Page 89 of Under My Skin

“Just listen, Vicki!” Dani exclaimed. “I know how it feels to lose the person you love most in the world.”

“Fuck you, bitch!” Vicki spat. “You don’t know anything! You didn’t lose the love of your life! You got the fucking man and the baby and the goddamn white picket fence! I have nothing.FUCKING NOTHING!”

“You’re right. I didn’t lose the love of my life,” she trembled out, taking shallow breath after shallow breath as she slowly stepped further away from me, her shaking hands out in front of her in a surrender position.

FUCK!

She was moving away from where I’d been shielding her with my body. Trying to draw Vicki’s attention away from me and toward her instead. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it because I knew even the slightest sudden movement could set Vicki off.

“But I did lose my parents,” Dani continued, swallowing hard as her voice broke. “And just when I thought everything might be okay again after that, I lost my sister. I didn’t even want to get out of bed every day because I didn’t know how I was supposedto go on when the people I loved the most in the world were dead. But I had no choice. Because I had a baby to care for.Hebecame my reason for living. On the days when I couldn’t show up for myself, I showed up for him. I poured everything I had into being a good mother, into raising that sweet little boy the way my sister would have wanted. And I kept doing that until I found other things to live for.

“That’s what you have to do, Vicki. Findsomethingto live for. Find one reason to show up every single day, and one day, you’ll realize it doesn’t hurt as much anymore. You’ll realize that you can have a life again, even if it’s not the one you thought you’d have.”

Tears were trailing down Dani’s cheeks as she spoke, opening the gaping emotional wounds that had only just started to heal in the hopes that it might get through to Vicki.

And much to my surprise, Vicki’s arm started to come back down as she listened.

“We can get you help, Vicki,” Dani sniffled. “Please let us. Let us help you get back on your feet.”

Time seemed to both speed up and slow down at the same time, leaving me powerless to do anything but watch as the horror unfolded.

One moment, Vicki was starting to lower her weapon. The next, it was back in the air, aimed right at my girlfriend.

“Fucking bitch! You’re not going to lock me down again!” she screeched.

Then a gunshot rang out.

And the love of my life collapsed to the pavement with blood gushing out of her shoulder.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

BRADEN

“DANI!”I bellowed as I forced my feet to move and cleared the distance to her in two long strides and dropped to my knees next to her. “NO! FUCK!”

Another shot rang out, echoing in the enclosed space and making my ears ring as tears blinded me and my vision started to darken around the edges. Vaguely, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vicki’s body crumple to the ground while I frantically tore my t-shirt off and pressed it hard against Dani’s injured shoulder, desperate to stop the flowing blood.

My heart was pounding so hard that my chest felt like it was closing in on itself as I watched the vermillion ribbons seep through the fabric and sluice around my fingers. Putting all my body weight behind it, I pushed the bundled cloth further into her wound.

“GAAAAAAH!” Her wail of absolute agony ripped my heart to shreds as she writhed on the pavement beneath me, her back bowing off the ground.

“Look at me, Dani.” My words strained out of my throat, but they sounded muffled, like I was listening to them from under water. “Let me see those beautiful eyes.”

Dani’s eyelids fluttered open, her panting breaths coming in short gasps as her eyes darted all over the place, unable to focus on anything. Every single one of her pained whimpers and cries felt like a white-hot iron spearing into my chest as a strangled sob wrenched out of me.

“Dani, please,” I sobbed as I moved one hand from the shirt and placed it on her cheek, pressing harder on the soaked-through shirt with the other. “Look at me, sweetheart.Pleaselook at me!”

Her head turned in my direction, her eyelids quivering as she moaned in distress.

“B-Braden,” she slurred.

“Right here, beautiful,” I wept, tasting salt from the tears that were flowing down my cheeks like a river. “I’m right here. Stay with me, Dani. You have to stay with me.”

“T-take—GAH!” she cried as she jerked away from me, causing me to lose my grip on the shirt.

“Fuck!” I groaned, frantically grabbing the crimson-drenched cotton and pushing it back into the gaping wound. “I know it hurts, sweetheart. I’m so sorry. But I can’t stop. I have to keep pressure on it. Just keep looking at me. Focus on my voice. You can’t leave me, Dani. Not like this.”

“Is-Isaac,” she whimpered. “Take…care…”

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