I hear a fast crunching sound, but my mind can’t make any sense of it.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cole’s voice cuts through the fog, giving me hope as I sputter for breath.

I hear a fleshy thud and then my throat is free. I fall to the ground and wheeze in long, deep breaths, my lungs burning for oxygen. I cough and choke as I gasp at the air like a fish out of water. Slowly my vision returns and my mind clears. I realize that just because Cecil isn’t on me anymore that doesn’t mean this is over.

I reach down and pull up my pants, fighting my instinct to vomit at the thought of him groping me. I push away the vision I have of what he planned to do to me and struggle to get to my feet.

Using the wall, I pull myself back to my feet and look to the ground where Cole and Cecil are struggling for power. They roll around in the dirt and Cole slams his fist into Cecil’s face.

Blood explodes from his nose, pouring everywhere but it doesn’t stop Cecil from fighting like a rangy wolf. He twists and turns, managing to break free from Cole’s mount and before I can blink, he pulls a gun from a holster inside his jacket.

Cole doesn’t move, he stays perfectly still on his back and raises his hands up. “Listen, we can work this out. You can put that away,” his tone is firm yet somehow calm.

“Work it out? Like how you snuck up on me and knocked me out? You left me to die, you think I give a fuck if I kill you? I’ll probably get a medal.” Cecil waves his gun at Cole menacingly, “Not to mention a million bucks.”

“Cecil don’t!” I cry out and he twists toward the sound of my voice and points the gun straight at me. “I should kill both of you. Murderer and his slut,” he glares at me and I shiver.

Cole lunges up from the ground and knocks Cecil over, but the gun doesn’t fall from his hand. Cole holds down his arm and struggles to keep him from firing it as he punches him again. Cecil flings his head to the side like a rookie boxer who just got knocked out by a world champ. He goes limp and Cole stands up and looks over at me.

“Are you okay?”

“I am now,” I tremble and Cole walks toward me. I need to feel his thick arms wrapped around me. I need to...

BANG!

Cole drops to his knees and blood spreads over his shirt and down his arm as Cecil struggles to get to his feet.

“No!” I screech.

Blood is pouring from Cole onto the dirt. The only thing that moves on his burly frame is the spurting river of red gushing from his wound.

Cecil teeters on his feet like a newborn calf and I let out a deep scream of losing yet another person I loved as I bolt at him. I have no real plan as I plow into his gut like a linebacker, throwing him off balance and forcing him to stumble backward to the edge of the cliff. Cecil sways back and grabs onto me, twisting his hand in my shirt and dragging me forward as he tries to anchor himself to me. My body weight is no match for his and I slide forward. My feet reach the edge and rocks kick loose under his feet as he begins to fall over. My toes are over the side and I can see the fall that is about to kill me. I’m going to plunge to my death with him.

My arms are suddenly yanked back roughly and I’m pulled away from the cliff and topple on Cole as Cecil shrieks loudly and then stops when his body hits with a sickening thud below.

I turn over and roll off Cole. I know I almost died, but I can’t hide my elation. I’m so happy he’s alive!

“Oh my god! Cole, can you get up?” My eyes fall to the blood still spilling from his shoulder and I strip my shirt off, I couldn’t care less about my exposed body as I press the fabric to his wound to try to stop the bleeding.

Cole grabs my fingertips that are pressing against the shirt. “I love you Abbie,” his voice is hoarse and he tightly presses the shirt to his wound and sits up.

“I love you too,” I blink back tears, surprised at how much I needed to hear those words from him. “You saved my life,” I murmur, like I’m explaining what just happened to myself.

“We saved each other,” he answers. “You’re a lot tougher than you let on, Abbie. Not a lot of girls would do what you just did.”

“It’s like you said, sometimes the only option is to kill,” I echo back his words and try to throw his good arm over my shoulder and help him to the cabin.

“What are we going to do?” My mind reels at the reality of Cole’s wound and a dead man at the bottom of the mountain.

“We’ll figure it all out, together,” Cole answers through grit teeth and I guide him inside not knowing how we’ll fix any of this but confident that with Cole I can do anything.