“They can fucking shoot me too if they want— did you plan this?” I spit venom at him.
“This was not my plan, Sara. None of this shit ever was.” Joe watches me furiously and turns his gaze to Liam.
“I'm not burying you, Liam,” Joe says firmly, his voice cracking with emotion. “Don't you dare die on me. Not like this.” He bits his lips in agony. “Not like this. Fuck!” His voice booms and makes me jump, my emotions all over the place.
I lay across Liam's body, and Joe’s eyes are instantly on me. His jaw tightening. I shelter Liam from the rain as best I can. I press my forehead against his and will my strength into him. His chest rises and falls beneath mine in shallow, uneven breaths. I can feel his heartbeat against my own—weak but fighting.
“Cold,” he mumbles.
“Stay with me,” I whisper, my lips almost touching his. “Stay with me. I love you, Liam, so much.”
I have never been so scared in my life. I won’t let an irony as such of getting one brother back to lose the other.
Liam’s eyes squeeze from the pain, and he hisses trying to move, but I try to keep him as still as possible.
Focusing into his eyes, I caress his cheek and say, “Don’t move… I’m right here, my love. I’m here, baby. Right here. I'll go wherever you go, I promise.” And he smiles, in pain but the tiniest smile on his face gives me hope.
Joe’s gaze is on us, our closeness evident to him now.
I hear a car make a round abruptly, Damien jumping out of it as quickly as he can and coming to Liam’s side.
“What happened?” he says panting with anxious energy and seeing Damien scared, doesn’t calm my nerves at all.
There’s something about seeing someone else’s fear that you deem braver and stronger than you, that confirms your own. It grips at your heart, all the way to your throat like dark fibered smoke capable of squeezing the air out of your lungs, and somehow, before I understand what takes a hold of me, the air squeezes out of me, and darkness is all that consumes me next.
Thirty-Eight
Sara
My eyes flutter open, I have no idea where I am. My vision is blurry and my throat is dry. I look to the side, and the gentle sunlight and breeze from the open patio window reorient me.
A figure steps over me, and I see soft blue eyes looking down as I’m lying on the couch in the living room. Joe attends to something on my forehead, and I grumble at my raging headache.
“Don’t fidget. I tried to stop it, but your head hit the ground, regardless.” Joe gently cleans my skin with a wet cloth andapplying cream to what I’m guessing is a wound, considering the sting. When it eases, my whole-body freezes, remembering what had happened, and I grab his wrist hard.
I fainted.
I wasn’t strong enough for him, and I fainted.
My deepest, strongest, meanest, ugliest fear took over me, and my body shut down. My body limped to the ground against Liam right before I felt powerful arms against my head to slow down the impact. That’s all I remember. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t go through this pain again.
“Where’s Liam?” I barely get the words out and send the comforter flying off of me. “Is he okay? Please tell me he’s okay.”
“He’s okay.” Joe puts his hands up. “Breathe, he’s okay.”
“Don’t you tell me to fucking breathe when you’re not even supposed to have a breath of your own!” I hiss at him, angry. So angry at him.
“Sara, we need to ta—”
But I storm out of the room, my ass on fire, my head muddled, frantically looking for him. I make my way down the hallway and to his bedroom.
I see Damien standing, his muscled back in his white tee and black jeans, and another mid-fifties man crouching, taking Liam’s vitals while the wires connected to him run into a machine. I round the bed pretending none of them are there existing besides him, besides Liam.
He looks so pale and the grim on their faces…
“He’s dead.” I blurt.
They all look at me with perplexity and how-should-we-tell-her expressions, and I’m feeling faint all over again. Damien’s attention narrows on me, taking my hand. I look up at him, confused by his proximity and … the angst is his eyes.
