Page 108 of Heartbeat Girl

She shoved me backward.

“Liam!” Steve screamed.

My vision clouded, and I couldn’t catch myself, nor could I get the blade out of my back. Was this how I’d die? Falling onto a blade while my heartbeat girl was just outside?No.I couldn’t leave—

Two arms wrapped around me. As my vision returned, I looked up into Pete’s stormy gaze. It was the first time he’d moved or done anything at all but rock back and forth. Without a doubt, I realized my heartbeat girl was alive for the same reason I was. Pete.

He lowered me to my ass.

“Thanks brother,” I said. The intense pain shook my body. “You did the best you could.” He averted his gaze and shook his head. “You kept Jayne alive.”

“Don’t move. Don’t talk,” he croaked. “Don’t die.”

I smiled. “I’m not going anywhere because you’re going to pull it out and we’re—”

“How touching,” said Marilyn. “You’re only alive because I missed your heart on purpose.”

“Your mistake,” I seethed.

Those footfalls got closer. My body went rigid as Jayne approached the door. What was she thinking?

The door swung open, and Jayne screamed, “Liam!”

Doesn’t she see the other vampires who will kill her?

Jayne’s eyes bulged when she spotted me. Ignoring the pain in my chest every time I moved, I was by her side before her next blink.

So was Marilyn. She shoved me aside and stepped in front of Jayne. “You,” Marilyn said as she clenched her fists. “So, not just Steve and Liam. You’ve stolen my Pete too?”

As I lunged for Marilyn, Randy grabbed hold of the knife wedged in my back. “You’re not intervening,” he muttered, wiggling it slightly to prove his point. Randy wasn’t Marilyn. Hewouldkill me the second his master allowed it.

“They were never yours to begin with,” Jayne spat.

My heartbeat girl scared the shit out of me. She wasn’t protected. She wasn’t safe.

Marilyn’s underlings held Pete and Steve down, too. The three of us were weak from hunger and exhaustion. Those goons pressed blades to Pete and Steve’s chests, ready to tear through flesh. Ready to end us. My blade was already halfway there. Panic seized me as I watched Jayne. What was she doing there? If I couldn’t protect the one I loved, what kind of man did that make me?

“They are and will be mine long after you’re gone. I don’t care who brought you here, they’ll all die. But you…” Marilyn laughed. “What a fool you are to come in here alone.” Lifting a strand of Jayne’s brown hair, Marilyn leaned down to her ear. “I’ll erase your every touch from Liam’s body until there’s only mine. He won’t remember you.”

Jayne’s face reddened as she gritted her teeth. Her hands balled tight.“Bitch, you shouldn’t have said that!”

But I saw it before Jayne. Marilyn’s hand shot up. I screamed Jayne’s name and ripped myself off the blade Randy held onto. It didn’t matter how close I came to dying. I tested fucking fate. Accepted death without a moment’s thought. I had to get to Jayne. I had to—

My vision faded, but my feet still moved as the pain radiated through my back and inside my chest. The agony was everywhere. My hands reached out. So close to Marilyn. So fucking close to ripping her head off her neck. But my fingers came short.Not enough.

Everything slowed as Marilyn’s hands wrapped around Jayne’s neck. My throat tightened, and I flinched at the sickening crack. That precious, beautiful organ gave its last thump. Words flew off my tongue, but I didn’t understand them. I understood nothing. Everything was at a standstill. Everything good was gone.

The light faded from Jayne’s eyes. That death stare would haunt me, but not for long, because I’d join her. I slid to my knees and caught her as she fell. She dangled like a doll in my hold. I listened and waited for her beats, the ones that led me to her. They never came. My sweet, sweet Jayne was gone.

And I couldn’t save her.

Sitting Jayne on the floor gently, I lunged for Marilyn, which gave Pete and Steve the chance to jerk away from the blades. All of Marilyn’s men came for me at once.Good.They all had to die before I left this world, anyway.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

JAYNE

Wetness coated my face. It dripped down on me, little by little. For some reason, I thought of tears. Shouts and cries of anguish called to me in the void. Pain stabbed at my head and neck. I wanted to cry out but couldn’t. Eventually, it turned to a dull ache, one that didn’t make me want to scream anymore.

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