Page 114 of Smith

Once. Twice.

Five shots fired.

One more.

I just needed him to fire one more.

Billy hefted his heavy body over mine, trying to get control of the gun. He came up over me, his face twisted in rage. Hellfire spitting from his eyes, he lifted the gun between us.

I pulled the trigger.

My second-to-last thought as the dark spots danced in my peripheral, was that blood tasted like pennies as it filled my mouth.

My last thought was, that was a weird thing to think about.

The darkness was closing in. I couldn’t breathe and not in an I’m-too-scared-to breathe way. Literally, I could not breathe. It felt like each breath I exhaled meant I couldn’t suck in more oxygen.

Then suddenly on my next inhale my lungs filled painfully. Just as suddenly, I was floating. My body was off the floor, the excruciating pain too much.

Way too much.

“Puke,” I cried out.

“I got you,” a muffled male voice said.

I pried one eye open, saw Cash’s concerned eyes staring down at me, and immediately regretted my decision. It could’ve been the pain of him jostling me, the motion of him running through the house. Whichever it was had the unfortunate consequence of me losing the contents of my stomach all over Cash’s tee.

He didn’t break stride as I heaved and spit and choked.

As soon as fresh air hit my face, relief washed over me.

Then it receded and new fear threatened to take me under.

“Smith,” I croaked.

“He’s here. He’ll be right out.”

“No.”

Cash stopped running. I was jostled some more and the back hatch of the Escalade slowly lifted. Then he moved again, leaning in, pushing buttons until the backseats went flat. After that, he gently sat me down in the back.

“Can you sit or do you want to lie down?”

I swayed but rallied quickly.

“He can’t see me like this.”

I was sure I was slurring but Cash clearly understood what I was saying.

His face became eerily menacing.

“Honey, I’m not keeping him from you. I know you got good intentions, but he needs to see you’re alive and breathing. He needs to know you’re safe.”

“But—”

“Shh, Aria, trust me. Your man needs you right now.”

I hoped Cash knew what he was talking about because if I survived Billy fucking Rice only to lose Smith I was going to be super, extra pissed.

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