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Nathan’s arms wrap around me from behind, lifting me from the floor, and the pilot’s voice in the cockpit is steady and smooth. This is something he knows how to deal with. An emergency landing. Nathan takes me to the first big seat up front, where we can’t see Enzo, and folds us into it. I can’t breathe. My neck hurts, my throat hurts, and my lungs aren’t big enough to take in the air. I have to breathe, because I have to see Rome again. But I can’t.Tighter, I want to say, but nothing comes out.
The plane descends, going down toward LAX, and I’m fading out. Fuck, I don’t want this. I need to be awake to get back to Rome. God knows what–or who–Enzo sent after him once we were safely in the chopper. We bump down onto the runway.
“It’s all right, Aves,” Nathan murmurs. “It’s all right. We’re almost there.”
I see red and blue reflecting on the ceiling of the plane. I hear the outer door popping open. Loud voices. Paramedics rush by, heading for Enzo. I bury my face in Nathan’s chest as the stretcher goes by. The cops are out there, too. The lights—the sirens. They’re out there, too. Another stretcher comes, this time for me. A paramedic with kind eyes reaches for me, assuring me it’ll be okay. I open my mouth to reply. But I’m out of time, and I’m out of oxygen, and the world fades into a gentle gray, then black.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
AVERY
The sound of running water doesn’t tell me a damn thing about where I am, but it’s the first thing I hear. The first thing I feel is an aching ring of fire around my throat. I put a hand underneath my throbbing head. It feels like a sofa.Whose sofa? They don’t have one like this on the plane, so I’m not there. I wouldn’t be lying on a sofa if I were in the hospital.Think, Avery. The plane landed. There was...there was a car ride.My head screams in pain. Ah, yes—it made contact with a lot of hard surfaces today.
Water splashes in a nearby sink.
I force my eyes open, one at a time, and almost pass out again from the sheer relief.
Nathan’s apartment.
He stands at the kitchen sink, in profile to me, his mouth twisted, eyes puffy. I must have been misreading his expression before, on the plane. He stabbed his own father for me. He might have even killed him for me.
“Hey, Nate,” I croak.
He startles a little. No smile, just a dazed nod while he gets himself together. He scrubs his hands gently up to his elbows and back down again. He’s still washing his father’s blood from his skin. I watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows.
Nathan steps back from the sink and pulls his shirt over his head. The scars from when he was abused as a child still shine there, red as they ever were, and it makes me want to cry. His life was hell before he was adopted by the Capulets, and now it’s another kind of hell. It’s an endless circle and it breaks my heart.
I push myself off the sofa, standing on trembling legs, and slowly hobble into the kitchen. I’m still wearing the gauzy white dress Indigo gave me, but now it’s stained with Enzo’s blood and ripped in several places. I look like the Bride of Chucky. I don’t care. I’m alive. And Nathan is the one I have to thank.
Nathan stands still and lets me throw my arms around him. He’s warm, and alive, and this horror show is over. I could cry. He slings an arm around me and I only let myself take one glance at his face. Tears shine in the corner of his eyes.
“I’m so grateful to you,” I say fiercely, hugging him tighter. “I’m so thankful. You saved my life.”
We stand there in the kitchen for a long while, and eventually Nate leans down and kisses the top of my head. “Laundry.” He holds up the bloodied shirt and steps out to the big laundry room off the kitchen. When he comes out, he rubs a hand over his face and leans against the counter. “Listen, I sent the jet back to pick Rome up and bring him to you. And I got you this.”
He twists, picking up something off the counter.
A piece of paper, spattered with blood, held together by about fifty different pieces of sticky tape.
The marriage license.
I take it from his hands like it’s the most precious thing I own, because it is. Nathan’s going to mend my broken heart, that’s what he’s going to do. He might be the only Capulet on the planet who’s capable of it.
“Thank you,” I whisper, and hug him so long it gets awkward.
“Okay, Aves, don’t get carried away.” He steps back with a sad smile on his face. “You’ve been passed out for a while. You want something to eat? I got food delivered, just in case.”
“Yeah, I need to eat.” I push my knuckles into my eyes to try and relieve the pain. “I’ve got a massive headache. Do you have some Tylenol?”
“I have everything you could possibly want.” Nathan winks at me. “You go sit down. I’ll bring everything to you.”
“I’m covered in blood. I’ll ruin your sofa,” I protest. He shrugs. “I put a blanket over it before I laid you down before. It’s fine.”
Back on the sofa, I pull one of his throw blankets over my legs–since the thing is already stained with blood–and sink into the blanket-covered cushions. Nathan joins me a few minutes later with two plates of food. Mac and cheese. Green beans soaked in butter and salt. Mashed potatoes. A can of Diet Coke. He knows me too well.
“Here, start with these.” Nathan tips two little round pills into my palm. They don’t look like the usual gel caps I keep at home, but at this point, I don’t care if it’s generic. I wash it down with a crisp sip of Diet Coke.Bliss.
“Give me a minute, okay?” I lean my head against the armrest. “I’ll eat in a sec.” Hungry as I am, it just feels like too much work to hold a fork at this moment. When the Tylenol kicks in I’ll be up to it. “Nate, what the fuck? Enzo hired people to kidnap me? It makes no sense.”
