AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s hurt.” Cory spears me with his crystal-blue eyes. “You shot him.”
I glance down at the blood pouring from my abdomen.
And then everything goes dark.
A soft, fluttery sound has my eyes blinking open.
Phoenix sits beside Leo at the window, both of their heads tilted together as they whisper behind the book they’re looking at. I can’t hear what Leo is saying, but it’s funny enough that Phoenix squeezes her eyes closed and scrunches her nose as she tries not to laugh too loud. Leo looks at her like she hung the moon herself, beaming with pride that he could make her smile.
My heart swells, affection warming my chest. She’s so beautiful. How can such beauty exist amid a world as depraved as this one?
Tonight went so wrong but seeing Phoenix waiting here by my side makes something shift into place. Something I’ve been missing.
I watch them for a while, not wanting to alert them of my presence, until Phoenix glances up from the book.
She gasps and rushes to my side. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been shot.”
The corners of her mouth pull down. “Are the painkillers not working? Do you need more? Do you want some water? Tell me what you need.”
I lift my hand to her cheek. “I just need you to stop frowning like that.”
She closes her eyes and leans into my touch. “And I need you to not get shot.”
Leo walks around to the other side of my bed and pats my leg. “Want me to get the nurse? She can have you flying high with the push of a button.”
I shake my head. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s down at the station. He said he’ll handle everything while you recover.”
“Handle what, exactly?”
Phoenix and Leo exchange glances.
Guilt sinks into my stomach like a lead ball, and the room falls silent.
“He didn’t make it, did he?”
Phoenix shakes her head. “He lost too much blood. He was dead before he got to the hospital.”
Fucking Christ.
Leo squeezes my knee. “It wasn’t your fault, brother.”
“I should’ve just arrested them when I had the chance last week. If I would’ve done something differently, then maybe…”
But all theshoulda, coulda, wouldasin the world can’t undo what happened.
I fell short.
Again.
Leo’s eyebrows press together. “Phil said you did everything you could’ve done. You tried to defuse the situation, but the kid pulled a gun on a cop.”
The kid.He was just a kid.
I squeeze my eyes shut and swallow past the lump in my throat as my emotions threaten to spill over. “You know, I’m really tired. You guys can go home.”
