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Shit.
“Say goodbye to your little girlfriend,” Nolan shouts, pointing the gun at Harper.
I throw myself at her, pushing her to the ground as he fires the bullet. Another shot rings through the air but the sharp pain that pierces my body steals my senses.
I know I’ve been hit.
Nolan shot me in the back. Still, I cover Harper.
Everything around me becomes a foggy haze. Harper shuffles from beneath me, covered in blood. My blood.
She’s screaming and crying through the gag on her mouth.
Moments later I see Josh’s face. He grabs me and starts calling my name, but I look at the girl. The girl I love.
If this is it—my last moment on this earth—then her face is the last thing I want to see.
I look at her, hold the image of those jade-green eyes in my heart and try to tell her that I love her.
But then I see nothing more.
Everything slips away from me.
Including her.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Harper
The sterile scent of disinfectant fills the air, sharp and overwhelming.
It’s the standard clinical smell most hospitals have.
I’ve been sitting in the waiting room for so long the scent feels like it’s become a part of me.
Five hours.
The clock on the wall confirms I’ve been waiting here for five agonizing hours, and still there’s no news.
Asher has been in surgery all that time. I’ve been out here going crazy with worry and terror, waiting for the doctors to tell us something. Anything.
Anything besidesbad news.
I want to scream and tear the walls down. But all I can do is sit here, helpless, waiting for someone to tell me whether I’ll ever hold him again.
Josh is sitting next to me. Across from us is Asher’s family.
His mother hasn’t stopped crying. She has her head on his father’s shoulder while he has his arm around her. Hunter and Luc are next to them; both wear the same solemn expressions of grief.
I was the one who called them to tell them what happened. Josh wanted to do it but I felt they should hear it from me.
After all, I’m the reason Asher is here. He got shot saving me.
He threw himself on top of me and now he’s fighting for his life while I can’t do anything but wait.
Telling his family that Nolan kidnapped me and shot Asher while he was trying to save me felt like I was trying to take the blame off myself.
I know the truth is the truth and Nolan is fully to blame but deep down I feel like none of this would have happened if I wasn’t around.
