“Fuck, Haven?” Roman said from somewhere behind me. “What are you doing?”
People noticed I was holding a gun pointed at a nurse and screamed, diving for cover in rooms. Lily didn’t. She stood unflinching, staring back at me.
I saw movement behind Lily as Luke came out of a room down the hall, gun drawn. He must have heard the screams. He moved closer while Crisis, Logan and Ream all came out of the room and stopped, looking from me to my gun, to the nurse I was aimed at.
She tossed her phone on the cart. She obviously didn’t have any pictures.
Lily smiled and that’s when I knew she wasn’t too concerned about whether she lived or died. Her whole purpose was to make sure I didn’t. According to her, she had nothing left. I’d ruined everything for her.
It happened so fast that I didn’t even know what hit me as Lily pulled a gun from the cart. I heard movement from behind me then Crisis’ agonizing shout as a searing pain went through me seconds before I crashed to the floor.
“NOOO.” I SHOUTED as I ran toward her, shock and horror ripping through me. Everything was in slow motion, my legs couldn’t move fast enough, taking me what felt like hours to reach her, but knowing it was seconds.
Ream ran, too. Her name repeated over and over even as we both crashed to our knees beside her. Roman was still on top of her, his body a protective shield as several more shots rang out. I didn’t know where they came from, who was shot, what happened. The only image was of Haven’s body jerking back from the impact of the bullet then Roman throwing himself on top of her and both dropping to the floor.
“Fuck. Baby. Baby,” I cried as I fell to my knees beside her. Roman rolled off her and my heart lodged in my throat like a boulder, strangling me. “No. Baby. No.” There was blood all over her sweatshirt, the red slowly spreading like a spider’s web.
“Get a doctor,” Ream shouted. “Now.”
My mind was a haze of agonizing fear as I reached for her. Her eyes were closed, hair a curtain lying across her mouth then down to her shoulder, the tips now laying over her wound and soaked with blood. When I picked her up in my arms, her head fell back, limp as if . . . No. No. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be dead.
“Baby. Baby. Please, baby.” I ran with her to a gurney and placed her on it.
She wasn’t moving. She wasn’t fuckin’ moving.
Was she breathing? I couldn’t tell with her sweatshirt.
“Out of the way,” a man shouted.
I knew there were people all around me, someone tried to push me aside and I grabbed for her hand. It lay cold and lifeless in mine and terror gripped me like a dark suffocating blanket.
“Let her go, sir. You need to let her go,” a female said.
I was running alongside the gurney, latched onto Haven’s hand. I didn’t even know I was running. All I saw was Haven unmoving, her lips slightly parted, her grey eyes hidden.
“Both of you, please, you have to let her go.”
A hand came own on my shoulder. “Let her go.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her enough to look at him, but I knew it was Logan. “I can’t.” I was terrified if I did, I’d never see her again. “I fuckin’ can’t.”
“Vincent,” Ream said. He was on the other side of the gurney, his face as devastated as I was sure mine was. “They’ll save her.”
It was then I noticed a nurse beside him, her gloved hands covered in blood as she pressed on Haven’s shoulder. She met my eyes and there was sympathy in their green depths. “I’ll take care of her.”
The gurney started moving again, and each of my fingers slid down her palm then off the tips of her fingers. I watched her disappear behind the swinging doors, Ream beside me.
Anguish and staggering disbelief collided. It was an explosion detonating with the numb cold silence of shock. I didn’t know which to grab hold of. Which was safer.
But the reality was if I lost Haven, I’d shatter and my pieces would be lost.
Head bowed, I sat beside Ream, arms resting on my thighs, and hands clasped, hanging between my legs. I hadn’t moved in an hour as I waited for someone to walk back out the double doors where Haven had disappeared through.
There were police officers everywhere, talking to Luke, Roman, and Vic, who showed up and took control of the scene. A perimeter was taped off so the police could investigate Lily’s death and what had occurred. Statements were taken from witnesses and we’d given ours, but I couldn’t even recall what I’d said.
A gurney passed by us with a body—Lily’s body.
The girl who shot Haven. Luke had taken her down from behind.
My head dropped lower as my gut twisted at the thought. She’d been in our condo. She’d almost fucked Kite.
Jesus.
I’d been told who she was, but I couldn’t even decipher who told me; my mind refused to take in anything beside the continuous replay of Haven getting shot and falling.
“You really love her,” Ream said.
I continued to stare at the beige linoleum floor. “Yeah.” It was barely a whisper.
“It’s like it’s happening all over again.” I knew what he was talking about. When he was sixteen, he brought Haven to the hospital after overdosing, and she never came back through the doors. “I can’t go through that again.”
I saw movement from the corner of my eye and Kat was beside him, reaching for his hand and linking their fingers.
“She’s strong,” I said. And that was what I had to hold onto. Haven wouldn’t give up. She’d fight. For years, she’d fought and never given up. She wouldn’t now. She’d keep her promise to herself and find normal.
Our normal. Mine and hers.
Maybe it was the shift in air as the double doors swung open. Maybe it was the creak of the orange plastic chairs as everyone tensed. Whatever it was, I knew it was the doctor, who had taken Haven away, who strode toward us. I looked up for the first time in an hour.