Page 90 of Royally Bad

Digging into my pocket with blood soaking my everything, I opened my phone. Smudges stained my screen, my message sending on its way to my father. It was a bare little text, it only read:HLP.

I didn’t have time to hit theE, but he’d understand.

Pushing himself to his feet, Brick braced one arm on his uninjured leg. The other was dragging uselessly as he limped toward me.

His gun shook as he raised it—red veins popped in the boiled eggs that were a poor excuse for his eyes. “You’re dead,” he breathed heavily. “Fucking dead.”

I knew I was smiling, I couldn’t control it. “Shoot me, go on! I won’t die. I’m too damn tough to die.” If I kept talking, I could give my family time to get here. I just had to drag this out ... I just ...

The black hole in the muzzle of his gun became the only thing I could focus on. Some feet away, Sammy groaned weakly.

Brick pressed the warm, metal tip between my eyes. “Guess we’ll find out,” he said, squeezing the trigger.

Blood splattered.

It wasn’t mine.

Brick rocked forward, coughing as liquid filled his throat. He toppled to the ground, leaving me more lost than ever as he rolled around in pain. Where had that shot come from?

On the empty road, I saw a new car. Its lights were off, none of us had heard it approaching. My savior was a big man with an even bigger gun. For a second I thought it was my father, but he was thinner—paler. I didn’t know him, but I did know that he’d saved my life.

Herlife.

“Sammy!” I shouted, dragging myself over the pavement toward her. She was propped against the car’s tire, her stare fixed straight ahead on the stranger. In the distance, the first howls of police sirens began over the hill.

Someone had finally heard the gunshots and reported them.

She swayed, sliding sideways and to the street. Closing the distance, ignoring my pain, I scooped her into my lap. “Sammy! Sammy, look at me!”

She wouldn’t, she was too busy fixating on the stranger. “It’s him,” she said in disbelief.

Was this new man dangerous? Was he going to aim at us next?

“Who is he?” I asked urgently.

Finally, she looked up at me. “That’s my father.”

- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE -

SAMMY

“Sammy?”

This is nice. This is warm.

“Sammy! Sammy, please ...”

Leave me alone. I can finally sleep. I haven’t felt so relaxed in forever.

“I love you ... so please, just ... wake up.”

Kain?

My eyes snapped open. Wincing at the bright lights overhead, I tried to shield my eyes; something tugged my arm, keeping it locked in place. In a panic I started to thrash, too confused to make sense of what was going on.

I’d been dreaming ...

But before that, hadn’t I died?

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