Page 73 of Dark Things
“Reb!” he bellows, dropping down next to me after Brooks cuts him from the chain. He looks like a bloody angel.
I lift my hand to his face and cup his cheek. “I love you,” I say. It’s getting harder to breathe. If this is the last thing I do, it was worth it. Haunt is free.
“No!” someone shouts. I feel hands come up to mychest and put pressure on it. Someone is screaming, and I realize the sound is coming from me.
“Call a fucking ambulance!” another voice bellows.
All I can focus on is Haunt’s eyes. The blue seems more aqua in the light. Even with all of the blood and bruises, he’s so beautiful.
“Don’t you fucking die on me. We have a lifetime together. You are my everything, my soul, my heart,” Haunt says, tears dripping down the cuts on his face.
“Save Magnus. Get him out. Promise me,” I slur. It won’t be long now.
“No, we’re going to get him together. I’ll fix this. Just hang on, please Reb. I can’t do this without you,” he says, cupping my face in his hands. “Ti amo, gioia mia. Ti amo.”
“The ambulance will be here in five minutes. Hang on, trouble,” Staff says, his face coming into view and his hands hovering over me. I grasp one and bring it to my belly.
“Double trouble,” I garble.
Yelling comes from somewhere behind me, and I try to focus on the two guys in front of me, but it’s getting so hard. Black dots crowd my vision and my hand falls from Haunt’s face. I can’t keep my eyes open. I blink and try to push more words out. I need to tell them. I try to get the words out, but nothing comes. Darkness sweeps over me, and I close my eyes. Haunt is safe; he’ll get Magnus and the guys have each other. I can sleep now.
30
Colter
Isit in the ambulance watching the paramedics work on Reb. She was shot in the chest. Probably hit a lung. My hands are coated in her blood where I pressed down on her chest trying to stop the flow, but there was so much of it. It pooled through my fingers, drenching my arms.
She codes twice by the time we get to the hospital. They wheel her out, and there’s a cluster of doctors and nurses as soon as the gurney touches the blacktop. Shouts and numbers are tossed around, but my eyes never leave her face.
She was a warrior when she came storming into that room. I’ve never seen someone so detached one moment and full of feelings the next. Everything that was said in that room brings more questions than answers. I still believe she knows where Belle is, but what if Brooks was right? They don’t look the same,but she called Brooks BK again and then responded when Staff called her trouble. And Magnus? Could she be looking out for Belle’s brother? It’s not a common name, so this connection has to be stronger than we originally thought.
When we were kids, Belle used to say she wasn’t the only trouble. She and Staff called themselves Double Trouble for a whole summer when we were at rich kid camp. I don’t think Staff has pulled a prank since we lost Belle. If Brooks was her twin flame, the only one who could reach her when she was in her head, then Staff was her partner in crime. You couldn’t tell now, but his favorite thing was pulling Belle into schemes that would drive everyone crazy. And me? I was her rock. The person she went to when it got to be too suffocating in her house. When she needed a friend, and then more. She called me her lighthouse once, and it couldn’t have been more true for either of us.
I loved Belle with everything I had. We did everything together. She was my person. The one constant in my life when shit went down. My parents were too busy with their careers to raise a child. Before Belle, I was home with nannies and housekeepers. School was my escape, and Belle became my home. And then she was gone.
“Trauma room one! Get the crash cart!” a doctor yells. They take her through the door, and I follow, holding on to her ankle. I need her to be okay. We stilldon’t know the full story, but something inside of me is saying that Reb can’t die. Her light burns too bright, even if she walks in the shadows.
I watch them hook her to machines, a flurry of activity. All I can do is stare at her broken body in front of me. I squeeze her ankle harder but it changes nothing. My chest feels heavy, and I bring up a hand to rub it. One of the nurses cuts her shirt down the middle, and right through her bra. I don’t pay attention to anything besides the tattoo on her sternum. Low enough to not be seen in a low cut top, but right in the center between her breasts.
It’s been there the whole time. A dying black rose in a glass container with three initials etched in the cracked glass — C.S.B. The petals are shriveled and some lay at the bottom of the dome.
I suck in a breath and let out a roar. Every person in the room turns to me, but I don’t hear anything. My focus becomes a pinprick, my eyes only for the girl in front of me. She’s here. In front of me, her secrets exposed. Her body torn apart by a bullet that should have been for me. I can’t lose her again. I can’t.
“Get him the fuck out of here,” the doctor shouts.
A nurse grabs my bicep, but I shrug it off. “Sir, you need to leave the room. We’re going to take care of her, but we can’t do that with you in the way. As soon as we know something, the doctor will come out and tell you.”
“No, I’m not leaving her. She needs to be okay.Losing her isn’t an option. Wake her up! Wake up, Belle!”
“If you don’t leave I’ll have to call security and have you escorted out. Then you won’t be able to find out anything. Let me show you to the waiting room.”
She tries to pull me with her, but all I can do is stare at the woman in front of me. I can’t breathe. My chest rises and falls, wetness on my face. I don’t wipe the tears away, I let them fall for every minute we’ve been separated. For the life we should have had. For all the moments that were stolen from us.
Shouting sounds behind me, and large hands clamp on my shoulders pulling me back. I try to get them off me, but they’re too strong.
“I’m not leaving her!” I bellow.
“Colt, it’s me. We have to go. Let them work,” Brooks says. Staff steps in front of me, and they manage to get me out of the room, the glass door closing. It’s so loud, I flinch back.
