Page 24 of Slay Bells Ring

His blue eyes stare at the fire, but I can tell he’s somewhere else. Maybe he’s remembering last night and regretting telling me everything he did. Or maybe he’s wishing he would’ve let the other hitman finish the job.

I decide to break the silence and say, “You didn’t stay on your side last night.” Maybe if we both ignore the whole bearing-our-hearts thing, we can move on.

“The pull-out’s fucking small.” As if that’s his excuse, as if that’s any excuse.

“Ah, so you’re aware of what you did, then. Are you also aware that you spooned me like there was no tomorrow? That you put an arm around me and held me in place so tightly I could barely move a muscle?”

Kane’s gaze moves to me, and the look on his face tells me everything. “I…”

“In fact, I tried to get us up a while ago, and you refused to. You pulled the blanket over our heads just so we could cuddle a bit more.”

He frowns at me. “No, I didn’t. The spooning and the arm—fine. I’ll give you that, but I didn’t pull the blanket over our heads. You’re making that up.” I can tell with the vehemence behind the words he genuinely believes it.

I’m not cowed by his denial. “And when I tried to get us up by moving, you grabbed my hip and told me that if I kept wiggling my ass we’d have another problem.” I lift my brows and wait for another denial.

“No,” he says quickly with a shake of his head. “I don’t remember any of that. You’re bullshitting me.”

“Why would I lie?” When he only glares at me, I add, “What? Is the man who wanted to die afraid of admitting he got a little handsy? That maybe he wanted something else besides death for once?”

Kane leans back in his recliner. The look on his face could kill. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t constantly throw that in my face.”

I tear open the wrapper and bite into the protein bar. “And why shouldn’t I?”

“You’re right. You can throw it in my face all you want, but I could throw shit right back at you, little killer. Remember that panic attack you had? Yeah, me too. Add that and the fact that you told me you’re afraid to die, and I don’t think you make such a good wannabe killer after all.”

“Fuck you.”

“I saved your life last night. You should be grateful to me. Hell, you should beniceto me.”

Glaring hard at him, I growl out, “I thanked you.”

“Yeah, once. Is that what your life is worth? A single thanks? I’ll remember that next time.”

I have a comeback ready, but it’s his final words that trip me up into a stunned silence for a minute. It takes me longer than it should for me to gather myself and ask, “Next time? You think there’ll be more?” The mere thought of another man trying to kill me fills me with dread.

Kane nods, solemn. “Yes. That man… he wasn’t from the Guild, which means he was hired by someone else. I doubt he’ll be the only one. If he was from the Guild, things would be different.”

“How do you know he’s not from your assassin’s Guild?”

“He attacked you knowing you weren’t alone in the cabin, which means there was a chance of a witness—something we’re instructed to avoid at all cost. It means he didn’t care about possible witnesses. He didn’t care about the possibility of having to kill more than just his target.”

I pick at the blanket around me as I mumble, “I was a witness. Thirteen years agoIwas a witness.” I don’t want to look at Kane when I say it, but my eyes are slow to meet his intense stare, and my heart skips a beat for whatever bizarre reason.

“You were a child,” he whispers. “And you weren’t supposed to be there.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, I know talking about that night thirteen years ago won’t get us anywhere. Something else hits me. “Wait. How do we know he was after me and not you? Maybe your Guild heard you wanted to kill yourself and decided to send you off.” That might be a plot in a movie, but hey, it’s a possibility.

“He could’ve walked right by you and went to me if I was his target, but he didn’t. He stopped when he found you. And let’s not forget when we were fighting, he tried very hard to aim his gun at you instead of me, up until the end there. His goal was you, not me. There’s no doubt in my mind about it. Besides, the Guild doesn’t care about its members, not unless they’re currently on a job. In our free time, we can do whatever we want… including kill ourselves, if that’s what we want to do.”

I don’t say anything to that. He’s right, as much as I don’t want him to be. When the two were wrestling and beating the shit out of each other, the newcomer really tried his best to aim that gun in my direction and pull the trigger.

Kane sighs, and as a result his wide shoulders go up and down once. “We’ll need to prepare for another attempt on your life. That means we should both stay awake tonight just in case another shows up. I don’t thinkany would dare come in the daylight; any hitman worth their bullets would stick to the cover of night.”

“Okay,” I mutter. Can’t say I’m excited about the prospect of staying up tonight, but his logic makes sense. Plus, he knows more about this shit than I do. He can take the lead.

How sad is it that my life is basically in Kane’s hands a second time?

“Listen,” Kane says, drawing my attention back to him. “Everything aside, I meant what I told you last night. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. If they want to, they’ll have to go through me—and no one has ever been able to go through me.”

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