It’s time to finish the conversation we started in Ria’s van.
Domino steps outside first, half lost in his phone, thumbs flying as he mutters something under his breath. The bell above the door gives a tired jingle behind him.
Ghost follows, but pauses, stuck in place, instead of moving right away. For some reason, that makes my stomach tighten.
Something in his posture shifts. It’s very subtle, but I know him well enough to see it. Shoulders set. Chin dips. His gaze sweeps the street with narrowed eyes, slow and methodical, like he’s counting the shadows.
Then his focus snaps across the road, locking on the street corner to the right ofBelladonna Brew.
It all happens at once.
I take a single step outside — Ghost’s arm slams across my chest, stopping me so hard I gasp.
There’s a screech of tires, like Death itself just released a scream above the entire town.
A sharpwhooshcuts the air right next to my head.
The window behind me explodes.
Glass shatters with a deafening crash, fragments spraying outward as the bullet punches straight through the window of my bookstore. My heart stutters, my brain lagging a full second behind reality.
Ghost spins instantly and pulls me into him, hard, crushing, his body turning so completely around mine that I disappear inside his chest. One arm locks around my shoulders, the other around my waist, hauling me tight.
Another gunshot cracks.
Then another.
Then more, too many to make sense of them.
I feel Ghost jerk against me.
One.
Two.
Three.
His body flinches, each impact punching the air out of my lungs. He grunts, breath hitching, but he doesn’t let go.
It’s all happening so fast, I don’t even realize when he starts dragging me down. He forces me toward the pavement, folding his body over mine like a shield. We hit the ground hard, his weight coming down on top of me, covering me completely.
Four.
Five.
Two more hits. My body counts them for me. My arms are trapped between us, pinned against my chest, his weight pressing me into the cold pavement.
Then tires screech again, and Death screams once more.
The gunfire cuts off as suddenly as it started, the sound ripping away down the street, leaving a ringing silence so loud it can only mean pain.
Has it been two seconds? Three?
I’m frozen. Completely still.
My mind can’t catch up, can’t decide what just happened or what I’m supposed to do next. I’m dimly aware of Domino shouting somewhere, of distant echoes and alarms, but it’s all muffled. I’m underwater again, drowning under black waves, my lungs crying.
Ghost’s weight shifts, sagging above me.
