Page 164 of Bones
"Well, look who's up."
I glanced over to see Vulture sitting in one of the chairs, watching me. He had a dark bruise under his eye. It matched the stabbing pain in my right hand from punching him. A brief flame of that feral rage flickered in my chest before it died under the crushing weight of grief.
“Me and my men are in charge of the clinic now,” Vulture continued, his voice devoid of emotion. “So don’t try anythin’ stupid, Angel.”
I laid back down on my mattress, turning my back to him. Every breath felt like agony, worse than when my lung had collapsed. I knew I wasn't physically hurt. I'd felt this same pain after Dune died, like a literal piece of my heart had been torn from my chest. There was no cure for this pain, nothing to be done to ease it.
I just wished it could kill me.
* * *
I watched the sunlight dim through the loft windows.
One of Vulture’s men entered the clinic with dinner rations, setting mine near my mattress. I didn’t move or acknowledge it. The rest of his men filed in as night fell, six in total counting Vulture. They weren’t Reapers and they weren’t from the Vault. They brought in chairs and drank and laughed and told crude jokes and played cards. I sensed them looking at me every so often, but no one spoke to me. Vulture stayed separate from his men, staring silently from the chair by the door.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the blood spray from the bullet going through Trey’s skull.
Gods, I wished she’d shot me instead.
Why hadn’t Idonesomething? I should’ve fought, I should’ve thought faster, lied my ass off about knowing shit about the rebellion,anything.
“Bones, please let me in.”
“I don’t know how much time we have, but I do know I don’t want to miss a single second of lovin’ you.”
“You don’t have to be strong all the time. You can lean on me.”
I stared ahead, tears streaming from my eyes. I let him in. I loved him. And I lost him.
* * *
A hand grabbed my shoulder and rolled me over. I stared through swollen eyes at Vulture glaring down at me. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted to me, and no one would stop him, but I couldn’t find the energy to care.
“Eat your food,” he snapped.
I jerked away from him, rolling back over.
“Angel!”
I waited for him to grab me again, but he didn’t.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doin’?”
I didn’t care.
“I’m watchin’ you. Don’t forget that.”
I heard him walk back over to the door and sit where Trey used to sit. I would never be able to glance at that chair and see Trey brightening the whole room with that sunshine smile again.
The pain in my chest crushed my lungs. I understood why they called it heartbreak. My heart had fractured into tiny pieces and every single one of them hurt like hell. Worse than when Juck had branded me, worse than Brimstone snapping my arm, worse than when Sax ripped the skin off my back with that whip.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
* * *
“I love you, Bones.”
The gunshot cracked like thunder and I screamed?—
