Page 52 of One Kill

“Daddy, please!” I hear her just as I reach out for her and, together, we take advantage of the chaos to hide out in the makeshift closet under the stairs.

Hallie reaches for me, feeling her way to my mouth to take off the gag, then hugs me tight to her and cries in the crook of my neck. I want to hold her but I can’t.

“Sweety.” Why does my voice sound so croaked? “Can you untie my hands?”

Hallie doesn’t answer, just nods in my neck and twists her small frame around me to loosen the ropes and finally free me. As soon as I feel them fall, I take her in my arms and squeeze her like she’s my lifeline.

“Daddy, why are you all wet?” Am I? Oh, right. The nosebleed.

“I think he broke my nose.” Hallie holds me tighter still and we both find comfort in this little refuge while all fucking Hell breaks loose.

There are voices screaming out orders beyond the door. Some are J’s, others are Ronan. Two more shots ring out then nothing.

I freeze, not having a clue as to who is going to be opening that door and greeting us on the other side.

“Shh, baby. Don’t make a noise.”

Hallie holds her breath, her little body shaking like a fucking leaf, and it enrages me that those fuckers put her through this. I try to hold my breath but it’s getting too hard to move my chest, to breathe even. In fact, the pain is everywhere and I have a feeling it’s not just my nose.

Outside, the lights go on and, with it, relief fills every inch of my body when I hear J calling out for us. She sounds feral, desperate to see us.

I bang on the door and, not a second later, it’s ripped open and the most heartbreaking and beautiful face I’ve ever seen fills my entire vision.

“It’s safe, you can both come out but, Hallie, you need to close your eyes, okay?” J’s voice is like a balm to my soul. Aloe vera to my burns.

As my adrenaline starts coming down, I realize my head is unnaturally heavy but I have to get Hallie out of here, take her away from what I’m guessing is carnage outside this room.

“Come on, baby girl. Let your mother take you. I’ll be right behind you.” Hallie is clinging to me, her arms squeezing my neck and sobbing on my shoulder. “We can’t get out together but I promise to have you back in my arms as soon as we’re out, okay?” That gets her attention, prompting her to unwrap herself from me and scoot over to her mother. As soon as she’s crossed the threshold, I try to pull myself up but my body won’t cooperate. Every move I make is a spear to my chest, adding to the ongoing throb of my nose.

“What the fuck? Murphy!”

My brows furrow at the panic in J’s voice.

Jordyn never panics. She’s the definition of level headed, or at least that’s her brand of resting bitch face. Why is she yelling at me?

“Come here, Murph. Can you get yourself out?”

I blink at her, wondering what the hell she’s talking about. Of course I can get out. I made this space with my bare hands, built it and furnished it. I can crawl out of it.

My leg is bent and I try to straighten it out so I can crawl out of this small space but it just falls over, taking me with it.

Fuck. Why did I just fall over?

“Crank! Get the fuck over here. NOW!” J’s screaming, the panic has risen to something else and… is that Hallie screaming, too? What the fuck is going on?

Everything is slippery beneath me and I see nothing but blurriness above me.

“Murph, look at me. Look at me, please.”

I try to force my gaze to follow J’s voice, but everything feels so heavy. Then J’s face is above me, looking down like an angel. Her steel-blue eyes tell me a million things and yet not the words I want to hear. Her smile is fake and the worry she’s trying to hide is visible at the corners of her eyes.

“You stay with me, Murph. Do you hear me? You do not get to bow out. Not now. Not ever.”

I don’t know why I say what I say next, but it feels like the right time, somehow.

“I love you, J. Every day since the first time I pulled your pigtails and said you looked like a princess.” Something wet falls on my cheek and when I focus on J’s face, I see the tears. More than anything else tonight, that single drop of salty water scares the shit out of me.

“Then you asked me if you could be my prince.” Yeah, I did that. The fact she remembers is enough for me. She loves me, she always has because a love like ours doesn’t die, it only grows bigger until it becomes life itself.

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