Page 153 of Beautiful Exile

And then, he fired.

Everything swirled: the moments, the sounds, the images in front of me.

Some part of my brain was aware of law enforcement calling out from below. Another caught hold of a scream behind me. But it all came apart as some force hit me from the side, taking me to the floor as another shot sounded.

I hit the carpet and hardwood with enough force to knock the air clean out of me. And then all I could see was Arden. Her mahogany hair a tangle around us, her beautiful eyes wide with shock.

My father screamed in pain as it sounded like some deputies took him to the floor. But all I could see was Arden.

“Cowboy,” she whispered.

“Vicious.” I rolled us so she was beneath me. “Are you okay? Are you—?” Everything stilled, the barked orders around me turning to nothing but a faint buzz. Because there was blood on Arden’sdress—way more than had been there before. And it was pooling on her belly, spreading across the fabric.

“Help!” I screamed the word, desperate for someone who could stop this from happening.

“Pressure,” Trace clipped. “Pressure on the wound.”

My hands moved without thought as I leaned my weight onto Arden. “Why?” I croaked, my eyes filling, tears falling and mixing with all that blood.

“Because I love you.”

And then I lost those eyes, the ones that had held me hostage. The ones that had saved me. They were gone, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it.

57

ARDEN

Nora helpedme ease onto the couch as more than half a dozen people hovered. Shep and Thea from their spot by the island where a mound of food was piled. Kye in the corner, a hard look on his face that hadn’t left since I’d woken up in the hospital. Rhodes and Anson in chairs opposite, concern even making its way onto the stoic ex-profiler’s face. Lolli and Fallon in the kitchen, working on more food we didn’t need. And Brutus right by my side, like always.

I understood why. Getting shot could get your family riled. Having to undergo a splenectomy on top of it didn’t help. And almost a week in the hospital made us all twitchy.

“Do you need water? Juice?” Rhodes asked, bracing to stand.

“How about this new CBD iced tea I’ve been perfecting?” Lolli asked hopefully.

Shep sent her an exasperated look. “I don’t think now is the time for Arden to be your taste- tester.”

“Why not?” Lolli asked, her hands going to her hips and making the bedazzled pot leaf on her shirt stand out more, along with the script that read:I’d Hit That. “We’ll know if it helps pain.”

“We’re not mixing your experiments with Arden’sprescriptionmedication, Mom,” Nora clipped, her voice taking on that final air.

Lolli’s gaze cut to me. “You just let me know if you need a little something extra.”

I grinned at her. “I think the shower was good enough for me. Best drug around after nothing but sponge baths for a week.”

Linc’s movement at the windows was slight, an infinitesimal tightening of his jaw, but I didn’t miss it. And the agony from that tiny movement was far worse than the pain in my side. He glanced at his watch and then strode into the kitchen, spilling a single white pill into his hand. Moving to the fridge, he pulled out some of the lemonade Thea had made, knowing it was my favorite.

In a matter of seconds, Linc was lowering himself to the coffee table in front of me and handing over the glass and pain pill. “It’s time.”

“I think?—”

“Doctor said to stay on top of the pain for at least these first few days.”

Linc’s voice was so bleak, I couldn’t bear it. I took the glass and pill, swallowing the medicine down. I knew I had about thirty minutes before it made me feel fuzzy. I both hated and welcomed the sensation. I hated not being aware. Welcomed not having to see all the ways Linc was pulling away.

He was physically present, but emotionally? He might as well have been on a different continent.

It was like he couldn’t process it all, and learning all the ways our lives had been inextricably linked before we even met would be a mind fuck on a good day. But finding out that his father had been responsible for killing my parents and terrorizing me had been more than he could take.

---