Page 32 of Five Fingers of Death

My eyes widened. “What?”

He grabbed my hand and pressed the gun into my palm. I flinched at the weight of it. “Don’t use this unless you have to.”

“Asher—”

“This is the trigger,” he said, pointing to the half-circle thingy. “Point and pull this back. Simple as that. This is the safety,” he said, pointing to a red dot. “On. Off.” He flicked it several times, showing me. “Got it?”

My heart was thundering inside with every second that passed. I was not cut out for this. “Asher, I can’t do this. I?—”

“Holly, nothing is going to happen, okay? This is just a precaution. I can’t take the gun into the station with me. Wyatt’s bleeding out and I wouldn’t put a gun into Noelle’s hands unless I wanted to get shot.”

“Trust me, that’s very much an option right now,” she retorted.

His palm cupped my cheek roughly as he leaned in. “You’ve got this. Keep your eyes peeled.”

I shook hard, but as he stared into my eyes, I found myself nodding. I could do this. “Okay.”

His lips crashed down on mine and then he was gone. I hit the door lock and held the gun gingerly, afraid I would accidentally shoot someone if I wasn’t careful. It didn’t matter if the safety was on. I didn’t trust myself. I hadn’t held a gun in my entire life, and watching an action movie hardly qualified me to hold one, let alone shoot one.

Laughter bubbled up in my throat before I quickly tamped it down. I would not go crazy right now. I had no idea what to do, so I mimicked what Asher did when we pulled in, looking around the parking lot for any threats. The problem was, now that Asher put the thought in my head, every single person I saw looked like a threat. If I didn’t distract myself, I’d go crazy.

I turned around and looked at Wyatt, instantly regretting it when I saw the blood soaking his shirt. Wyatt was pale and Noelle was oddly silent.

“How is he?”

“He is right here,” Wyatt muttered with his eyes closed.

“Sorry. You’re just…you look dead.” That was probably something I should have kept to myself.

“Considering I have more blood on my clothes and hands than he has on his shirt, I’m guessing that’s not good,” Noelle snapped.

“Again, right here,” Wyatt said.

“I know literally nothing about gunshot wounds. How did it happen?”

“He wasn’t fast enough to dodge a bullet,” Noelle retorted.

“I shoved you out of the way,” Wyatt muttered.

“You were being an ass. I don’t need to be rescued.”

“Clearly,” he mumbled. “Otherwise, it would be you with the bullet hole.”

My eyes widened at what I just heard. “He took a bullet for you?”

“Don’t read too much into this,” Noelle glared at me. “This is not a Hallmark moment.

“No, but maybe a Lifetime moment. Like if you were dying of cancer or something. They definitely have those shows. This would fit in.”

“But I’m not dying of cancer,” she argued. “And he didn’t save my life. He jumped in front of a bullet. Who does that?”

“Again, I was saving your life.”

“Oh, shut up. Who asked you?” she shouted, pressing too hard on his side, making him wince.

“Okay, maybe don’t take out your anger on a man with a hole in his side.”

I saw movement outside and grabbed the gun, shrieking as I raised it, only to sigh in relief when I saw it was Asher. He yanked the door open, snatching the gun out of my hands as he climbed inside. My parents quickly climbed in either side of the back, squishing in, careful not to hurt Wyatt.

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