Page 211 of Indulge
Every sound dulls, the hiss of breath between my teeth—gone. There’s only her. And the glint of a trigger that could end everything.
I glance down at my gun on the floor. If I move, if I even breathe wrong, she might shoot.
So instead, I grab Bella and shove her behind me.
“Not fucking happening,” I growl.
She tries to push past, but I keep her caged in one arm, my body the wall between her and death.
I open my mouth to speak—but the words fall out of my brother’s mouth instead.
“I’ll do it.”
Reggie’s voice is steady, too steady. The kind of calm that feels like goodbye.
Bella stills behind me, and the sound of her breath cracks something deep inside my ribs.
“Reggie,” I hiss his name like it’s a prayer and a curse.
He looks at me—eyes glassy but sure. “Rowan, no.”
“I’m not letting you do this, brother.”
He arches a brow, the tiniest flicker of a smile ghosting his mouth. “You can and you will. Take her.”
“Reggie, no!” Bella’s voice splinters through the church, all raw panic and heartbreak.
And for a moment, it’s like the world starts spinning off its axis.
The sound of her sob, the ache in his voice. It’s too familiar.
This must be how he felt when he found me in London—that same earth-shattering pain that tears through bone and faith alike.
I took a bullet to save Finn’s wife. I’d give my life for Bella… and so would Reggie.
Bella rips from my hold.
Lyla’s gun swings to Bella.
Reggie doesn’t even flinch.
It all happens in slow motion—her arm turning, her finger tightening, the way the light catches the barrel.
I lunge forward. The sound of the shot tears through my skull.
I don’t feel it graze my shoulder. It knocks me, but not before I grab Bella and hurl her back behind.
“Rowan!” Bella’s cry breaks like glass. She’s staring at my shirt, wide-eyed.
“It’s just a graze, baby,” I manage, my voice barely human.
“Get her out of here!” Reggie bellows.
“No. She fucking stays,” Lyla snaps back.
Reggie’s eyes flick to me, then to the gun just beyond my reach. I know that look.
We’ve fought side by side since we were boys. He’s giving me an opening. A way we protect the one woman who owns both of our hearts.
