Page 129 of Coup De Grâce
His eyes fluttered before he reached up, his fingers brushing against my jacket. “My brothers…” His other hand searched for Cash’s, and he took it, gripping it tightly in his.
Anger simmered under an unnamed emotion that I couldn’t think about right now. My eyes blurred as I stared at the annoying fucker who had somehow become like a brother to me. Who had just taken a bullet for me.
“Fox, fight,” I yelled. “Stay with me, alright? Stay with me!”
“Couldn’t have asked…for a better family,” he said, choking on the words. “Tell Anna…”
But the words never came. His eyes turned glassy right before they slipped closed and his hand went limp in mine.
“Fox!”
“Come on, you fucker,” Cash shouted, shoving me aside to work on his friend. “Do not die on me now. You don’t get to do this. Not after all those fucking musicals you made me watch. Not when?—”
The EMTs arrived, shoving me aside, but Cash was still yelling at Fox.
“Don’t fucking do this! I didn’t…” He choked on the words, his head dipping as he stared at his friend lying on the ground.
I tugged him back, letting the paramedics do their thing, but the way he was laying there…
The sound of the sirens drowned out everything else as they wheeled him away, telling us which hospital they were taking him to as they left.
“What happened?” FNG shouted as he ran up.
I struggled to find the words, but there was nothing.
No words could describe what just happened. My eyes slowly shifted to the man hanging out of the car. I should have made sure he was dead. I should have checked his pulse, but I stupidly assumed someone from the police department would handle that.
And Fox paid the price. He stepped in front of that bullet for me.
My brothers.
What kind of brother was I? I let him down.
Cash gripped my shoulder, forcing me to look at him. “That was not your fault.”
“I—”
“No,” he snapped. “I see where your head is going. Fox wouldn’t want that, so stop fucking thinking about that. All we can do now is get to the fucking hospital.”
It was hard to think of anything else but what had just happened, but he was right. Fox needed us.
“You’d better prepare yourself for months of musicals while he’s recovering because I’m not taking on Fox duty for the next three months all by myself.”
I nodded, willing to do fucking anything right now if it meant he was coming home. Hell, I would watch every musical he owned if he just fucking lived.
“Come on. Let’s get to the hospital.”
When I finally looked up, half of OPS was surrounding us, and they all looked just as devastated as I felt. But the anger…I shoved it down and stormed off toward the ambulance.
Fox would be fine.
He was too stubborn to allow something like a bullet to take him down.
38
CASH
Sunlight streamedin through the window as I rolled over, sighing contentedly at the comfort of my own bed. I didn’t think I would ever get here, that I would ever feel Eva’s arms wrapped around me or smell her scent on my sheets again.
