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Bang.
Another shot, closely followed by a hard thump of something hitting the linoleum floor. Maybe two somethings, along with heavy breathing as if there was a struggle, but I couldn’t see because Jade had already turned, wrapping her arms around me, herding me to the side of the diner, the two of us dropping to our knees behind the counter and covering our heads.
People were screaming, footsteps pounding.
That high-pitched squealing noise was in my ears.
It was all I could hear.
The constant high-pitched sound was like a monitor in a hospital, and the person was flatlining.
Was I flatlining?
“Help!” Karl suddenly called. “Reed, look at me, man!”
Jade and I took one look at each other.
Just a breath.
But we both knew.
I scampered across the floor on my hands and knees, not caring how dirty or disgusting it was, just determined to get around the counter. I paused on the other side, assessing the situation.
Chad was face down a few feet away, his hands pulled behind his back, and his cheek smashed against the floor. Karl was practically sitting on top of him, pinning him down as he writhed and screamed profanities and threats.
“Goddammit,” Reed cursed, pulling my eyes across the room.
He sat on the floor, his back to a wall and his hand pressed to his stomach.
Blood.
There was so much blood.
“No, no, no,” I chanted, slipping and sliding as I fought to get to my feet and rush across the room to where he was, but before I could even get close to him, the doors of the diner burst open, and more screaming began.
“Everyone down!
“On the floor!
“Hands where we can see them!”
Jade grabbed and pulled me back as the police swarmed the room. “It’s okay, he’ll be okay,” Jade kept repeating, despite the cops calling desperately for medical because of a gunshot wound.
It was all just noise, though.
Nothing made sense.
It all blended into one.
All I could see was his blood.
Even as they loaded him onto a stretcher and hurried him out the door, I kept staring at the place on the floor where he’d been lying. The puddle. The dark, rich crimson color was for sure going to stain the white floors. Dolores was never going to get it out. It would be there forever. Reed’s blood stai—
“Valen, stop,” Jade snapped, grabbing my face and jerking it toward her.
Tears flowed, trickling down the side of my cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, not knowing if she’d be able to hear me over the bedlam. But they were words I needed to say. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Stop!” she ordered again, her stern tone not as stern as usual. “Valen, this is not our fault. Friends fight. They make up. We didn’t ask to be a part of some fucked-up reality that Chad had created.” She reached for my hands, and we both squeezed as tight as humanly possible. “We both made mistakes, butthatdoesn’t justifythis.”
