Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
What just happened? My hands cover my face, and then it hits me. Marco. He’s here. He shouldn’t be here. He’s on top of me.
I open my eyes to see him hunched over and pointing a gun at Alan. Everything happens so quick, and then I squeeze my eyes shut at the sound of more gunshots.
“You’re okay. It’s going to be okay,” I hear Marco whisper into my ear. His whole body is covering mine, pressing me into the grass. “It’s okay,” he repeats before rolling over. I see him sit up. He’s looking around while waving a hand in the air.
“Helena!” My brother runs towards me, scooping me up off the ground. He stands me on my feet and cups my face as he scans my body from head to toe. “Fuck. Are you hit?”
Hit? What? I don’t know what he’s talking about. Neo starts moving my shirt, and I look down to see my white blouse stained red. It’s covered in blood.
“It’s not mine,” I say. “Oh god… Marco!”
I shove my brother out of the way just as Marco drops.
“No!” I scream as I fall to my knees beside him. “No. No. Neo, do something!”
“It’s okay.” Marco smiles at me. “I’m glad you’re going to be okay.”
“You’re going to be okay too. You owe me a date, remember?” I tell him, not caring who hears me.
“Get him up. We need to get him to Doc now,” my brother yells out, and then suddenly a group of guys are surrounding us.
“Wait. Don’t move him. He’s going to bleed out, you morons.” I shove them all aside, reaching for my shirt and about to tug it over my head, when Marco groans.
“Don’t you fucking dare take that off here.”
“Now isn’t the time to care about modesty. I need something to stop the bleeding,” I tell him.
“Here, ma’am.” One of my brother’s soldiers bundles up his jacket. Then he moves Marco onto his side, glancing down before looking back up at me. “There’s no exit wound.”
“I called an ambulance. They’re on the way,” Neo tells me. “We need to get you out of here.”
I shake my head. “I’m not… I can’t leave him.”
Neo looks at me, then at the ground. “Okay.”
Once the paramedics have Marco on a stretcher, I stand and follow them. “Are you family?” one of them asks me.
“She’s my wife,” Marco lies.
“Okay, come on. You can ride with us,” the paramedic says.
“Wife?” I mouth at Marco.
“Eventually,” he mumbles. And that’s the last thing I hear him say because he blacks out.
“You know he’s tough. He’s not giving up yet. He’s going to be fine.” Neo wraps an arm around me, and I sink into his embrace.
“I hope you’re right,” I tell him.
“I’d prefer we go back to you not liking made men,” he grunts.
“Too bad. Because I think I really like him,” I admit.
“I know. Doesn’t mean I like it,” he says.
“If he makes it through this, don’t hurt him. It was my fault. I seduced him.”
“I don’t want to know.” Neo runs a hand down his face as he forces out an exaggerated sigh. “I wouldn’t ever do anything that would hurt you, Helena.”
“Thank you.” My arms tighten around his waist as I press my face closer to his chest.
“I’d do anything for you. You know that,” Neo says, kissing the top of my head.
“I know…” That’s something I really do know. I believe my brother would do his very best to move mountains for me if he could.
“He’s awake and asking for a Helena?”
I turn my head to see a doctor looking at our group. “That’s me!” I call out to him.
“You can come back. Just for a few minutes. He’s in recovery but very insistent on seeing you.”
“Okay. Thank you.” My voice is hoarse and my throat is dry.
When I walk into the recovery room, I see Marco laid out on the bed, attached to a bunch of machines with wires going in every direction. His eyes connect with mine. “You didn’t think you were getting out of our date that easily, did you?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I sit beside him on the bed. My fingers entwine with his. “I was so scared.”
“Me too. Don’t ever do anything that stupid again,” he tells me. “What made you run off alone anyway?”
“He threatened to tell Neo about us. He had a photo. I didn’t want anything to happen to you,” I admit. “It was stupid. I shouldn’t have gone alone.”
“It was. But your brother already knew about us. I told him last night,” Marco says.
“You did? Why?”
“Because you are not the kind of girl you sneak around with.” He shrugs.
“Yeah? And what kind of girl am I?” I ask him.
“The kind you show off to the world with pride. So that when people look at her, they know she’s yours,” Marco tells me.
“I’m yours? I don’t believe you asked me to be yours.” I smile at him.
“I didn’t,” he says. “I decided it. I’ll stop at nothing until you get onboard with the program, though.”
“I’m onboard.” I lean forward and gently press my lips to his. But that’s not good enough for Marco. He grabs the back of my head and groans into my mouth as he deepens the kiss. “But only if you get to be mine too,” I tell him.
“Deal.”