AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I will never be okay with this.” Rylan pulls harder on the gun. Thankfully, Leighton doesn’t touch me anymore or say anything to the out-of-control girl who is my daughter. “Never. I’m going to kill you, Leighton, I’m going to fucking murder you, you slut.”
“Over my dead body,” I snarl.
Fate has a grim sense of humor. The worst kind.
Because as soon as the words leave my mouth, Rylan’s gun fires.
I hear it first. Time stands still as my body goes into shock.
Everything’s frozen, including Rylan’s gaped expression. Leighton’s scream seems to stretch on forever.
Then the pain finally hits me. What a big, ugly motherfucking pain it is.
The burn to the lower left of my stomach tears through me. The area where the bullet hit incinerates me as if a bomb blew up inside me.
“Dad?” Rylan’s voice is distant. Her face is blurry. The world spins around me. “Dad? Are you okay?”
“Not your fault,” I whisper. It really isn’t. I’m to blame. I’m the one who’s been enabling her.
I could’ve sent her somewhere safe. They would’ve treated her, stabled her…
I…
“My…fault.” My hands fall to the sides. I stumble back, about to collapse to the floor.
Two hands grasp at my back. They’re not strong enough to hold me up, either. They do help me lower safely to the floor.
It shouldn’t be this cold out here. It shouldn’t. Yet, it is.
“Marcus.” Tears drop on my face. Blue eyes surrounded by waves of pink are everything I see. And it’s so pretty. So beautiful. My Leighton. My woman. “Marcus, don’t die. Please, stay with me.”
“Trying.” I want to stroke her cheek. Want to tell her everything will be all right.
Can’t.
“Dad?” Rylan’s crying too. She’s away, somewhere behind the most gorgeous blue eyes I’ve ever seen.
Please, don’t cry. It’s my fault, I think. The words don’t come out, though.
Too weak. Tongue’s too heavy. I can’t…
Click.
I’m on the verge of passing out, and the damned sound sneaks in anyway.
A gun is being cocked.
My blood gushes out of the gunshot wound. I feel it flowing. Feel Leighton’s hands pressing where it hurts the most.
“Rylan,” I breathe. I hardly hear myself. “Run, Leighton. Run.”
My eyes flutter shut. I need them to open. If only they weren’t so heavy.
“Dad, I’m so sorry.” Rylan cries and cries. “I’m so sorry.”
“Marcus.” A slap on my face.
“Rylan.” I’d rather warn Leighton than look at her. I’m so weak, my body forces me to choose between them, and I do. Leighton has to be warned. For her. For our baby. “G-gun.”
