Chapter 37
Gannix
Everything happened so fucking quickly. The pain in my head became overwhelming, and I lost it. I passed out right there in front of Emerson. I don’t know what happened after that because now I’m hanging from a fucking tree with Gary shooting arrows into me and Emerson standing in front of me. I’m still dizzy and can barely see straight, but I can see it’s her. My fucking Emerson.
“Leave her alone, Gary!” I roar this time. He just chuckles as she slowly walks closer to us. I wish she would run. I wish she never came out here but here she is.
“No. I’m finishing what we started,” he growls.
“You don’t have to do that. She didn’t see anything,” I remind him.
“You’re lying to me, Gannix. And I hate liars. She’s it. She’s the last one because, after tonight, you’re both dead.” Gary keeps his eyes on Emerson and my chest clenches. I can’t lose her. I don’t want to. I tug at the chains, holding my arms in place, but it’s fucking useless. I’m not going anywhere.
“It’s me you wanted. Let Gannix go.”
“That would be the easy thing to do, wouldn’t it? Let my brother live.”
“He’s your family. He’s all you have. Let him go.” Emerson keeps her eyes glued to his.
“All I have. You know, I thought that too but then he did this shit. He took you from the hunt and ran with you. Do you know how stupid I looked out there hunting the bitches who did him wrong while he was running with one?” He laughs darkly.
“I told you, not her!”
“And I told you I didn’t give a shit. This is who we are, Nix. You think you can escape that just because you’re with her? You’re wrong! There’s no way to escape any of this,” he screams as he turns back to me. That’s when I see Emerson move. She pulls a gun from under her shirt, and my heart speeds up. Gary starts toward me once more, but before he can get to me, she fires. It misses and he quickly turns to laugh in her face.
“You don’t know how to shoot,” he sneers.
“She doesn’t, but I do.” I jerk my head around to see Ren walking toward us from behind with his gun aimed at Gary.
“What the fuck?” Gary curses under his breath. My men were here, I didn’t know why, but I didn’t know Ren was here.
“What the fuck is right,” Ren tells him. He steps around so he’s standing next to Emerson, both of them aiming their guns.
“Are you going to do it? Are you going to kill your best friend’s brother?” Gary taunts him. Ren moves his eyes to me and back to Gary before pulling the trigger. Gary’s body drops to the ground, and Ren moves toward him to make sure he’s dead. Tears stream down Emerson’s cheeks, but she never lowers the gun.
Ren moves to get the cuffs off me and lowers me to the ground before pulling the arrows out of my legs. I growl low in my throat, but I keep myself held together so I don’t startle Emerson. Then I nod toward her so Ren knows what’s happening.
“Shit. She’s in shock,” he says.
“I see that. Help me up,” I tell him. Ren helps me up, and even though my fucking legs and body are killing me, I stumble toward her.
“Em?” She doesn’t move, doesn’t blink, or lower the gun still. “Emerson?” I call her name once more. The tears keep falling as I step up next to her. I reach out and rest my hand on her arm, and she jolts, screaming at the top of her lungs when Ren snatches the gun out of her hand. I grab her and pull her into my arms, holding her as tightly as I can.
“It’s okay, Emerson. It’s all going to be okay now.”
“You were dead.”
“You saved me.”
“I’m not your hero, Gannix. I …”
“It’s okay, baby. Everything is okay now. He’s gone.”
“I thought you were gone,” she tells me as sobs shake her body.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I remind her. She clings to me as Ren makes some phone calls, and then he’s by my side, helping us both back into the house.
Emerson never pulls away from me as we make our way back to our room.
“I’m going to pass out, Ren,” I tell him as my head spins. I know what happens when I get like this.
“I know. I have a doctor on the way.”
“You have to take care of her,” I urge as I nod to Emerson.
“I got this.” We head for the bed, and only then does Emerson let me go.
“On the bed,” I tell her. In a daze, she climbs on the bed, and I lay down next to her. Before I can say anything, she’s back to clinging to me. Ren gives me a nod and leaves the room as I hold onto Emerson.
“You shoved an arrow into your chest,” she cries.
“I’m sorry.”
“You can’t do that to me. Ever!”
“I’m sorry, Em.” There’s nothing more to say. Sleep is slowly tugging me under, and I let it.
I don’t dream of anything. I don’t think there’s anything for me to dream of. I have Emerson. My brother is dead. Everything is a complete mess. I lie in the darkness; that’s all there is.
“It’s been three days,” I hear Emerson yelling as I try to pry my eyes open.
“It happens. The doctors don’t know why,” I hear Ren say this time.
“For three days? That’s normal? There’s something wrong, Ren.”
“There’s nothing wrong, Emerson. I’m telling you this is what happens.”
“And they don’t know why?”
“No. He’s been to multiple specialists, and none of them know what’s happening.”
“This is stupid. He hasn’t eaten, he hasn’t drunk anything. He’s going to fucking dehydrate.”
“No, he isn’t. He’s had IV fluids. He’s fine,” Ren assures her. I feel the bed shift, and then I feel her hand on my chest, causing my heart to kick up a notch. I pry my eyes open and turn my head to see her staring at me.
“Hey,” I whisper.
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “I thought you were never going to wake up.”
“I’m awake now.”
“You’re awake now,” she repeats. I shift a little so I can reach her and pull her to me. I kiss her. I kiss her like my life depends on it. I kiss her hard, and when I finally let her breathe, she rests her forehead against mine, and everything seems right.
“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do.”
“Em, everything is okay. It’s going to be okay,” I tell her.
“Is it? I mean, they cleaned up all the bodies, and there were a lot of them, Gannix. And your brother … fuck. I’m so sorry,” she says as tears fill her eyes. I shake my head, and she sits up, and I do the same even though my body aches. I grab her face in my hands and force her to look at me.
“Emerson, don’t do that. He was going to kill you, and that wasn’t an option. There’s no fucking way I could have lived without you. Do you understand that?”
“I didn’t want to be without you either.”
“What? You didn’t?”
“No. I’ve never felt like I needed anyone the way I need you,” she tells me. My heart beats faster now I’ve heard her say that. She’s it. She’s all I ever wanted. She’s everything I wanted. I’ve watched her for so long, needing her, craving her, and now she’s here telling me she needs me too.
“Emerson, I love you. And I’ve never loved anyone or anything in my life.”
“What?” she gasps.
“I love you. I probably have since the first time I saw you. You’re the only thing that made me feel complete.”
“Gannix,” she whispers my name as Ren leaves the room with a smile on his face.
“I don’t want to hear it back. I don’t need to because the way this all happened was fucked up. I should have never done what I did to you, but I’m fucked up, Emerson. I’ll never be a good man. I’ll never have a clear conscience. The things I’ve done, I can’t take back, and the things I’ll do in the future … fuck.”
“They made you this way, Gannix. You don’t have to do it anymore. It’s over. It’s all over,” she says, looking me in the eye.
“Is it? Because I still want to do all those things to you.”
“Hunt me?” Now, I smirk at her.
“Not for the reasons you think. I don’t want to kill you, Emerson, but I’d love nothing more than to fucking hunt you down and do whatever I want to you.”
“And you think I wouldn’t let you do it?” she asks.
“Would you?”
“Till the day I die.”