He has no idea what he is talking about.
Paige’s eyes close, and I can see she’s becoming tired. A small pool of blood is spreading on the floor beneath her, and there’s fuck all I can do about it.
“Paige.” I say her name, and she glances up at me and offers me the saddest of smiles. “Drop.” She does as I say but doesn’t get far as Josh holds her firmly in place, but it’s enough that I raise the gun and shoot anyway.
The bullet pierces his shoulder, and he ricochets backward. He lets her go, and they both fall to the floor. I reach out, pulling Paige away from him, and quickly remove my shirt and wrap it around her wrist to slow the blood loss. “You’ll be okay. It’ll be okay,” I tell her.
Paige nods and turns her head back to Josh, who’s slowly sitting up.
I stand and rush over to him with my gun raised.
“Don’t you want to know more about Rylee? I know things—” Before he can say another word, I shoot him straight in the head.
I don’t need to know any more words.
“August.”
I walk back to Paige and kneel next to her as I pull out my phone. I call an ambulance and sit with her as we wait.
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
I brush her hair away. “You don’t have to apologize.” She trembles in my arms.
As I hear the siren in the distance, the door to the old house opens and in steps Rylee, her face stricken with fear. She hurries over and drops down, inspecting her.
“What can I do?” she asks.
“Nothing. An ambulance is on its way.”
She nods, her eyes roaming me, and I know she sees the damage I’ve done, the blood splatters that cover my body—none of it mine—a mixture of both Josh’s and Paige’s.
“Josh…” she says as her eyes fall to where he’s lying in a pool of dark red blood. She sucks in a heavy breath as the ambulance and police arrive. I lift Paige and hand her over to the EMTs, so they don’t walk any farther in and see Josh. Even though I know where this is heading—me, back in prison, away from her.
Dark eyes, so dark they match my soul, stare back at me.
“I have to go and never come back.”
Rylee’s eyes go wide, and I resist the urge to take her into my arms and tell her everything will be all right and that she is it for me.
She’s made me breathe again.
She made me see again.
And most of all, she’s made me love.
Chapter 29
Rylee
His hand brushes my face. Oh, how beautiful this man is. One of the guys makes a noise, and August checks behind him, his beautiful forest-green eyes leaving me.
I reach for him, touching his face, and he turns back to me.
I need to see him.
I want him to see me.
We are inevitable.
August is, and always will be, my beautiful poison.
With one look, one glance, the poison manifests, spreads through your system and takes hold. And I’m a slave to it.
“Don’t go.”
“It never would’ve worked anyway, rich girl. You and me, we are on two different planets.”
“No,” I cry, reaching for him.
August steps back, so I can no longer touch him. He once told me my touch eases all his pain. That it makes him feel whole again.
His touch does that to me and more.
We never should have been, yet we are.
August’s name is called, and he shakes his head. He won’t let me touch him again. I just want him to know I’m here, that whatever it is, we can do it together.
August’s eyes lock onto mine.
“You are everything and more to me. You know that, right?” His hand twitches at his side, and I know he wants to touch me, but he resists.
“Then stay,” I cry.
He shakes his head. “I’m not a good man, rich girl, you know this. I tried, and I failed. I wasn’t made that way.”
The tears fall faster. “You are. You are the best of men. Better than any man I know.” I hear a door open behind me. His eyes leave mine, and when he looks away, I reach for his face and pull it back to me. “Stay with me. Don’t leave me.” His eyes close at my touch, but he’s fast, gripping my hand and pulling it away from his face.
“You’ll fall in love, have babies, and live a good life,” he says. “But none of those things can ever happen with me.”
A hand touches my back, and I know who it is straight away.
“Go with your sister. Go back to your life, rich girl.”
“You are my life.” I cry harder. Tears are falling so fast from my eyes. I can feel the wetness building on my shirt.
“No, I was merely a moment in time. Passing by like a night star. We both knew it could never work. That we can’t ever work. We are from two different sides of the tracks. And no matter how hard I try, I can never make it over to your side.”