Page 96 of Until I Break

When we finish eating, we sit around and chat for a while before walking to the sidewalk to walk. Everyone is trying to decide where to go and what to do, but I grin at Julian. No one is paying attention to us, and they are too busy laughing and making jokes to notice that we have fallen behind. The first darker alleyway we get to, Julian pulls me into.

“I was kidding,” I giggle

“I wasn’t,” Julian says with a grin as he reaches under my dress and yanks my panties down. I step out of them and unbuckle his belt. When he pulls his cock out, he grabs the back of my thighs and picks me up to push me back against the brick building,

“Oh, fuck!” I gasp when he slams into me. I loop my arms around his neck as he starts to pound into me.

“Fuck, Kitten,” Julian groans as he buries his face in my neck and quickens his pace. I am trying to not be loud, but it feels so goddamn good.

“Oh my God! I’m gonna come,” I moan as he rails into me harder. I have my legs banded around his waist and we are completely lost in this moment. It’s more than just a quick fuck; it’s a raw and lustful connection. It’s spontaneity that we don’t get very often anymore. In the haze of my building orgasm, movement in the alleyway catches my attention. When our eyes meet, dread instantly makes my blood run cold. The moment is gone, as if the pleasure was never there.

“Juli…” I scream and hit his arm when I see the little pistol. I open my mouth to tell him he is here… He found us…But the crack of a gunshot echoes through the alleyway, and my entire body suddenly goes numb.

“What the… Eliza!” Julian screams as my body goes limp. He brings me down to the ground, and the world starts coming in flashes.

“Juli,” I mutter.

“Fuck. No, no, no. You can’t die. Please God, don’t do this me. Please,” Julian wails as he presses his hand on my side. White, hot lightning shoots through my side and a shrill scream rips out of me.

“What the fuck happened?!” Jasper shouts as people surround me.

“J… Ja-Jason,” I choke out. “It. Was… Jason.”

“Hang in there, baby. We’ve got you. We are getting help, okay? You’ve got to hang in there, Liza,” Calder says as he pulls his shirt off and moves Julian’s hands to place it. I whimper in pain when he presses down again, but I’m so damn weak that when I open my mouth, I can’t form the words to tell them how much I love them. Do they know? I haven’t said it enough times for them to know.

Chaos has broken out around me, but I am floating. Everything feels light, and I am no longer carrying the weight of my anxiety. I feel peace for the first time since before I met that monster. As my vision tunnels, bright white light flutters in my vision. Everything starts to dim, and I let go.

Thirty

Julian

“No, no, no. Fuck,”I shout as I try to feel for a pulse. “I can’t… she’s dying. She can’t die.” I am fully panicked but doing what needs to be done. Jasper is on the phone with dispatch, and I can already hear sirens. I start CPR and just focus on keeping her alive. Calder is holding his shirt against her side, but there is blood everywhere. Every time I press down on her chest, more blood leaves her body.

“She’s bleeding too much,” Calder says.

“She can’t die. She can’t,” I say tearfully as I continue to pump her heart.

“Plug the hole!” Gunner shouts.

“What? This isn’t…”

“He hit a goddamn artery. Put your goddamn finger in the hole. You’ll feel it just hold pressure until they get here,” Gunner says. Calder pulls the bandage away and pushes his finger into the gunshot wound. I am hoping she will cry out or at least flinch, but nothing happens. I continue pumping her chest and pausing to give her breaths. Ryan is with the girls, I think. Everything is chaos, but I need to just stay focused on Eliza. I can’t lose you. Not to that fucking bastard. I was right here, and she still got hurt. I promised her she would never hurt again, and I failed her.

“Got it! I think I got it!” Calder says happily.

“They’re around the corner,” Jasper says. “Where is Cassidy?”

“What?” Oscar snaps. “She was standing with you?”

“No! Ryan got the girls,” Jasper says.

“She was never with me. I thought she was with Julian,” Ryan says.

Oh, fuck…

The ambulance gets to us, and paramedics rush towards us. Cops have flooded the area as they take over CPR. Calder explains what he did and felt. Instead of having him move, they keep him in place and get them both into the ambulance. My head is fucking spinning, and I can’t breathe.

One minute I am standing, and the next I am on my knees. Hysteria takes over, and someone wraps their arms around me as they pull me up. “She’s going to be okay,” Oscar says. “They’ve got her. You did good.”

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