, “Fooled you, cowboy.”
“Goddamn, Delilah.” I keep my fingers on her pulse, closing my eyes in pain as she lifts a hand to cup my face. It takes all the effort she has.
“Melly? Sh-She okay?”
“She’s fine. She’s just fine.”
“L-Love you, Cole.” Her lips, tinged blue, tremble.
“Darlin’, you need to live.”
Delilah lets out a sob. “If I can’t…”
“You will.”
She has to. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I grip her hands, holding them to the center of my chest. Against my heart. “Feel it,” I growl. “If you give up, I give up.”
Tears streaming down her cheeks, she shakes her head. “Don’t. Don’t say that…” Her body’s racked by a violent tremor. Her eyes roll back, her lips parting in a soft, silent gasp.
“Fuck!” I roar. I shake her, rougher than I ever mean to be, but her eyes stay closed. My vision blurs with hot tears.
Not her time. Not yet.
“You’re not doin’ this, Delilah. You’re not leavin’ me now.” I pick her limp form up in my arms and look at Warren. “We need a doctor. And not the fucking hospital.”
My brother sees in my eyes what we need to do as we race for the truck. Sirens scream in the distance but we’re not waiting around for the cops or EMTs. I trust nothing and no one in this town. If the cops find us here, they’ll arrest us, and I’m not letting anyone keep me from Delilah.
I slide into the backseat, cradling Delilah in my arms. One hand applies pressure to the shirt wrapped around her arm, the other rests on the pulse point of her throat.
Warren speeds off, Melly weeping beside him in the passenger seat.
“Faster,” I order, staring down at Delilah’s pale face. Her breathing is shallow and ragged. Her pulse beats slowly beneath my fingertips. My heart hammers as I try to hold on to control, but I can feel it slipping.
“Fight for me, baby. Stay with me.”
“Fuck.” Warren’s phone is to his ear as he glances at me in the rearview mirror. His eyes are wild. He’s thinking of Rio. The night he found Hassie in the Borderlands. The night the world went up in flames. The night he killed a man.
“You know that second favor?” Warren grits out. “We need it. We found Delilah. We’re coming to the shop. Get a fucking doctor there. Now. Right the fuck now.”
The blackness of the highway speeds by as Warren drives like the devil is after him My heart hammers in my chest. Every second that passes sinks rage, helplessness deeper into my bones. We have to get her there in time.
“Hold on, darlin’. Just a little bit longer. Okay? I need you. I need you here.” I cradle her tighter and kiss her temple. The thought of her not making it threatens to end my very existence. Nothing and no one can take her from me. Not even death. I refuse it. Because I have nothing if I don’t have her.
