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And Devan has a gun pulled on him.
Gabriel doesn’t move away from me as he addresses my partner, Taney’s body between us. My arms are wrapped around her, locked there, every part of me unwilling to let go.
“No, no,” I mutter. The words are choked and wet. I push down my own feelings of panic.
“Look, I heard a gunshot and came running. For her.” Gabriel’s talking about me. Why is he talking about me? “What can I do?”
It takes Devan less than a second to assess the situation. “Stay with her, help her. I’m going after the bastard.”
He takes off running toward the direction where the shot was fired, his cell in one hand as he calls for backup and his service pistol in the other.
“Taney—”
I sob out her name but Gabriel is pragmatic. His bright green eyes scour my face and he pries her out of my death grip. “Where are you hurt? You’re covered in blood. Layla? Are you all right?”
“It’s not my blood,” I manage to say. “She’s—s-someone shot Taney.”
“Put pressure on the wound.” Gabriel is all business.
I shake my head. “She’s gone.” I’m ready to shatter. My ears fill with the screech of approaching sirens. The noise in the background is too loud, the sound of footsteps, people shouting…
He presses two fingers to the side of her neck, eyes narrowed, lips a thin line. “She’s not gone yet. She’s got a small fluttering pulse and we might be able to keep her that way if you put pressure on the wound. Do you understand?”
Wait…what?
The world tilts on its axis.
I roll Taney onto her back.
All of a sudden Devan is back. “Thank you, man.”
In my right mind, I might have been able to recognize the moment Devan put things together. Or note the way his gaze zeroes in on Gabriel’s hand on my arm and the way I lean into him.
Gabriel backs off, with his hands up between us as Devan turns to me. I press both palms against the gushing wound in Taney’s torso.
“The ambulance is on the way. It’s almost here but I couldn’t find the shooter. There’s nothing. No one.” He’s at a loss.
The wail of the ambulance siren joins with those from other patrol vehicles. I refuse to leave Taney’s side. Instead of obeying any of the EMT personnel, I jump in the back of the ambulance, clenching my friend’s hand.
Silently begging whoever will listen to keep her here with me. I can’t have one of the only people I love taken from me.
TWENTY-ONE
layla
I count in my head.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5…
Count up to 100, my girl, and time me. I’ll be back before you’re done.
Except very much like my father, Taney isn’t coming back and I know it. The doctors are full of hope and good things to say, their platitudes urging me and Devan to say our prayers because she needs all of our good energy. Keep the faith, they urge us.
She’s in surgery now.
Devan sits at my side, clutching my hand. All the places on my clothes that were wet from Taney’s blood are now dry, caked and stiff and a constant reminder. The low humming in my ears won’t abate and the palms of my hands are perpetually damp with sweat.
Devan seems to not mind.
