Chapter 37 #2
Without any thought attached to the motion, my body moves one step forward, only to be immediately stopped by the loud shot that echoes off the walls, sending a shard of blazing heat through my body just above my hip.
I take a stuttered step back, grunting from the impact and instant agony.
This is so much worse than the bullet that grazed me earlier.
Falling to one knee, the impact of hitting the floor makes the pain worse, and I barely keep in the groan bubbling up my throat.
Within a few seconds, the worst pain I can imagine fills my chest as the door to the safe room clicks open.
Fear drowns out all thought, and I stop looking at Steele, my eyes locking on Brigit and shaking my head frantically to get her back inside.
Her frantic gaze meets mine, and only a second later does Ben realize what’s happened.
“Oh,” he chuckles. “Wow, Cormac, look at you! Did you play the hero and finally land the girl? How fucking cute.”
She runs and falls to my side, putting her hand over the wound. It stings like a bitch, but her need to comfort me and do something to protect me warms me enough to ignore the pain from the pressure.
Steele briefly looks back at Skyler before stalking forward with a wicked grin plastered across his sweaty face.
“I’ll assume this means you took care of Aidan for me,” he tilts his head. “It’ll make the clean up a little more of a pain in the ass, but all three of you dying here together seems poetic, doesn’t it?”
As he stalks closer and towers over us, Brigit looks up at me, hiding her fear under the layer of bravery she always wears.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I wish I could explain everything, but we don’t have time.”
“Oh, my god,” Steele groans in annoyance. “The dramatic goodbyes are going to make me vomit. Let’s just end this now.”
I can see on her face the second before she strikes, the split second where she holds her breath before doing something she’ll hate herself for if it means she can survive.
And if I had just a little bit more clarity of mind, I’d be able to stop her and take care of this asshole myself, but she’s too fast.
I’m too distracted by the immense pain and crimson liquid flooding out of my body onto the floor.
Pulling out a sharp, heavy knife, she drives it immediately into his leg so hard it hits bone with a dull thunk.
His reaction is immediate, shouting in pain and grabbing her by the hair with his free hand, making the knife fall with a loud clang onto the floor.
She screams, trying to free herself from his grip, and the sound of her in such distress destroys any sense of the man still inside of me, bringing out the demon that craves only blood.
Before he can even try to aim his deadly weapon at Brigit, I grab the hand holding it, driving the knife from my fucking shoe into his forearm and dragging down to completely obliterate the muscle holding onto it.
The gun clatters to the floor, followed shortly by Brigit falling onto her knees with a loud cry. Against the pain and dizziness from blood loss, I shove the firearm across the hardwood, getting it as far away from all three of us as possible.
With my state and Steele’s, there’s no guarantee Brigit wouldn’t get caught in a crossfire, and it’s not worth it. Let him and I fucking bleed out on the floor right here, I don’t care, as long as Brigit gets out.
She tries to grab my hand and pull us up from the ground, but I’m feeling too hazy, too heavy, and can barely keep myself upright.
With his other hand, I watch through the fuzziness as Steele reaches for his pocket, whipping out a tiny but deadly sharp blade, aiming to drive it through any part of Brigit he can get.
I shove her to the floor behind me and hold out a hand to stop the trajectory, letting the sharp steel sink into my palm, the pain unbearable enough that I can’t stop the guttural scream that escapes me.
The only thing I can do is roughly push him away, keeping his knife lodged in my hand, watching as he stumbles in a puddle of his own blood, landing on the ground with a splat.
My eyes meet Brigit’s as I try to yell at her, “Go. Run.” but I think the words are a bit slurred.
A loud gunshot rings through the air, and I watch Brigit’s face as she flinches, looking right through me in horror.
I collapse to the floor, and she follows, keeping her hands over the wound on my stomach. Wherever Steele fucking shot me this time, at least I can’t feel it.
That’s definitely bad, right? If I can’t even feel a gunshot, I’m definitely dying. At least the last thing I’ll ever see is Brigit.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble.
She shakes her head, holding mine up, “You’re not dying, Cormac, so stop acting like you are.”
I might be.
“I just have to tell you,” I push through the fog setting in.
“I just need you to know that I love you. And I’m not sorry for stalking you.
I’m not sorry for being so in love with you that it made me into a man with no conscience.
But I am sorry that I didn’t explain everything when I had the chance. ”
Her lips wobble, and she looks up behind me, her eyes on something I just have to hope isn’t Steele coming to finish the job before I finish soaking in the last seconds we’ll have together.
“How lucky a bastard am I that I got to fall in love with you twice?” I ask nobody in particular.
Movement jostles me, Brigit, under one arm, holding my body up, and somebody else on the other side.
She smiles sadly, nearly buckling under my weight, “You didn’t even know me.”
“I knew you the second we met. Every time we met.” My head spins, “Every universe, Bunny. Every time we meet in every universe, I’ll know you instantly and you’ll be mine, yeah?”
With a nod and a sniffle, she answers, “Yeah.”
A gruff, familiar voice close to my other side mumbles, “Good god, Fomori, you’re so sappy. You’ve only lost a little blood, you’ll be fine.”
I’m pretty sure he’s lying.
“I’m not lying. I’m being absurdly optimistic,” Skyler corrects.
Loud sounds echo as sudden bright lights assault me, barely keeping me on this side of consciousness.
“Right here!” Brigit’s strained, shaky voice echoes in my ears. “He needs help! Please!”
New, unfamiliar hands try to take me from Brigit and Skyler’s hold, and I try to fight with my limbs that weigh a thousand pounds.
“Cormac,” Brigit grabs my face, bringing my gaze to hers, none of the world around us meaning anything anymore. Her deep chocolate eyes are filled with tears that form a line down her face. “Cormac, they’re going to help you. They’re taking you to the hospital.”
The hospital again?
She laughs, “Yeah, you and Skyler. But I’ll be right behind you, okay?”
Did I say that out loud?
She nods, and it’s the last thing I see before the haze takes me under.
The next thing I register is the beeping of machines.
And once again, my entire body drowning in agony.
“Cormac,” a familiar voice brings me all the way back to life.
But when I open my eyes, I’m surprised not to see Skyler or Brigit, but Dr. Sad-Eyes.
“Hey, Doc,” I cough out a laugh. “Did you miss me?”
His brows raise to his hairline, “When I said I wanted to see you monthly, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“You should have been more clear.”
He laughs, shaking his head.
“Why are you in here?” I ask, “I don’t think I have a brain injury this time.”
“You don’t,” he agrees. “But I said this might affect your healing and I need to check on your progress when they let you wake up.”
“And?”
“And you’re definitely still you,” he says as he looks at my chart. “But I need you to tell me the last thing you remember anyway.”
The memories immediately make me grimace, the echoes of pain and Brigit’s fear overwhelming me.
“I remember getting attacked in my home and trying to protect my girl,” I close my eyes. “I think I remember a gunshot going off behind me that I definitely thought was aimed at me.”
“You were supposed to be staying out of trouble,” he rubs his temples.
“I tried my best,” I shrug. “But trouble found me anyway. Where’s Brigit?”
“Brigit?”
“Brigit Danaan.” I clarify, “She was there. Where is she?”
He looks at the chart again, “I can go check, but no one else was admitted with you and Mr. Beltran.”
“Skyler? Is he okay?”
“Mr. Beltran is a few rooms over, but he had the police in and out of there all night so I doubt he’s awake,” he explains. “The nurses haven’t stopped gossiping about the hero all night. Supposedly, he killed one of the intruders even with a bullet hole through his shoulder.”
My chest caves in with guilt.
It’s not supposed to be Skyler. He was supposed to be the one of us who kept a semi-clean conscience.
“Fuck. Okay, I need you to find Brigit. Brigit Danaan. I need to know that she’s alright,” I plead. “I don’t think she was hurt, but fuck, I’m not sure. There was a knife and a gun and I was really out of it at that point.”
“Yeah, well losing nearly three liters of blood will do that,” he sighs. “What does she look like? I’ll check the waiting room.”
There’s a very good chance she ran for her life as soon as she knew we would be safe. That she did what she’s been claiming she’ll do as quickly as she could and escaped me.
But if she’s still here, there’s a chance for me to explain and fix everything.
“She’s tall, brown eyes.” Don’t say anything inappropriate. “The prettiest person in every room she enters.”
He nods with a small smile, “I’ll go see what I can do.”
As soon as he leaves, I count down the minutes. Five. Six.
She’s really not here.
My chest nearly caves in, and only seconds before I completely lose my mind does Dr. Sad-Eyes return with the most beautiful angel I’ve ever seen.
“Sorry for the delay, Cormac,” he says by way of explanation, “Mr. Beltran had been moved to the recovery wing.”
Upon seeing me, Brigit’s face crumples, her little bunny lines on her nose crinkling, glancing nervously at the doctor like she’s not sure if he’ll stop her from approaching me.
“Hi, Bunny,” I say, watching tears immediately pool as she comes closer, all but collapsing against my chest. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” she cries. “Are you okay? You just spent half the night in surgery! They wouldn’t let me see you. I thought…” her lip wobbles, “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“After spending a few months in a coma, half a night is nothing, babe,” I assure her, using my good hand to wipe a tear from her cheek. “Can you give us a minute, doc?”
“I’ll give you about five, then we have a lot to discuss.”
“Fine,” I can’t take my eyes off of my girl, sobbing with relief into my chest, the show of emotion and vulnerability so unlike her it hurts to see. “Just let me talk to Brig first.”
When the door clicks behind him, I use the bandaged hand to lift Brigit’s chin, making her look at me.
Little tracks of tears run down her face.
“Hey,” I say softly.
“I’m so fucking mad at you,” she tells me, throat clogged with heavy emotion.
I nod, smoothing her wild hair, “I know.”
“I should hate you,” her lips tremble.
Guilt burrows into my stomach, “I know.”
“You stalked me. You tracked my phone. Set up cameras in my apartment.” She lists off the many crimes I committed in a reckless effort to be closer to her. “You lied to me.”
“I never lied to you.”
“Lie by ommission,” she bites.
I can’t stop the small smile raising one corner of my lips, “Okay, Miss Lawyer.”
“I hate you so much right now,” Brigit's voice is so small, so heartbroken, it makes me sick that I’m the one who caused it.
“I love you so much every second of every day,” I confess in response, but her only reply is to cry harder and hide her face in the hospital blanket.
“Why should I believe you?” she mutters into the blanket, hiding her distraught face from me. “I was just another fucking target. You knew everything about me and used it to earn my trust— my—” she can’t finish the sentence, breaking into furious sobs.
“You were never a target,” I assure her.
“I loved you the second I set eyes on you, and then my life went to shit and I loved you the only way that didn’t put you in danger.
Every bone in my body wants to protect you, keep you safe from this world.
But I can’t imagine missing another second we could have together.
I wasted so much time and almost never got the chance to let you know me, too.
I’ve loved you twice and almost lost you twice.
I can’t make you love me back, but I refuse to keep living without you if there’s even a possibility you could one day. ”
“For fucks sake,” she cries. “Of course I love you. All of this only hurts so much because I love you.”
“Brigit,” I make her look up at me again, trying not to lose sight of her fury in the face of her confession.
“I wish I had an explanation that would make everything okay. But I don’t.
I can’t take any of it back.” The door opens, our time alone running out, but I can’t stop until she knows the whole truth.
“And I was going to tell you. I was always going to tell you, I promise.”
“It’s true,” a sardonic voice comes from the open door. “I even told him he was a fucking idiot because of it.”
My eyes dart up, and there’s my best friend leaning casually against the wall like there isn’t a massive bandage wrapped around his shoulder and torso.
“Shut up,” she pleads with Skyler before turning her full attention on me, “That’s what you were going to tell me? The thing you were terrified of?”
I nod, “I swear to god. You can hate me for now. That’s fine. I deserve it. But I promise you, Brigit, I’ll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you.”
Her lip wobbles, but she gives me the slightest nod, just enough to let me breathe a sigh of relief, pulling her to me to kiss the wild hair on top of her head.
“Sorry, Cormac,” Dr. Prentiss returns in a hurry, scowling at Skyler. “The nurses didn’t even try to stop their new hero from storming in.”
“It’s alright,” I laugh. “He won’t admit it, but he was just worried about me.”
“Worried Brigy stormed in here to kill you,” he grins. “Not that I’d blame her.”
Dr. Sad-Eyes chuckles nervously, his eyes darting between me and Brigit and me, “Do you want him here? I’ve got security outside just in case.”
I nod, “He’s fine.”
The doctor sighs in relief, leaning out the door to excuse security before closing the door and diving into all the medical blah blah blah.
Time in the hospital. Again.
Weeks of healing at home.
No alcohol.
No strenuous activity.
But all I can think of is her.
As furious as she is, she’s here.
She stayed.
She loves me.
I’ll let her punish me however she sees fit.
At the end of it all, she chose to be with me and let me earn her forgiveness.
She chose to be mine as much as I am hers.
And nothing will ever matter more than that.