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“You hear me?”he says, raising his eyebrows.“Don't. Leave. Me, Blaire. Stay with me.”
Why would I leave him? I'm not missing a moment of this.
I sigh with content and snuggle in his masculine chest, but then somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm sad. I can't feel how warm he is and I can't smell him.
It didn't happen like this. I can always feel and smell him.
———
“Wake up, my little pet...” Maksim's voice resounds as if under water. “Wake up...”
I feel like I'm under water, hovering in and out of certainty.
Am I dead?
I pull at my hands but I'm paralyzed, my limbs heavy and restrained by numbness. I must be dead—Maksim shot me—but there's a dull ache in my stomach and a tight hotness across my lower back. The pain forces me to register that I'm still alive.
James... I heard two other shots go off. Maksim must have shot him because he is here and James isn't!
I pull again. Nothing. It's exhausting. My breath is woozy as I breathe in steadily, whistling from the deep of my throat.
Another breath. I can smell burnt flesh and warm metal.
What's going on?
I try to open my eyes. They flutter and spasm but won't open fully. I'm so... tired.
So tired.
Charlie...
“I'm going to leave and wait for you by the river.”
He's waiting for me. He needs to know where James is.
“Get the doctor,” Maksim's words wave through the air in vibrations. “She needs stitches.”
Strong hands close around my wrists and ankles, elevating my body. Taut heat races across my lower back like fire.Fuck,it hurts. It hurts so much that I have to forcefully center myself on the weightless sensation of being carried through the air, but then I'm dropped onto a hard, flat surface, whacking my forehead against the pane.
“Awh...” I gasp out, my skull throbbing.
The surface is cold, making me aware that my skin is clammy and sweaty, my face soaked in damp lengths of hair. I try to bend my knees so I can get up but the pain in my stomach... it's excruciating.
I heave against the agony, trying to add pressure to the wound but I can't move. Why the fuck can't I move?
“Wipe up the blood,” Maksim says.
I'm still bleeding. That's not good.
Charlie...He has to know that I care about him. Before I die, he has to know. And I have to find James! I have to know he's still alive!
Pushing into the hard surface, I strain against my own heaviness, willing myself to get up and fight free of Maksim so I can see Charlie just one last time and find James, but I fall back down with a heavy thud.
Fuck. I really am so, so tired.
I suck in another whistling breath to gather my strength, my head hazy, stuffed with cotton wall.
I need to get up. I need to get up.
