Page 139 of Nemesis

He frowns. “What?”

“You got in and out without a hitch.”

“I had to kill someone, Artemis.” His expression is incredulous.

Yeah.Kade gave us a brief rundown of what happened, and it hasn’t sat well with me. There’s a niggling idea that it was too simple—that one soldier sacrificed to lay the trap might be worth it in the end.

“I think you were meant to find him.” I face Kade. “You got in and out?—”

He’s already shaking his head. “No. There was patrol?—”

“And no one in the building? No one who heard a gunshot, suppressed or not? There was only one guard between you and Reese?” I scoff. “Don’t delude yourself. You were meant to find him.”

He pauses and considers his friend. Former friend? I don’t know.

“I’m going to stay here with him,” I say. “Maybe you should make sure Saint doesn’t pitch himself off the roof of my building.”

Kade stops. “Is that a likely scenario?”

“Maybe.” I lift one shoulder. “I don’t know what goes through that man’s head.”

He considers it, then finally nods. “My phone is on. Call me if you need me.”

“I will.” I force a smile. “Now go away. The least we can do is take shifts…”

Something flashes in his expression, but it’s gone before I can decipher it. He raps his knuckles on the end of the bed in farewell, and then he’s gone.

I release a breath.

The urge I have to climb up into the bed with Reese is nearly unmatched. Yet somehow, I remain in my seat. My phone is charging across the room, a bag that someone delivered this afternoon with a change of clothes, snacks, and my toiletries.

A toothbrush, especially.

My kingdom for a toothbrush.

I crack a smile at that insane line of thought. The quote from Shakespeare, no less, although subverted a bit to fit the context.

But my smile quickly wanes when the silence continues. When the monitors don’t change in the slightest.

“You’re going to wake up, right?” I ask Reese.

I wait for him to squeeze my hand, but there’s nothing.

It’s kind of funny—one kiss and a dangerous moment changed my perspective on him. He gave me panic attacks, I hated his guts, I just wanted himoutof Sterling Falls… and now I’m worried about him.

Now, I won’t leave his side.

Why?

Because I… I’m getting to know him?

Because it’s taken me until now to realize that he was as stuck in that position as I was?

I close my eyes.

Reese’s parents put us in the room together. They paid whatever price Terror set on my head—or rather, my body—not once. Not even twice.

And here we are.

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