Chapter 35 #2
He looked like a man who was waiting. For the right second. The right move.
I couldn’t stay silent any longer. “Reid, stop.” My voice trembled, but it was loud enough to slice through the tension.
Both men turned to me.
Ryan’s chest was heaving, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. Reid’s wild eyes burned with fury, but there was something else beneath it–a flicker of uncertainty.
I swallowed hard. Be convincing. Make him believe it.
“Let Ryan go,” I pleaded, locking my gaze on Reid’s. “This is between you and me. You want me? Fine. I’ll go with you. Right now. Just let him go.”
Ryan’s head snapped toward me, his eyes wide with disbelief. Don’t fight me on this. Please.
“Harper, no–”
“Quiet!” Reid barked, whipping the gun back toward me.
Ryan stilled, his body coiled tight, his gaze never leaving mine.
My heart slammed against my ribs, but I forced my voice to stay steady. “I’ll leave with you, Reid. I’ll do whatever you want. Just… let him go.”
A slow, twisted smirk curled Reid’s lips. He flicked a glance at Ryan, his gaze lingering on the way Ryan leaned forward, ready to pounce the second Reid’s back was turned.
“You’d really do that?” he mocked. “You’d leave him for me?”
My throat was dry, my skin crawling. Still, I nodded. “Yes.”
I saw the way Ryan’s whole body trembled with the effort it took not to move, not to argue. His fists flexed at his sides, his jaw tight enough to crack. His eyes met mine, and I silently begged him: Stay calm. Stay alive.
Reid’s expression shifted, something ugly warring with cautious hope. “I’m sorry, Reid,” I whispered, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. “Leaving was a mistake. I… I should never have done that to you.”
His grip on the gun faltered. Just a little.
He blinked at me, dazed, as if his brain was struggling to process what I’d just said. I stole a glance at Ryan out of the corner of my eye. Please understand.
Reid’s lips curled into a smug smile, and he shot Ryan a victorious look. “See?” he sneered. “She gets it now.”
My stomach turned, nausea rising in my throat, but I kept my voice soft. Pleading. Convincing. “Reid… let’s just go. Okay?” I whispered, inching closer. “We’ll fix this. We’ll go back to the way things were.”
He exhaled sharply, and when I reached out–steady, don’t tremble, don’t hesitate–he didn’t flinch. My hand slid over his forearm.
“I shouldn’t have left you, baby. I know that now.”
The endearment burned my tongue, but it worked. His whole body relaxed. His grip loosened on the gun. His smug grin grew as he turned to Ryan, gloating.
Then his rough hand clamped around mine, yanking me up from the chair. He crushed me against him in a suffocating embrace.
The stench of alcohol and sweat made me gag, but I didn’t break. My gaze locked over his shoulder.
Straight onto Ryan.
Now. Do it now.
Ryan didn’t hesitate. He exploded from the couch like a coiled spring, grabbing Reid by the shoulders and yanking him away from me. I gasped, stumbling backward as the two men hit the floor, hard, in a violent, tangled blur.
“Get the hell off me!” Reid screamed, his fists flying wildly as Ryan wrestled him to the ground.
Ryan was stronger, pinning him down, but Reid fought like a cornered animal. They rolled, colliding with the coffee table, knocking over the side table–glass shattering, wood splintering. The lamp crashed to the floor, plunging the room into flickering chaos.
Then I saw it.
The gun.
It lay on the ground, forgotten in the scuffle. My pulse thundered in my ears as I lunged for it, my knees skidding against the hardwood.
Reid saw me. With a burst of drunken strength, he twisted free of Ryan’s grip and lunged.
No. No. No.
My fingers grazed the cold metal just as his hand clamped over mine. “No!” I screamed.
A deafening bang shattered the air.
The world froze.
A sharp, metallic ringing filled my ears. The room seemed to tilt, sound warping as if I were trapped underwater.
Reid’s breath hitched. His wild eyes stared at the gun in his trembling hand, his grip loosening until the weapon clattered to the floor.
My own breath hitched. I looked at Ryan first, terror clawing up my throat–but his wide eyes weren’t on himself.
They were on me.
And then I felt it.
White-hot pain. A searing, burning agony that stole the air from my lungs. My arm felt wet. Too wet.
I looked down. Crimson bloomed across my shirt.
The room lurched. My vision swam.
The floor rose up to meet me.
“Harper!” Ryan’s voice ripped through the haze, raw and panicked.
And then he was there, his hands pressed against the wound–warm, firm, desperate.
“It’s okay,” he said, his voice trembling, thick with something I’d never heard before. “You’re okay. I’m calling for help. Just stay with me, alright? Stay with me.”
I tried to focus on him. On the strength in his hands, the warmth of his touch. But the pain was too much.
The edges of the room blurred. The walls felt too far away. My fingers felt numb.
Somewhere, distantly, I heard footsteps. A door slamming. Reid was gone.
Ryan’s face swam into view–his eyes glassier than I’d ever seen them, his expression wrecked. “Harper, please,” he choked out. “Stay awake. You can’t–don’t leave me.”
My lips trembled. I tried to form words, to reach for him, to say something before it was too late.
“I… I love you.”
It was barely a whisper. But his whole body shook.
Ryan’s face crumpled. His grip on me tightened. I felt his hand on my cheek. His other pressing harder against my shoulder. His lips on my temple, my forehead–my mouth. But everything else was slipping away. His voice blurred, fading to static.
The room turned to shadows.
And then–
Nothing.