“I...love you...” He wished his voice didn’t sound so broken, and he wished that he’d told her sooner.
The darkness spread more. Cassidy was the last thing that he saw.
The last, perfect thing.
* * *
“CALE!”
His eyes had closed. No, no, he could not do this to her. “Help me!” Cassidy shouted.
Then Logan was there, rushing forward with his gun drawn. “Keep pressure on him!”
On the wound at his side or that terrible wound in his back?
His blood was on her hands, soaking her fingers, and fear was like bile in her throat.
“Help’s on the way,” Logan said. He didn’t sound afraid. That meant everything was all right, didn’t it? She risked a fast glance at him, but then she saw the fear that flashed in his eyes.
Not all right.
“Cale, please stay with me,” she begged him.
But Cale didn’t respond because he couldn’t.
“I have to make sure that Genevieve is—” Logan broke off, but she understood.
Dead.
Cale’s bullet had sunk into Genevieve’s chest, even as Genevieve had been lifting her own weapon. Only Genevieve hadn’t been aiming at Cale in that last instant. Something had seemed to break in her, and she’d been aiming—
At me.
Cale had stopped her. He’d saved Cassidy. Now he was dying in front of her.
She knew the sniper could fire on them again. She tried to drag Cale’s body a few precious inches toward cover.
“It’s okay.” Logan was back, putting his hands on top of hers. “While hell was breaking loose, Gunner managed to get out of the car. He took out the sniper.”
That final shot—it had been Gunner?
“He’s checked the area,” Logan said. “We’re clear.”
“Please, don’t let him die,” Cassidy whispered.
“He won’t.” Again, his voice was so certain, but she was afraid to look into his eyes.
Cale’s eyes were closed. They’d been open and on hers—burning with so much pain—when he’d told her that he loved her.
Then his eyes had closed. Her heart had stopped.
Footsteps thudded toward them. A few moments later, Gunner crouched beside them.
“Did the bullets go through him?” Gunner asked.
Cassidy shivered. “The one at his side...it did. But his back...”
The bullet was lodged in him. She’d seen no sign of an exit wound.