Page 9 of Three to Fall

Kara’s panic turned to desperation. “He’s not dying for me!” She grabbed the cord around her neck and yanked it hard.

Tightening it. Drawing it closed around her throat until her eyes bulged.

I shook my head violently and tried to lunge for her, but my muscles all felt like they’d gone to sleep. Whip kept me up by my neck, my body weight only putting more pressure on my throat.

We were both going to fucking die. And my brother was just going to stand there and let it happen. A lifetime of memories flashed behind my eyes, so many of them featuring younger versions of me and Trig, back when he’d been known by his legal name, Kingsley.

I hadn’t called him that in a decade. My gaze met his.

Something flickered in his eyes. Something I recognized from every time he’d saved me as a kid.

Trigger sighed in defeat. “Oh, for Christ’s sake. Fine. Take the girl. She’s not who I came here for anyway. I was just having some fun. You all need to lighten up.” He loosened the cord around Kara’s neck and shoved her away carelessly, pushing her toward me.

Whip let go of me at the same time, swapping his grip on the belt for the gun at his hip, raising it until it was pointed directly at Trigger’s forehead.

Kara and I sank to the floor, our nooses loose, both of us sucking in deep breaths to replace the ones we’d lost.

Kara recovered in seconds, but I didn’t. I’d been without oxygen so much longer than she had.

I coughed and spluttered, groaning in pain. I dragged the belt away from my throat, eyeing Trigger who seemed completely unbothered by my murder squad, as he’d called them, surrounding him, weapons drawn.

Kara ignored them, putting her fingertips to my neck, dancing over the damaged skin. “Oh my God. Grayson, your neck.”

I was sure it wasn’t pretty. But my lips tingled, blood rushing back into them, and my chest heaved painfully, finally fillingwith air again after being deprived for too long. My head ached like I’d been hit by a truck.

Kara rubbed at my arms. “Tell me what to do,” she begged. “What can I do? Should I call nine-one-one?”

“No!” all the guys shouted in unison.

She blinked up at them, like she’d forgotten they were even there.

She was so damn selfless, not even seeing the danger she was in because she was so focused on me.

Weakly, I drew her into my arms and tried to smile. “You could kiss me.”

She pressed her lips to mine without hesitation, half falling onto me in relief. The kiss wasn’t soft or gentle. It was hard and desperate, a needy grab of her hands into my shirt, holding me close, trembling in my arms. “I thought you were dead,” she whispered.

I kissed her back, ignoring the danger around us because just moments ago I’d been so sure I was never going to get to do this again. I kissed her until one thought surfaced through the fog the lack of oxygen had created in my brain. I was done wasting another second pretending this woman wasn’t important to me. When she so clearly was.

“Aw!” X shouted. “Gray has a girlfriend!”

I didn’t know if that’s what she was. But in that moment, I knew I wanted her to be.

Her gaze flickered over my face, and her eyes watered. “You just nearly died for me.”

“It would have been worth it.”

She melted, coming down off the adrenaline high into tiny trembles that showed how scared she’d really been.

I hated it. I pulled her close again and kissed the top of her head tenderly, murmuring reassurances into her hair that I was sorry and I’d never do it again.

Even though I would have died for her a hundred times over.

Because I was so stupidly in love with her.

Behind me, Trigger groaned. “Jesus Christ, I leave for a few years, and this is what you turn into? You were never this sappy with Annette.”

I blinked at the mention of how I’d been with my wife. Her name was like a bucket of cold water being thrown over me.

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