Coming back to me, his eyes fluttered open and they were the breathtaking blue I’d used to spend hours looking into. “Can I ask one thing?”
His voice grew weaker as the blood kept spreading. I couldn’t get it to stop.
“Yes. Anything.” I ran my thumb along his cheek as a tear slipped out of his eye.
“Can I kiss you? Just once, I want to know what your lips feel like. I used to dream about it all the time.”
There was no way I could deny him this. I leaned down and put my lips to his, sweetly. Images of a life flashed by as tears streamed down both our faces. This was a bitter-sweet first and last kiss. I’d never feel him in my arms again. Never. I focused on memorizing every touch as his tongue touched mine. We loved each other. I never understood how much until this moment and I was losing him.
Why? Why did he have to leave me?
I opened my eyes to see the love pouring from his. Pulling back, a smile graced his lips.
Contentedly, he sighed. “You’re looking at me like I always wanted. I love you.”
“Please don’t leave me. I love you, Matthew. I love you so much.” Mentally, I said prayer after prayer for him to be saved. To let this all be a bad dream.
Please save him. Please. Take me instead. Anything. I’ll do anything to save him.
He swallowed hard, then coughed blood. I couldn’t stop the bleeding. “Don’t let The Society find out you’re alive. If you try to expose them, stay safe. I want you to live.”
“Don’t die, Matthew. Please don’t die. I need you. I love you.”
“Sarah, I love you, too. So much.”
Matthew’s head lulled to the side and his eyes closed while he exhaled his last breath. I glanced up to see Aiden watching me with the phone pressed to his ear. He’d seen and heard it all. I could barely see through the tears blurring my vision. I buried myself into Matthew’s neck and kept crying as I rocked us, wishing this was a bad dream. A dream I could escape.
But, all that was happening . . . was reality.
Time stood still as I clutched to the remaining warmth in Matthew’s body. Tears were never ending. My sadness had no beginning and no end. The loss was infinite. Aiden crouched in front of me.
“Kenzie, I need to go to the trail head to call the police. I can’t get the call to connect long enough to tell them where we are.”
“What?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I couldn’t get the call to go through to 9–1-1. We need to call the police.”
I looked back at the peaceful face of my best friend lying in my lap. It was like he was in a deep slumber without a worry in the world. Giving him one last kiss on the forehead, I told him. “I love you.”
I tried to stand, but couldn’t. Aiden helped me to my feet. Needing to see that the Keeper and Abraham weren’t alive, I leaned over the side of the ravine. Abraham and the Keeper were unmoving and laying in an unnatural way.
They were dead.
Urging me on, I kept stumbling as I bawled. Fatigue laced my muscles and I was barely able to stand upright. The pain was acute as the moments prior kept replaying in my mind. Remembering Matthew’s face as he let out his last breath caused my knees to give out. Aiden picked me up and cradled me. His strength wrapped around me as I sobbed into his chest. The more the images played, the foggier my mind came. The memories turned into pictures before the crimson blood would wipe them away. Aiden kept trying to whisper soothing words to me, but it didn’t help.
Nothing could.
Making it to the beginning of the trail, Aiden sat me on the ground and took out his phone. I stayed nestled into him as he called the police and shivered as the shock set in. “Yes, I’m at Mount Kessler at the beginning of trailhead. Three men are dead. My girlfriend and I walked up on two guys holding a man hostage. We tried to diffuse the situation, but they started firing. Okay, yes. We’ll be here.”
Aiden hung up the phone. “They’re on their way. Kenzie, I don’t think we should bring up The Society.”
“What?” My voice was disbelieving. “We could expose them. We could make this all stop.”
He shook his head as he positioned himself where I could see his eyes. “With what evidence? The Society will deny any association or spin it in a way that that has the police siding more with them like the last time.”
“But, Aiden—“
He was frustrated, but not at me. I knew it was hard with him being a journalist and not being able to expose the truth. “Kenzie, if your name and picture starts getting splashed all over the paper, all it’s going to do is put a target on you.”