Page 98 of Ricochet

“You didn’t.Someone with a long-range assault rifle did.” Colin turned down another quiet street, happy that he’d found them a little trafficked area. He could see what was behind them, no longer having to struggle to stay in a lane, and watch her.

“You know what I meant.”

“Here.” He thumped his elbow on the center console. “Tissues.”

“What?”

“Told you we’d need them.”

“It looks like a war zone in here.”She gaped. “Tissues?”

She wasn’t wrong. Though the interior of his car was dark, most surfaces had evidence of his blood. The steering wheel looked like a crime scene. His seat was now sticky from his drying blood, and everywhere that she had leaned and touched carried the reminder of how Adelia had pulled his shirt up and helped bandage him. Bandage wrappers littered the car, and, yeah, shewas dead on. “Let’s get where we need to go. My phone’s in my pocket. Can you grab it?”

The idea of reaching down, or hell, moving needlessly, made him want to puke.

“What?”

A burst of anxiety hit his blood. It was a simple task to ask of her after she’d just bandaged him. “Come on, Adelia. I don’t want to move more than I have to.”

“Who are you going to call?”

He didn’t need a headache ontop of it all. “Does it matter?”

“Yes! You wouldn’t be shot if it didn’t!”

Colin muttered.

“Why are we driving around?” she snapped. “We need to go to a hospital.”

“Not necessarily.” He had to call his boss. That was what he needed to do, damn it. The pain vibrated the more frustrated he got, and Colin tried to lift his ass off the seat to get his phone from his back pocket but stopped whenhis abdominal muscles seemed to catch fire. Pain fucking sucked. “I cannot believe we’re fighting over something so stupid.”

“Well, couples fight. Get over it.”

He snort-laughed and kept chuckling. Then Colin couldn’t stop. Tears made his eyes water as he tried to concentrate.

“Are you insane?” She climbed over the console back into the passenger seat. “You’re dying. Stop laughing.”

He laughedharder and his torso begged him to stop, but he didn’t. “This might be the stupidest fight I’ve ever heard about.”

“I just want my normal life back!” she screamed then her breath hitched into a sob. Dry-blood covered fists clenched to her side. “I didn’t understand the ripple effect.”

He had no clue what she meant but this moment was a kick in the gut that hurt much deeper than a gunshot wound.Adelia was a civilian. She was knowledgeable about somethings thanks to Mayhem’s culture, but she wasn’t trained to deal with stress, shock, or anything she’d seen. “It’s going to be okay.”

Silence with the exception of her shaking breaths.

He glanced at her and back to the road. “Do you believe me? That you’re going to be okay?”

“I think,” she whispered.

“If you could be anywhere you want,where would it be?” Visualization was a practice taught to one of the first days at boot camp. They kicked his ass, but they gave him the tools to survive. She didn’t have those tools. “Picture it in your mind. Go there.”

“That’s stupid.”

“That’s survival,” he corrected. Colin needed to talk to Brock in a bad way. His head swam and a lightheadedness that needed to be avoided made him feel weak.“Tell me about it. Can you see it?”

“Maybe.” She seemed far more vulnerable than minutes ago.

“Go with it,” he urged.

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