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She nodded. “Sure.”
Dex had called midday, saying he had a business meeting and if he was too late, he’d sleep at his place tonight. Once again, he’d been vague and she wasn’t certain if he was pulling back or… she didn’t know what. She just sometimes sensed a distance between them that hadn’t been there before. It was a combination of Dex having something going on with his work that she wasn’t privy to, and her protecting herself by withdrawing. So, if he walked away, she wouldn’t be hurt.
Which was bullshit, she knew. If Dex broke things off, she’d be devastated. Her feelings for him had grown way beyond the friendship she purported to feel. And she had no idea what to do about it.
“Where do you want to eat?” Brandy asked.
“Why don’t we go to Enzo’s? I’m in the mood for pizza,” Samantha suggested. Her stomach grumbled at the thought.
Brandy nodded. “I love Enzo’s. Let’s go.”
They took the elevator downstairs and Samantha noticed they were the only two left in the office. They walked outside, turning left toward the restaurant when Samantha stopped short.
“Dammit. I think I left my phone upstairs.” She opened her purse and dug around inside to be sure. “Yeah, I did. Sorry.”
“I’ll come back up with you,” Brandy offered.
“Why don’t you wait in the lobby where it’s cooler? I’ll go upstairs real quick and we can go to dinner.” She turned and stepped toward the double doors and saw Jeremy walking outside. That was a confrontation she did not want to have and attempted to pivot in the opposite direction.
“Samantha.”
She cringed at the sound of his voice but spun to face him. “What?” she asked, watching, as if in slow motion, he slid his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a gun.
“If I’m going down then so are you.” He faced her and without hesitating, pulled the trigger, returned the gun to his jacket, and ran, disappearing into the rush hour crowd on the sidewalk.
She blinked, stunned. Felt the stinging burn in her upper left side, below her rib cage, and then the real pain registered, knocking the wind out of her, and she fell to her knees.
Glancing down, she saw red seeping through her dress and pressed her hand against it, coming back with sticky palms. Blood. Hers? Screaming sounded and she looked up to see it was Brandy.
A man knelt beside her and pressed his crumpled suit jacket against her and she cried out.
“Shh. I know it hurts but I have to slow the bleeding,” the stranger said. “Call 911.”
With shaking hands, Brandy tried to dial the numbers but kept dropping the phone.
“It’s okay. I called,” a woman’s voice said.
Brandy crawled close to Samantha, grabbing her hand and pulling it tight against her chest, getting blood all over her dress. “You hold on. If we’re lucky, it went right through and didn’t hit anything.”
“Watching Grey’s again?” she asked her frightened friend, trying to make light of the situation and calm them both down. Samantha coughed, winced, and cried out.
“It’s going to be okay,” Brandy said, her own voice shaking. “I didn’t see who did this.”
“Jeremy.”
Brandy gasped as Samantha coughed and cried out at the sharp pain. Sirens sounded in the distance but even Samantha knew what New York City traffic was like at this time of day and the ambulance would take a while.
“I’m cold.” She began to shiver.
“She’s going into shock,” someone said. This time it wasn’t Brandy playing doctor.
“My phone’s upstairs,” Samantha said to Brandy as dizziness washed over her.
The man by her side yelled for someone else to hand over their jacket. She felt him remove the bloody item covering her and replace it with another one.
“Call my bro—”
Brandy squeezed her hand. “Okay, honey. I’ll call Ian. I need your code to get into the phone.”
