Page 74 of Edge

My gun fell to the floor seconds before I did.

Watching Evie’s brother kick her as my vision faded to black.

“Evie,” I rasped and tried to move.

“He’s awake,” someone said.

“Evie,” I repeated.

Dice’s face appeared in my line of sight, and he looked like hell. “Hey, man,” he said. “Welcome back.”

“Evie,” I said again.

He grimaced, and my heart sank.

“No,” I groaned.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Dice rushed out. “She’s alive.” Any relief I felt quickly disappeared when he continued. “It’s been touch and go with her, and she hasn’t woken up yet.”

I wanted to ask for more details, but my mouth was so dry I could barely talk. “Water,” I croaked.

“Oh, sorry, man,” he said and pressed a straw to my lips. “Here you go.”

I took two small sips and groaned in pain. Everything fucking hurt.

“I’ll get the nurse.”

“Wait,” I gritted out. “Tell me everything first.”

“It was bad, man. When I got there, everyone was down, and Snarl was about to kill Evie. I shot him and tried to help her. Ink, Walter, and Buck showed up a few minutes later and jumped in. Byte was shot three times, and Ranger was shot once. Byte was awake and talking right after surgery, and Ranger came to the next morning. He also has a head injury, but he’s doing good. Irene was shot twice and refractured her collarbone. She’s been released from the hospital but refuses to leave Evie. You and Evie were hurt the worst. He barely missed your heart, and you lost a lot of blood. And Evie—” He halted and turned away from me.

I tried to reach for his hand but couldn’t make my arm move. “Tell me,” I pleaded.

“He performed CPR on her until the paramedics arrived,” Phoenix said from the other side of the room. “Her heart stopped twice before they got her to surgery. They had to remove one kidney and the lower part of her lung. The surgery went well, but now she has an infection they’re dealing with. She’s not out of the woods yet, but she’s slowly improving.”

“How long?” I asked and tried to reach for the water.

“I got it,” Dice said and once again put the straw to my lips.

After a few sips, I tried my question again. “How long has it been?”

“Four days.”

“What?” I blurted, followed by a burst of pain. “Ow, fuck.”

“How are we doing in here?” a female voice I didn’t recognize asked.

“He’s awake, but I think he could use something for pain,” Phoenix said.

“Oh, good. Welcome back, Mr. Ellis,” she said. “Can you rate your pain on a scale of zero to ten for me?”

“Fifteen,” I breathed.

“Got it. I’ll be right back.”

“We need to talk about something before that pain medicine knocks you out again,” Phoenix said quietly.

“What is it?”

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