66. Waverly
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
WAVERLY
T he agony in my side distracts me from the series of gunshots that sound off around us.
Every breath is excruciating as I drag it into my lungs, and yet somehow, I register that this could be so much worse. Because Emmett took the bullet first. His body shielded mine, slowing it down before it could puncture my skin.
That realization doesn’t help the pain, though, and as hard as I fight the tears that pool in my eyes, it’s useless.
A choked sob tears from my throat, but I cling to Emmett with every ounce of strength I have left. He took a bullet for me. He used his body to shield mine from the brunt of it. He was willing to die to save me.
Kade drops down beside us, panic lacing his usually calm gaze as it bounces between us. “We have to get you both to the hospital.”
“No.” Emmett shakes his head. Some of the color has bled from his face, but his attention never drops from me. “We need to get Waverly help.”
“We’ll get you both help,” he snaps. “It’s not a one or the other thing, Emmett, so shut it with the self-righteous bullshit.”
If it weren’t for the agony raging through my body, I’d probably snicker at the brothers bickering. But there’s nothing funny about this moment. There’s nothing funny about everything that has transpired tonight.
Wyatt’s face appears on my other side, and I try to find it in myself to smile at him, but my lips don’t budge. Fatigue weighs me down until I can barely keep my eyes open, but I know better than that. I have to stay awake. I have to remain alert.
“Hold on for me, Little Temptress,” Emmett murmurs, his hand holding on to mine in a vise grip, as if he can hold me to this plane with his touch alone.
“Don’t leave me,” I whisper as my eyes fall closed.
“Both of you knock that shit off,” Kade snaps. “I need you both to stay alive because we’re going to live a fucking happy life after all the years of bullshit that man put us through. I’m not losing either of you.” But there’s a vulnerability in his tone I didn’t expect from him. Like the thought of losing either of us is too painful to think into existence.
“I can’t.” I shake my head.
Kade shifts until my head is propped in his lap. “Of course you can, baby girl. We’re going to give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of. A happy life. Kids. So much kinky sex you won’t be able to tell where you end, and we begin. But you have to hold on for me to get us there.” He turns his head to Emmett. “Both of you.”
“You want kids?”
Kade chuckles and brushes his fingers along my cheek. “With you? Fuck yeah. A couple of sets of twins would be fucking awesome.”
“A couple of sets?” Emmett coughs, but Kade doesn’t get a chance to respond.
“Let’s get them to the hospital,” Wyatt says. “Elias will stay here and wait to hand the guards over.”
“To whom?” I ask through the fog of exhaustion.
“We have some friends that have a vested interest in making sure they never hurt anyone again,” Wyatt tells me cryptically, and I can’t find it in myself to care for more details.
Black spots tug at the corners of my vision, beckoning me into the darkness, and no matter how hard I try to fight it, it drags me under.