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Why is there nothing?

I fold in on myself as pain rips through me. Everything I do is wrong. A shadow moves into the doorway, watching us. Anger tangles with the grief inside me. The unfairness of finding someone who truly wants me. Just me. And losing him.

I don’t know who the guy in the mask is, but I’ll make sure he rots for this. They’ll all pay.

CHAPTER 23

Closing in on the Queen

Kenz

I rub Penny’s back as she cries over Will’s body and I take the inhaler from her. It’s pointless if he can’t inhale it. Tears keep flowing down my cheeks. I can’t believe they killed him. The masked guy just stands in the doorway staring at us.

I can’t let him take Will’s body anywhere. He deserves more than to be placed in some unmarked grave wherever the fuck they decide to dump him.

“What’s the holdup?” another voice from the hallway yells.

“Nothing!” The masked guy storms over to us and grabs Penny’s arm, jerking her up and hauling her away from Will. “Don’t say anything.”

She lets him take her away. I don’t know how much fight she’ll have in her after this. He hurries so the other guy won’t look in the door.

They leave the door open. They left the door open!

Will jerks beneath my hand. Fuck. My gaze drops to his face. Asthma. Can’t breathe. Needs medicine to open airways. Maybe?

“Help me,” I say quietly to Brandon. “I need to get the medicine into his lungs.”

Brandon comes over and helps me lift Will into a sitting position again. I take the inhaler and shake it. This isn’t the best idea I’ve ever had, but I hope it fucking works. After taking a deep breath in, I close my lips around the inhaler and press the button.

The medicine mists into my mouth. I pull the inhaler away and close my mouth over Will’s, tipping his head back to part his lips and force my breath into his lungs.

Twice.

“Lower him.”

Once he’s on the ground, I start compressions. Mom wouldn’t let me be a babysitter until I got my Basic Life Support certification. After the compressions, I inhale from the inhaler again and tip Will’s head back to blow it into his lungs.

Breathe. Please, breathe.

I give him another breath before starting compressions again. When he gasps in, I stop. Be okay. Please be okay. I don’t know what else to do, but this can’t be it, right?

He coughs and Brandon helps me sit him up.

I shake the inhaler and check his pulse. “Will? Will, can you hear me?”

His pulse thrums under my fingers, and I almost collapse with relief. But I have more to do.

“You need to inhale this yourself. Can you do that for me?” My gaze flashes to the open door. They’ve forgotten about it, but they know we’re chained to the floor.

The masked guy either didn’t see Will give me the key, or he forgot since he thought he’d killed Will.

Will nods, and I place the end in his mouth. “On the count of three.”

He inhales deeply. He still needs to go to the hospital, but it seems like he’s out of danger for now.

“We need to get out of here.” I hand Will his inhaler and grab the key I slid into my pocket while the masked guy was in the hallway.

Will glances around. “Penny?”