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He’s dead.
Looks like someone barged through the front door and opened fire. CJ took a few shots to the chest.
I close my eyes for a second, ignoring the pain, and pray that Aries is still alive. I can’t lose him. He’s a part of me, the best part, and I won’t be the same without him earth side.
“Aries?” I call out louder.
“Atlas?” I hear him rasp. I follow the sound and find him sitting up against the wall of CJ’s bedroom, one hand on his stomach, the other clasping a gun.
“Aries,” I whisper, sitting down next to him and looking into his green eyes. “What happened?”
“Marko found us somehow. That big guy he had fight Rhett a while ago barged through the front door. Marko came in with someone else and opened fire, then bailed out of here,” he explains, breathing heavily. “We were sitting ducks. I’m sorry, brother.”
“What are you sorry about?” I ask as I dial 911. I tell the operator the address and to send an ambulance immediately. Aries is going to be fine. I take off my jacket and use it to compress the gunshot wound in his stomach. “Everyone is on their way. It will be okay. I’m here with you.”
“CJ is dead.”
“I know,” I whisper. “And Marko is going to pay for that.”
This is exactly what I was worried about. I knew Marko would try to come for CJ, and I should have protected him better. I shouldn’t have left Aries alone to do this.
I brush his hair off his face. I’m trying hard not to panic, but he’s losing color and there is a lot of blood. Too much blood.
“You’re going to be fine. Don’t you worry, we’ll get you to the hospital in no time. You hang in there, buddy.”
“You are the best brother I could have ever asked for, you know that?” he says, forcing a smile. “I loved every moment of growing up with you. You’re my best friend, Atlas.”
“Stop talking like that, Aries. You don’t have to say anything—you can tell me afterward, when you’re in the hospital eating Jell-O and getting a sponge bath from a hot nurse,” I say, tears dripping down my face. I don’t realize I’m crying until the saltiness hits my lips.
His lip twitches. “You and I both know there is no sponge bath in my future.”
I shake him a little. “You fucking stop talking like that. You are going to be fine. You just hold the fuck on.”
He gives me a smile. “I love you, brother.”
“I love you, too, Aries,” I reply, sobbing now. “More than I love myself. You are part of me. I don’t know what I’d do if...”
In that moment I feel a part of me die. He’s gone.
He’s left me.
“No,” I cry, holding on to my brother as my heart breaks. “No, open your eyes, goddamn it! You fucking wake up!”
And that’s how Temper and Rhett find me.
Temper tries to pull me off him, probably to see if I’m hurt. I look down and realize I’m covered in his blood. “Get off of me,” I snap.
“Atlas, he’s gone,” Temper says, and leaves his hand on my shoulder as I cry silent sobs into Aries’s neck.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Natalie
I was at Cara’s when Decker got the call. Aries was gone.
In that moment I knew Atlas would be changed forever, and I would be by his side.
It’s only been a few days since Aries and CJ were killed, and Atlas is heartbroken. I can’t imagine what he is going through right now and I don’t know what to do. I try to sit with him, but he doesn’t talk. I go to give him a hug and he barely wants me to touch him. I talk to him about meaningless shit like the weather and I get nothing. It is not about me, I know, but I can’t help but feel utterly helpless. How am I supposed to comfort the man I love?
