AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where did they go?”
“They’re gone,” I say breathlessly.
“Let’s get out of here.” Simon climbs out first, his soaked clothes clinging to his body. He reaches out, offering me his hand.
I take it and allow him to pull me out of the water because I don’t think I could have gotten out by myself. My left arm hangs to my side and blood spills out of the wound.
“Christ, Love.” Simon presses his palm to it. “Can you apply pressure for a second?”
I nod.
He removes his hand and pulls his shirt over his head, exposing his muscular upper half. Simon rips the fabric and ties it around my biceps to stop the bleeding. “Here, that should hold you over until I can get you to a doctor.”
“Okay,” is all I say, because there are too many things running through my mind right now to focus on any single one.
I thought we were going to die. I thought Simon was going to die. I thought I was holding his dead body above the water and that he was never going to come back to me.
But at that moment, I realized exactly how much I cannot live without him. And that alone leaves me riddled with fucking guilt. I never meant to feel this way. It’s forbidden. Simon is my boyfriends' enemy, and he is my bodyguard. This wasn't supposed to be anything else.
I’m not even entirely sure if these are romantic feelings, but whatever this is, I cannot fathom the idea of living in a world where he is not.
Is this how he felt when I was bleeding out in his lap?Helpless, terrified, infuriated.
“Can you walk?” He steadies his grip on my shoulder and stares into my eyes.
Tears roll down my cheeks, and there is nothing I can do to make them stop.
“Are you in pain somewhere else? What’s wrong?” Simon wildly looks for another source of my torment.
“I—I…”
“What is it, love?”
“Let’s get out of here,” I tell him. There isn’t time for me to have a mental breakdown when those who wish us dead are still so near and more are on their way. It won’t be long before their recovery team arrives and finds us very much alive.
“Together?” He wipes at my cheeks with his thumbs.
“Together.”
Simon weaves his hand through mine and leads us out of this death trap.
We walk in silence for a few minutes until we arrive at a street.
“Come on, love. I think I know where we are.” Simon tugs me across the empty street and onto a sidewalk. He makes a beeline through a residential neighborhood, cutting through backyards instead of leading us down the road.
My pace slows as the energy leaves my body. I don’t mean to, but I trip over my own feet.
Simon catches me before I can hit the ground. “We can take a break, love. Here.” He shifts me toward a picnic table in an unsuspecting person’s yard. He kneels in front of me and rests his head on my leg. “This is all my fault.”
I blink at him. “What?”
Simon glances up at me. “I should have protected you. I failed you, love. And I am so sorry.”
“Would you stop blaming yourself?” I tilt his face up toward mine. “This is not your fault. If anything, it’s mine. I’m the one who stormed off. You got hurt because of me. Because I got mad and left like a child and demanded space. Hell, it’s just as muchtheirfault as it is mine.” I steady in a breath to calm my raging nerves. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Simon. I haven’t exactly made your job easy.”
“My job?” Simon leans back. “Is that what you think this is? Me doing my job? June, love, I would do anything for you.”
“Because of your obligation to me, yeah. I know.”
