Page 91 of The Games We Play

“No,” I whisper as I’m held firm in my place by strangers.

He takes a deep breath, and his cracked and bleeding lips curve into a small smile, and he winces. “I never planned to fall in love with you, Puppet.” My heart stops. The sounds around me dissipate, and my vision tunnels until there is only X.

“I love you.” My voice cracks, and more tears spill over my cheeks. “Please,” I start, but I can’t get any more words out as my throat tightens, cutting off my voice.

“You were my greatest hunt.”

I blink through my burning eyes and jerk against the firm hands holding me.

X moves his focus back to Darius.

My father stares down at him with disgust, contorting his features. He drops his cane, and one of his men replaces it with a gun.

“No! Please! Please, Dad! Don’t do it!” I succumb to begging, anything I can do to convince him to spare X’s life.

He ignores me, his finger hovering over the trigger, and his arm stiffened straight out.

“You lose,” Dad states, and his finger squeezes.

In a blink, X springs to his feet, and the gun goes off.

The world stops. Time freezes. Dad and X stand locked together as if leaning on each other. X’s fist is at Dad’s throat, and Dad’s arm is wrapped around X’s back with his other hand between them like an awkward hug. The men at my sides loosen their grip as if they don’t know what is happening, either.

I exhale a shaky breath. Dad steps back from X and lifts his hand to his neck. X moves his fist, and the hilt of a knife is stuck in Dad’s soft tissue, a steady stream of blood trickling and soaking into the collar of his shirt. X sways, and my captors release me, grabbing for their guns, and I race for the man I love. It’s like I’m watching Ryan in slow motion all over again. This time I will be fast enough to save him. Shouts ring out, but I can’t decipher them or understand what they’re saying. I drop my shoulder and catch X in the ribs as we crash to the floor, and gunshots ricochet all around us.

Forty-Six - X

I’m tackled from theside, and the air is knocked from my lungs. I wrap my arms around Puppet’s warmth as she lies on top of me. It spreads across my body as if her presence is thawing me and settling the beast back into a slumber within my soul. My vision is spotty, and I murmur against her hair as it brushes my cheeks.

“You’re safe, Tess.” My limbs are heavy, and they fall to my side.

“X?” she pushes back, and I try to bring her into focus, but I can’t. Where her blue eyes should be staring down at me are black spots that mottle her features. I just want to see her before I die. One last glimpse. Is that too much to ask for?

I guess for a soul as black and scarred as mine, it is.

She touches my stomach and gasps, then her hand presses firmly into my abdomen, and her screams of pain have me terrified she’s been shot.

No, she’s safe. I killed him. He killed Nadia. There isn’t anyone else to hurt her.

They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die. For me, it’s images of Puppet running through the woods, chewing on the end of her pen at school, strutting through the clown house covered in blood and mud. It’s her blonde hair blowing in the wind at the lake house and her blue eyes staring at me through the mask that mirrored my own. My soul found a home within hers.

And I can’t imagine a better way to go out than finally feeling whole and knowing what it’s like to love someone on an infinite level.

“Move,” a voice orders, and my one eye springs open, searching for the betrayer of my bliss.

“Get the fuck away from him!” Puppet shouts.

I have to wake up. I have to protect her. I was wrong. This isn’t over yet.

“Unless you want him to bleed out, move,” the voice orders again, and her weight abandons me.

I try to reach for her and tell her to come back. I don’t want to die without her touching me, but all I can get out is gargled mumbles that don’t make any sense.

“Call Doc. Tell him GS to the abdomen. I can get him stable, but he needs Doc!”

With the unfamiliar voice, memories of the fight come back to him. He punched at me with a blade but missed, and I caught his wrist. He pulled me in close and told me Doc sent his regards and let me grab the knife from him. I slid it up my sleeve, then pretended to stab him in the stomach, and he fell to the side. I just had to stay alive and conscious long enough for Darius to get close.

When he thought it was over, I slid the knife from my sleeve and buried it in his neck.

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