Page 274 of Midnights
A blinding flash rips through the sky, slamming into the ground, right where Cam is standing.
A deafening boom detonates through the clearing and the shockwave slams into me, rattling my bones. The pressure crushes against my ribs, warping reality, and my vision tilts like the entire world just flipped upside down.
For a few terrifying seconds, I hear nothing but white noise.
Nothing but static and chaos.
Cam.
The name rips from my throat before I even register the scream.
As the haze begins to clear, my stomach plummets. He’s still standing, but barely. His hands are braced on his knees, and his chest is heaving. There'sa thin line of blood trickling from his nose and his jacket is singed. The edges are still smoking.
Oh. My. God.
Did I just kill him?
The thought slams into me, but before I can even process it, I'm already moving.
“Cam!” The words rip from my throat as I lunge toward him, gripping his arms. I'm frantic, searching for any signs of damage I can’t undo.
He tenses when I touch him and his body's too warm. But I don’t let go. I can’t. What if I just melted his internal organs? What if he drops dead any second?Oh my God, what did I do?
He should be pissed. He should be yelling at me. Hell, I'm yelling at me. Only he just laughs, like this is nothing. Like getting struck by actual lightning is just another Tuesday.
I jerk back, staring at him like he’s lost his goddamn mind. “Are you seriously laughing right now?
He wipes the blood from his nose and shrugs like he didn’t just almost die. “I’m fine.”
I blink at him.Fine?
“Oh, right, sure, that’s totally normal,” I snap, staring at him with disbelief. “You just got struck.By fucking lightning.”
He grins, looking like an absolute lunatic. “That's cute that you're worried, but it didn't hit me. Damn near did, though.” He brushes dirt off his jacket like I didn’t just nearly obliterate him, then adds, “Thank the Gods I have the reflexes of a cat.”
What. The. Actual. Fuck. Is going on right now?
I almost killed him and he’s going to act smug about it?
My pulse hammers in my throat as I stare at him, watching him act like he just tripped over a rug instead of nearly being electrocuted to death.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I couldn't hide the pitch in my voice if I tried. Pretty sure I'm in shock right now.
But Cam just looks right at me with a grin on his face. “It's awake. Great job!”
Did he just—?
“Great job?” I echo, somewhere between panic and hysteria. “Cam, I could’ve had a body count!”
His expression shifts slightly, and I can practically see the gears turning in that head of his. The way his lips twitch tells me exactly where his mind went. His shoulders shake with the laugh he's biting down.
And for some reason, that makes me want to punch him even more.
“It’s okay to be frustrated,” he says after a beat, sounding infuriatingly calm for someone who was just almost reduced to ash.
I feel crazy right now. Am I overreacting? I mean, he's clearly fine. But nothing about this is fine.
