Page 103 of The Hate We Breathe
With hesitation, I go to my knees beside him. “I know.” There is no doubt in my mind that he would’ve done anything to protect her. I grab his face, forcing him to look at me. “Stay with Gio. He’s got you, you hear me?”
“Nolan—” Gio starts as I get to my feet.
“Stay with him!” I bark, harsher than I mean to, but I can’t let myself fall apart too. “Get him help. I’ll get her.” If she’s there.
Please be there, Princess… please be alive.
As if he hears my silent plea, Gio nods, trembling, and goes to Lex’s side, dropping next to him, already ripping off his jacket to press to Lex’s wounds.
My chest feels too tight for breath, but I don’t wait to see more. I’m already running—slamming through the stairwell door once again, feet hammering down concrete, lungs burning as I take three steps at a time. It was only four or five floors—I remember seeing the sign for the upper pool somewhere…
The echo of my heartbeat is a war drum in my skull.
By the time I spot a plaque that directs me to the pool, I feel ready to combust. My body slams into the door, but it automatically holds strong and I spot the scanner for the key card a second later. Withdrawing one of the room keys Viks had given me before we’d left the limo behind, I scan it and burstout onto the lower rooftop, the cold night air punching me in the face. Chlorine and copper are the first scents to slam into me.
There’s steam coming off the heated pool, surrounding the figures within it.
“Juliet!”
Relief floods me when I see that she’s alive, so ripe that I nearly fall to my knees then and there. She’s struggling to keep her head above water as she tries to swim to the edge. Her face is contorted in pain and she’s only using one arm.
I don’t bother to remove my coat before I dive into the water after her. Warmth surrounds me a split second before I reach her, pulling her against my body as I break the surface of the water. She cries out when I press against her side—her arm.
“What is it?” I demand, running my fingers over her even as I drag her after me, tugging her to the shallow end. Once her feet hit the floor of the pool, she seems to do better, but she’s still panting and gasping.
My hand lightly brushes her shoulder and she gasps again, her face paling. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Princess, let me…” The words trail off as I realize the issue. Her arm is both dislocatedandbroken. Shit.
“It hurts,” she hisses as I do my best to lead her to the steps. She’s going to be in so much pain when I have to lift her out.
Floodlights flicker over her beautiful face and for a moment, I’m struck fucking stupid by our luck. She just fell five fucking floors into a damn pool and survived.
Standing before me, soaked in moonlight, I take her in. There are red marks on her shoulders and chest, her dress is soaked and nearly see-through, and it’s clear she’s going to be heavily bruised and need a hospital. But she’s alive. She’s fucking alive.
Pausing and bending my head to her good shoulder, a breath shudders out of me. “Thank you…” I whisper the choked words.
“What?” she replies.
If I didn’t think it would cause her more hurt, I’d squeeze her to me. Instead, I lift my head and press the softest kiss I can manage to her temple. “Thank you,” I say the words again. “Thank you for surviving.”
Juliet is quiet for a long moment. “I almost didn’t,” she confesses. I know and that realization was the scariest fucking moment of my life.
Pulling away, I help her out of the pool, lifting her over the edge and ignoring her wince. Blue streaks of hair cling to her face, darker than normal. Just as I suspected, she’s going to need to have her arm set. The limb hangs wrong, bent where it shouldn’t be. Blood from a cut across her forehead mixing with the water streaming down her cheek.
“Juliet.” My voice is shaking as I drop to my knees in front of her.
“W-what happened to her?” Juliet asks, her gaze moving over my shoulder, and I follow. Roquel lies there. Still. Floating near the edge of the pool with her dark hair fanned out like a halo in the water. Her body unmoving, face turned toward the stars as if she’s already somewhere else. I turn back to my girl.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, hands reaching for her. “You need?—”
“Is she dead?” Juliet interrupts, still staring beyond me.
I grit my teeth. Fuck, I hope so. Before I can answer, however, the door leading back into the hotel swings open and Viks is standing there. His chest rising and falling with his fast breathing. He doesn’t pause, but takes several steps towards the pool and jumps in with both feet.
Together, Juliet and I watch as he hauls Roquel Lee’s soaked body out of the water and lays her out flat on the stone tile. I feel nothing as he checks her pulse with two fingers to the bitch’s throat and then presses his ear to her chest. He begins to do chest compressions.
A part of me wants to tell him to stop, to let the cunt die. He was the one who’d suggested that we could call Rylie to hack the hotel’s camera system when neither Juliet nor Lex would respond and the meeting time came and went with no sign of her stalker. We couldn’t go in blind, but when I saw her shoot Lex the second time, I knew she was going to kill Juliet—possibly even both of them. If she doesn’t die now, I’ll just have to do it later.
Juliet shivers and I whip my head in her direction. She’s got her one good arm wrapped around her middle, her eyes rapt on where Viks is trying to get Roquel to breathe again. Her nipples pebble against the pale fabric of her gown and a soft growl leaves me.
