Page 99 of Until Tomorrow Comes
Facing the man of my nightmares, I watch as he takes a step forward. His angry gaze is focused solely on me and when he meets my gaze, his expression borders deranged.
“You’re nothing without me.” He repeats.
Two deafening gunshots ring through the air. Pain radiates through my shoulder and Alan’s voice is muffled as he calls my name.
The last thing I see as I fall to the ground is Jackson running toward me.
***
“Come on, Kitten. Open your eyes.” Jackson whispers from beside me.
“Five more minutes.” I grumble, squeezing my eyes tightly and refusing to open them. Just as I move to turn on my side, wanting to pull the covers up and block out the light, a sharp tug on my left arm makes me pause.
That’s when everything hits me.
The smell of antiseptic cleaner, the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. But it’s the sharp ache in my shoulder that has my eyes flying open.
Gasping for breath I stare up at Jackson and frantically look around.
“It’s okay, you’re okay. You’re safe.” He soothes from where he sits next to me. Holding my hand gently in his, he bends forward to place a gentle kiss on my knuckles. “You have no idea how happy I am to see your eyes open.”
I break my gaze away from him with furrowed brows. Looking around the room and trying to fill in the gaps.
“Wha—” I try to say, but my throat is painfully dry. Jackson reacts immediately, getting up to fill a cup of water and bringing it to me.
He helps me sit up, holding the straw in place while I drink. When the ache fades enough, I clear my throat and try again.
“What happened?”
Jackson sets the cup down on the nightstand beside the bed, before sitting next to me again.
“What do you remember?”
I feel the tears swelling in my eyes while I hold his gaze.
“The last thing I remember was my brother and Cooper showing up?” My whisper comes out as a question. “That’s where things start getting blurry because I could have sworn I saw you there.”
He nods slowly at me, carefully taking my hand in his. I watch him swallow thickly before sucking in a deep breath.
“I got there right as…” His voice breaks and he clears his throat. Dropping his gaze to my shoulder, he stares with a frown. The pain draws my attention down as I try to look at myself and spot the bandages.
Memories of gunshots have my head whipping back up.
“Alan! Oh god and Cooper! Are either of them hurt?” I ask quickly, ready to jump out of the bed to go find my brother despite my pain.
Jackson places a hand on my thigh, shaking his head and stopping me from moving.
“Neither of them are hurt.”
I sink back against the pillows on the bed, relief washing through me at the fact that no one else was hurt by…
“Where is he?” I don’t clarify who I’m talking about and Jackson doesn’t need me to. When he doesn’t answer me right away, I turn to find him watching me with a blank expression.
“By now? Probably cold on a metal table somewhere.”
I blink in response, hearing his words, but not fully processing them.
“What?” It’s the only word that manages to come out.
