67. Chapter 64
Chance
I wasn’t even touching the gun and I could feel how fucking cold it was. Despite the warm blood trickling against my hand, ice-cold rage poured itself through my veins.
I’d fucked up, been careless and gotten so lost in Mari that I’d forgotten about the mysterious man witnesses had seen Talia lurking around with. Now Randy fucking Rager held a gun to Mari’s head.
My woman’s head.
Not happening .
I’d cut his hands off before he could even think of pulling the trigger.
That icy swell pumped its way through my body, igniting the fight response that was so conditioned in my brain. I clenched my hands, digging my blunt nails into my palms, forcing my brain to slow down and think.
Fucking think , man.
I pulled the phone from Mari’s hand, letting my probing fingers skim her cheek. Being careful not to press the hang-up button, I tossed it to the ground then slowly kicked it away, attempting to buy us as much time as possible.
“Get your hands up.” He wrapped an arm around Mari’s chest, holding her back to him, the gun still pointed at her temple.
My legs traitorously wobbled, my abdomen burning at the movement. The world turned fuzzy and hazy, but I urged the adrenalin to hit my system.
C’mon, body. Level me up.
JJ, who had at some point found his way next to me, stepped slightly behind me. To others, Randy included, it would have looked like JJ was hiding behind me. But it was his knee wedged behind mine to stop my legs from buckling that told me my best mate was okay. He was here. He was ready.
“The only way my hands are coming up is to fucking flog you,” I growled, the words burning through my throat as I fought like hell to remain in control. “Let go of her, before I have to.”
He laughed. The sound was putrid, and I promised myself to never remember it.
“You’re not as scary as you think, Riordan.” He threw a sharp, wicked smile my way. “I was so close to finishing you off. Somehow, this little whore—”
“Watch it,” I snarled, my back teeth beginning to ache from biting down, a lock on my jaw.
“She comes in and kisses you. Kisses you! And somehow you win twelve seconds after the round starts.” He ran the barrel of the gun up and down the side of Mari’s beautiful face. It caught on her cheekbones, but she didn’t flinch. She kept her eyes on me, and I gave her a subtle nod.
I know what you’re doing, keep doing it. I’ve got you.
“Was there a point to your little tale? Aside from pointing out the obvious,” JJ chided.
Slowly, slightly, I inched forward. I was all too aware of JJ’s handy little pocketknife in my back pocket. It was rusty from years of sitting in the crowded glove box of his ute, but it would be our saving grace now. Not yet … just a little longer.
“That belt is mine, Riordan. I’ll make it mine again.”
The hand that gripped Mari’s shoulder moved to cup her neck. “Hmm, I’m curious just how good this pussy must be to have you so wound up over it.” He leaned his nose in and scented her like a fucking dog .
No.
No.
No .
All thoughts flew, lost to the fire, as every ounce of control burst into flames inside of me.
After ripping the flimsy little blade from my back pocket, I drove it—short, sharp, and fast—into the forearm holding the gun to Mari’s head.
It struck true in one of his outer forearm muscles, forcing his grip release on the gun.
Randy roared in pain and threw Mari into the wall, leaving a dent behind and crumpling my beautiful woman to the floor. He chuckled at seeing her in pain, seeing what it did to me.
But that was where he went wrong.
Loving Mari didn’t make me weak.
It made me unstoppable .
He pulled the knife from his forearm and flung it at me.
Already moving, I easily evaded the blade flying through the air.
The clatter of it falling sounded behind me, but I’d already struck.
I jammed my fist hard and deep into the sealed-over cut on his eyebrow that I’d caused less than twenty-four hours ago.
Using the sharp point of my knuckle, I dragged it, enough to split the cut into double the length.
Blood immediately spurted down his face, but I was already on his other side, completely out of range when he swung in retaliation.
My adrenalin took a toll and I stumbled into the wall, but then JJ was there.
There weren’t two professional fighters here.
There was three .
JJ’s attacks lured him away from the wall, away from Sunny and me.
I groaned or roared—I couldn’t tell—as I kicked my body back into motion.
Somehow, JJ had landed himself a split lip, filtering his front teeth crimson red.
Randy rolled out of a left hand JJ had thrown but didn’t miss the body shot he followed through with.
His brow was bursting with blood, and he let out a guttural groan at the blow to his liver.
Randy hunched momentarily. Thinking he’d landed a hard enough blow, JJ stepped in to throw a knee to his asshole face. But JJ was wrong, so fucking wrong.
Randy snapped up tall as JJ closed in, a large, long blade now in his hand. He sliced a deep, ruthless slash across JJ’s chest. JJ’s teeth gritted in agony, but all I could hear was roaring in my ears when my eyes landed on Sunny, still crumpled on the floor.
Unconscious.
Battered.
Bleeding.
Bruised.
Randy grinned and turned to face me once again. The sick fuck was enjoying this, hurting the people I loved.
Never again .
Stepping through on my left foot, I used the momentum to double pump my calf.
Leaping into the air, I launched a vicious superman’s punch.
Glorious, wonderous pain sang out across my hand when I struck true on the very end of his chin.
The landing of the blow sent his head swinging, knocked out cold by the time he hit the floor.
I let out a raspy breath and stared at Randy for a moment, half-expecting him to jump up and go for another round.
He didn’t. His body was as still as Sunny’s.
I snatched up the gun on the floor, removed the clip, and tucked it into the waistband of my jeans before shoving the clip deep into my front pocket. Police, Ambos, Firies—whoever came here could take it off me. I’d be gone by the time they found us.
I dropped to my knees, then to my side next to Sunny.
The adrenalin was fading and the searing, blazing pain from the bullet wound in my abdomen felt like my insides were being personally shredded by Lucifer himself.
Fitting, considering the deep orange sunrays that were filtering through the windows. The sun was rising.
I looked over to the woman laying next to me.
Her eyes were lightly shut, as if she was simply sleeping.
Ignoring the bile that rose from the sight of her split lip, cheekbone, and bruised jaw, I smiled.
I smiled at the love of my life beside me—the other half of me; my soul; my world.
We’d found each other, after all of the pain and suffering and loss.
It’d all been a long, winding road that led to her, the most extraordinary destination of all.
Stifling a groan, I picked up her warm hand and pushed my big fingers through her small ones.
After releasing the precious metal down onto her fingers, I squeezed her hand three times.
I . Love . You .
My insides felt like they were being tasered, but I just kept looking at her. Her curls were frizzy and messy, but I still itched to run my hands through them, to tug them the way she liked. Her chest moved up and down rhythmically, in a sequence of steady breaths.
“Come on, Sunny baby,” I gently urged. “Let me see those eyes.”
I ran my spare hand over the band of freckles that striped across her nose and up her cheekbones, unintentionally smearing blood across her face. I never knew I could be laying here, a bullet inside me that was squirting blood fucking everywhere, and still feel lucky .
I was so lucky.
I was so lucky to love this woman.
I was so lucky to die next to this woman.
I was so lucky to die for this woman.
“Let me fall in love all over again, Sunny. Open your eyes.”
The floorboards thudded beneath me, and I groaned. JJ was beside me yelling into my retrieved phone. From the corner of my eye, he ripped his shirt off and shoved it into my leaking gut.
“You know,” He sniffled lightly, “If you wanted to play the whole damsel in distress, we could have gone to the beach instead. I could have dragged your heavy ass out of the water instead of shoving my shirt into your insides.”
“I know you’re a sucker for a damsel in distress,” I rasped.
Sunny took a slow, deep breath but still didn’t open her eyes.
I held her hand tightly, still warm, and squeezed it three times again. I . Love . You . “I love you, mate.” I wrapped my spare hand around one of his wrists that was coated in my blood. JJ sobbed and growled simultaneously.
The faint sound of sirens tickled my ears.
“Thank fuck,” he muttered under his breath, loosing a shuddering breath. His hands were shaking, or maybe that was me. I was so cold. “Stay the fuck awake, Chance. I mean it.”
“Get Milah out. You have to help her, J. She’s a tough nut, but she’ll listen to you.”
His face softened as I broached the subject that would catch his attention from anything.
I squeezed Mari’s hand three times. I . Love . You .
“Your sister will cut off my balls if I show up to get her without you. Open your eyes,” he demanded.
“They …” I rasped. “They weren’t that big anyways.”
“No way are your last words to me going to be you telling me I have small balls. Open your eyes, Chance.” His voice cracked, and I groaned when he put more pressure down on the burning fucking hole in my stomach.
“’Til forever falls apart, brother,” I whispered the vow we’d kept for all of those years.
“Put the pieces back together mate,” he replied. “’Cause you’re not dying today.”
I squeezed Mari’s hand, soothing and warm, three times. I . Love . You .
I was so cold and so tired. I dragged my eyelids open, desperate to watch the woman sleeping beside me.
Sleeping —I told myself—because I couldn’t die knowing she was in pain.
Her face wasn’t scrunched up like it usually was just before she woke up to her morning alarm.
The crease between her eyebrows was absent, smooth skin in its wake.
Her face was relaxed, despite the chaos and gloom and hell that surrounded us.
I swallowed the boiling anger that rose knowing how they had tainted JJ’s house for her, how they had punished her for mistakes that weren’t even close to being hers—
No.
I refuse.
I dragged my eyes to that silly little ‘chance’ space she had tattooed on her inner arm. An eternal reminder of our love, of our time sharing this planet together. I’d find her—I always could. She was the sunshine in the word of unending darkness—a beacon whose call home I would always answer.
My eyes failed me, drooping and dragging. Mustering any form of consciousness I could, I snapped my gaze up to her face. Even bloody, bruised, and cut up, there was no better sight to behold.
When the cool shadow finally came, it erupted over my mind and body. But there, in darkest of corners, I found that quiet peace amongst the abyss. The place where my Sunny baby’s light would shine brightest. I squeezed her hand one last time.
I . Love . You .
I . Love . You . She squeezed back.