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15
Hayley
Iwatched as Damien laid back on the bench and reached up to grab the barbell in his hands. Miles stood at his head, his hands out, acting as a spotter for Damien. “I honestly thought that thing was being wasted out here,” I commented as I strode out onto the patio in my bikini, holding the towel in my hands.
Miles caught the bar just in time as Damien lost all his concentration and almost dropped the bar on his chest. Miles’s shoulders were shaking with laughter as Damien sat up, running his eyes over me. “You can’t just walk out in that and expect me not to lose my concentration, darlin’,” Damien commented as I set my towel on the chair.
“Sorry,” I apologized, but still sent a flirtatious smile his way. “Go ahead and finish working out. I’ll just be in the pool,” I told him with a wink.
Damien smirked at me. Desire curled low in my belly, making my skin flush as my breath hitched in my throat. I knew that smirk all too well.
Raking his eyes over my body once more, he just laid back on the bench, getting ready to bench press again. Blowing out a soft breath, I slid into the pool, sighing as the cool water wrapped around me. I looked over at Damien as his arms flexed each time he lifted the weights up, slowly lowering his arms again.
I knew he didn’t have his body through luck, but it had been years since I had seen Damien working out. I hadn’t seen him touch his workout equipment since he’d been released. But just as I did four years ago, I loved watching him work out.
I heard a gunshot ring through the air, and Damien shot up from the bench, rushing towards me as Miles headed inside. I was already pulling myself out of the pool when Damien reached me. He pulled me towards the closet outside where the pool stuff was. “There’s a gun on the shelf—it’s loaded,” he told me. “Stay hidden. Use the gun if you must,” he commanded.
He pressed his lips hard against mine before he pushed me inside and shut the door. I quickly snatched the gun off the shelf, forcing myself to stay calm and silent. My heart was pounding extremely hard in my chest—it seemed to be all that I could hear. I didn’t hear Damien, Miles—no one. It was dead silent other than the rapid beating of my heart.
A minute later, another gunshot rang out. I chewed on my bottom lip, jumping in fright as another one rang out. A few moments later, Miles opened the door. Fear painfully squeezed my chest. Damien always came to get me if he had to hide me. “Let’s go,” he told me. “Ambulance is on the way. Damien got hit.”
I sprinted towards the house, dropping to my knees in the den where Damien was leaning against the wall, his hand holding a shirt to his chest, but it didn’t seem to be helping much. Blood was rushing down his bare stomach, the shirt so soaked with blood that it wasn’t even capturing any of it anymore.
“No, no, no,” I choked out, my hands fluttering out to touch him—to help him—but I didn’t know how. I whimpered as hot tears ran down my cheeks.
He smiled at me softly, making the tears rush down my cheeks even harder. “I wanted to see you one last time,” he whispered.
“You’re going to be okay,” I sobbed. God, he had to be okay. I couldn’t lose him. Damien and I couldn’t end like this. He was my everything. We were going to have a baby together—be a family.
Damien slowly shook his head at me, a sad smile on his face as he reached out and ran his bloody fingers down my cheek. A broken wail left my lips. “They can’t save me, Hayley,” he told me softly.
“They have to,” I sobbed. “I can’t do this without you!” I cried.
“You can, and you will. You have to,” he told me, sternly, breathing becoming increasingly harder for him. Blood began to spill from his lips. “I love you, Hayley, and I love our kid, okay? Always remember that.”
He leaned his head back tiredly against the wall. “I love you, Damien. Please, please, don’t fucking leave me!” I screamed at him.
Miles gently pulled me back from Damien as paramedics rushed into the house. I screamed and thrashed, begging God—any fucking deity that could help—to save him.
Please bring him back to me.
But it was already too late. When they pronounced him dead, I collapsed in Miles’s arms, my pain-filled screams and cries the only noise in the room.
