Page 254 of Only Be Mine

Chapter 84

John

May 10 - Ten Years Ago

The pain didn’t stay sharp.

It pulsed.

Then dulled.

Then spread.

I lay on my side, cheek pressed into carpet that smelled faintly like cologne and something metallic.

My blood.

I knew that smell now.

Breathing felt… optional. Like something my body wasn’t fully committed to anymore.

I tried to move.

My arm just twitched.

That was all.

Footsteps crossed the room.

Not hurried. Not panicked.

Measured.

“Well,” Trevor said lightly, like we’d just finished dinner. “That didn’t go the way I planned.”

Another voice answered - the man from the couch. Nasal now, thick with blood. “He got lucky.”

I wanted to laugh.

Lucky.

I focused on the ceiling. It swam in and out of view. The room tilted slightly, like I was floating.

I heard the scrape of something heavy being dragged. The broken table, maybe. The gun being kicked away.

Trevor exhaled.

“Clean it up,” he said, voice calm and irritated. “We don’t have much time.”

My mind snagged on that.

Time.

I had to get to the phone.

Cate would be calling.

She’d be worried.