Page 98 of All Your Lies
I grab onto the metal bed rail and try to pull myself up, but I just fall back into the pillows with a thud. The exertion has me huffing and panting in pain. I despise being weak, and now I have someone who needs to die immediately. This won’t do.
“Easy, baby bro. It’s the first time you’ve been awake in almost a week. Take it easy.”
I turn my gaze to see Marco sitting in a chair in the room’s corner. His hair sticks out in all different directions, and dark circles surround his eyes.
“You look like shit,” I rasp.
“Not as bad as you,” he says as he rises from his chair and hands me a cup with a straw. “Here.”
“Where the fuck is he, and why wasn’t I woken up sooner?”
“He’s dead, and you had complications on your way here and in surgery. Your body needed time to heal.”
“You know I would’ve wanted to end him myself.”
“It wasn’t my call,” Marco says with a shrug.
“Whose was it, then?”
He nods his head over to Alexa, who’s still lightly snoring on my side.
“She made the call?”
Marco nods. “And carried out the execution.”
My eyes widen as I glance back at my girl. The thought of her taking care of him fills me with pride.
“They said the second you wake up to let them know; I’ll be back.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, hoping this will be the beginning of a mend between us.
Alexa startles from the click of the door closing and her big blue eyes gaze up at me. “You’re awake!”
“Or dreaming,” I say as I caress her cheek. “If I knew all it took was a hospital stay to get you laying by my side, I would’ve gotten hurt sooner.”
“Don’t you dare make jokes. I almost lost you,” she says with a hitch in her voice as she wipes the sleeve of her gray sweatshirt across her glassy eyes.
“Even in death, I’ll never leave you, Lex,” I say as I grab her face and pull her toward me. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Gage,” she says as her lips meet mine.
Epilogue
“Hurry up!” Alexa yells at me from the top of the flower-covered hill.
“I’m moving. It’s not like I almost died a month ago or anything,” I grumble as I hold my still sore stomach.
“I got shot, too, and you don’t see me complaining,” she says, lifting her short sleeve to reveal the barely healed wound on her right arm where the bullet grazed her one week ago as we were leaving the grocery store. The fucking grocery store. The assassin group is relentless, and although they’re dropping like flies, it’s like a zombie attack. As we kill them, they multiply.
Just as I get to the top of the hill, Alexa extends her arm, and I see the pear-shaped solitaire I put on her finger two weeks ago glisten in the sunset. I feel for mine on my left hand with my thumb and smirk. The weight of the ring feels good on my finger, especially knowing Alexa placed it there.
I glance across the field covered in reds, oranges, whites, and pinks, with the magnificent sunset in the background, and then gaze back at Alexa. Should we be on a honeymoon right nowwhile everything is imploding? Probably not, but I got a wake up call after almost dying. Your next breath isn’t guaranteed and Alexa’s expression of awe as she stands beside me makes it all worth it. She is worth it. Always has been, always will be.
When we return, the fight will still be waiting for us, and I’ll relish every moment of dismantling our enemies with Alexa at my side.
“I love this,” Alexa says as she glances over at me.
“And I love you,” I say as I pull her closer to me and devour the sweet skin right under her ear.
