Page 205 of Auctioned

“No!” Ophelia runs, speeding out of nowhere to stand before me.

She takes the bullet for me.

I’m not myself. Not in my body. I don’t even breathe.

Somehow, though, I move. Wrap an arm around her stomach and pin her to my body. My head tips down to see red liquid bursting from her chest. Dripping down the gray sweatshirt she had put on before coming down here to save me.

Her face is white. Mouth gaping. Air pushes out of it.

One exhale.

She doesn’t breathe back in. Or she does, and I don’t see it.

I don’t fucking see it.

Snap out of it. Remember who the hell you are.

She needs me. She’s hurt. Hurt bad.

Bleeding.

My heart breaks. Crashes to the floor. All the way to the center of the earth.

The corners of my eyes sting.

The hollowness in my chest, it hurts. The pain is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

There’s nothing left of me.

Not my ribs. Not my heart. Not my lungs. I doubt there’s a drop of blood left in my body.

I’m an empty shell.

So how does everything hurt so bad? Why am I being stabbed by a thousand invisible knives?

Without her, I…

Mourning for her while she might still be alive is a luxury I don’t have.

I’ll lose my shit later.

This can’t be it.

She’s not dead.

Can’t be.

Protect her. I have to protect her.

I’m back in my body in a split second. Fast enough to notice that her hands aren’t on me.

She’s not fighting.

My Ophelia always fights.

Camden laughs. I hear him while I stare at my son. While I put her down and come between her and them.

“She deserved it—” Topher starts.

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