Page 89 of Sinner
A gunshot cut him off.
“Did that come from—” Demitrious didn’t get to finish that sentence either.
Lake reached the door to Yejun’s studio and yanked it open, stepping to the side with it just in case. When there weren’t any more shots, he risked poking his head around the corner, heaving out the breath he’d been holding when his eyes locked with Yejun’s.
Demitrious finally made it, but Lake ignored him, entering the room to take in the scene.
There was a dead body on the ground, a few feet from the dais where Lake and Yejun had been fooling around only an hour or so ago. Blood smeared across the edge and the floor, but it wasn’t all from the dead guy.
“You’re hurt.” Lake stared at the deep wound in Yejun’s right thigh where crimson was trickling out, soaking the material of his once-white pants. “Anywhere else?”
“Isn’t this the student you fought in the cafeteria last year?” Demitrious pointed at the body.
“Rase,” Yejun said. “Yeah. It’s him.”
Lake glanced at the weapon. “Did he bring that?”
“Yes.”
There was a single bullet wound at the center of Rase’s chest. Yejun must have gotten the gun and shot him at point-blank range. June was notoriously the worst shot amongst them.
“We don’t have time for this,” his friend suddenly said, stumbling slightly on his wounded leg. “Nix is in danger.”
“What do you mean?” He’d only left him twenty or so minutes ago.
“Rase isn’t alone. He told me Hendrix is here, and he plans on harming Nix.”
Lake was already halfway through the door when he remembered Yejun was bleeding out. With a curse, he spun back, and his reaction must have surprised Demitrious, because his brow shot up.
“Go,” Demitrious told him. “I’ll stay and patch him up.”
He hesitated.
“It’s okay,” Yejun gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s not serious. I’ll be fine. It’s not like Demitrious is going to let me bleed out or anything. Hurry. Before Nix is hurt.”
Lake hated having to make a choice between June and Nix but…
Each and every one of them would choose Nix every time.
With a nod to Yejun, he hurried out, planning on heading back to where he’d separated from Nix.
He missed the way Yejun stumbled, or how Demitrious caught him.
And took the weapon right out of his hand.
Chapter 31:
“You don’t have to do this.” Nix was stalling. Pretty terribly too, it seemed. He held up his hands, backing away when Hendrix moved closer. He’d yet to aim the gun at him, but it was only a matter of time. “Demitrious isn’t going to follow through on his promise. Think about it, you know how he is.”
“This is all your fault. If you hadn’t gotten in the way, none of this would have happened in the first place.”
“You can’t really be trying to place the blame for this on me?” Maybe stalling was a waste of time. It wasn’t like the others knew he was in trouble here. They’d be searching for him, sure, but for the Haunt, not because they were worried.
Which meant they wouldn’t bother trying to get into closed rooms, expecting them to be occupied by other people enjoying the festivities.
Nix was on his own. He needed to think smarter, appeal to Hendrix’s rational side, not his emotional one.
“Do you really want everyone on the planet knowing what you’ve done?” he asked, and that at least gave Hendrix pause.
