Page 92 of The Villain

I slowly opened my eyes. “I must be in hell.”

Rhys grinned. “Think he’s going to pull through, Doc.”

Rorik grunted and extended his hand, two massive pills in his palm. “Morphine will probably wear off soon, and you’ll want these.”

The best I could do was lift a few fingers as I croaked, “No.”

“Bullet was a clean shot. Straight through. Nicked a rib. Half an inch more to your right, though, and you wouldn’t have made it back here alive.” Rorik shook his head. “You should’ve called someone.”

“I couldn’t risk it—wouldn’t,” I said, letting out a hiss as the effort brought a hint of pain to the shores of my consciousness.

Rorik looked at me, his pale blue eyes narrowbefore they swung back to Rhys and then my brother. Like a wordless secret passed between them…but it wasn’t a secret.

“Someone tried to kill her. Again,” I croaked. “I had to protect her.”And it was nothing more than that.“Where is she?”

“She’s resting.” Harm moved from where he’d propped his shoulder on the wall. “Rob made her.”

My throat burned when I tried to swallow. “How long?”

“Thirty-six hours.”

A day and a half I’d been out.

“Athena was here the whole time,” Rhys thought it was fitting to add. Like I needed any more guilt added to my plate.She should hate me. Now that she knows everything, she should hate me.

“What do you remember?” Ty asked, tapping on his iPad.

My brother stepped forward, a stern frown resting over his features. “You should rest.”

“No.” I used my good arm to push myself higher against the headboard, ignoring the stab of pain that pierced the bubble of morphine around my brain.

“Darius…”

I tensed. Harm only used that tone and my full name when he stepped into older brother mode. It was a rare mode, usually reserved for our sisters. When you’d gone to war with a sibling…almost died together…it altered the kind of protectiveness he felt he needed for me. Lessened it. Which was why it was strange it came out now.

“I’m fine.”

It wasn’t like I hadn’t been wounded before—like he hadn’t seen me injured. I didn’t know why this time had set him off.

“If you won’t take the pain meds, then you should try and remember now before the morphine wears off. Then, it’ll only be pain onyour mind.”

I grunted at the warning. “Not going to change my mind.” I didn’t want drugs. I didn’t want anything else in my system except reality.

“So, what do you remember?” Rhys got us back on track. “Athena said she didn’t see anything until she was on the ground and you were chasing the car.”

I let out a slow exhale and closed my eyes, but my brain didn’t take me to the moment of the shooting. It went further back to when I’dfelt her enter the kitchen. Felt her stand there watching me.

And I warred with myself.

Every second was a battle that some part of me was going to lose. She deserved the truth—to know all of it. And she also deserved a man who wouldn’t hurt her. The problem was, she wanted me. So, I separated myself from the boy who’d broken her heart; I’d torn myself in two like I’d ripped the very muscles from my bones to give her the kind of man she deserved. And I’d selfishly and greedily relished it—pretending I could be her everything.

But the moment I turned around and saw her, I knew. The look in her eyes had changed. When she couldn’t see, her stare had always been searching. For light. For shadow. For objects. For something familiar. Yesterday morning, when she looked at me, she wasn’t searching. She’d found me. And the truth.

The hurt and betrayal on her face was worse than the bullet. I’d take a thousand bullets if it could take me back in time and give me the strength to walk away from her rather than stay the night.

I shuddered, and time skipped to us standing on the front lawn.The morning sunlight had tangled in her hair, like it drew its glow from the brightness of the strands. The gentle breeze tugged the fabric of my shirt over her chest, teasing me with her hard nipples and the memory of the feel of themagainst my tongue. But it was the shadows in her eyes that drew me in—that drowned me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

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