She lays there, her eyes dull as the first time I saw her again. No tears are in her eyes, just sorrow. Ru stands and walks away, leaving just Gray here. He looks from her to me and shakes his head. I try again to break free, knowing I need to touch her, comfort her in some way. Fix the broken that just appeared in her.
“It’s time, Black. It’s time to say goodbye.”
He shoots me, the pain not registering. The screams rip from her throat as she watches. She tries to move, but it doesn’t work. His smile is evil, so sinister, it breaks me. I know what he’s about to do, and what I’m about to see.
He looks to her, raising his gun, I see it all in slow motion like it’s a movie and it’s terrifying. Nothing I can do will stop what’s about to happen, I can’t get to her fast enough, can’t stop him. It’s like my own nightmare, on replay in my head coming to life. Her eyes flick to mine, she sees it, and she knows what’s about to happen. Her eyes tell me so. I try to loosen my restraints and I give it all I’ve got. They break free and all I can do is run, run to be as close to her possible. His lips tip in a smile, his eyes on me, but the gun on her. The river flowing below is loud. I want to make it stop, make this very moment cease to exist. The noise is unlike anything I have heard, the pop. Then her eyes, a single tear forms, a single tear slides down her cheek and drops to her lips, her beautiful, full pink lips. Ones I’ve treasured on multiple occasions. Now replaced by blood and tears.
He lowers his weapon as the ringing stops, and I don’t give him a chance to raise it again. I body slam him to the ground, disarming him of his weapon. It flies away from him and he tries to body crawl under me to reach for it, but I get to it first. His eyes are now shocked as I raise it above his head, aim it at him as he did to her.
“Rose,” I say, it should be the last thing he hears before I kill him. He should know this is for her. His eyes open wide, the gun is now positioned at his skull. I click the trigger. Blood coats me and soaks the floor. His eyes are open, and he’s hopefully in hell.
I hear a whimper, it’s soft, but it’s her. When I reach her, I don’t want to touch her, she’s covered in blood more so than me. Her chest now crimson red, her pink lips now bright red, her hands holding her stomach, clutching it, trying to stop the pain. It won’t, it can’t.
“Liam,” she whimpers. I pick up her head, lift it and place it on my lap. Her eyes follow me as she closes them in pain at the movement. But I need to hold her, have to.
“Don’t close your eyes, Rose. Don’t…” A pain so intense shoots through me. Like a piece of my soul just got ripped away. It’s excruciating.
“I love you, Liam Black,” she says, and there it goes the last piece of me, shattered, bare for all to see. It’s ripping its way through me, the losing her, after finally getting her back. I can’t take it. My world ceases to exist. I could live before, just live. Now, I would die, die just to be put out of this misery. Though it is a misery I well deserve.
“I love you, Rose Miller.”
“The pain is going.” A smile touches her red lips. I hear the sirens, they’re getting louder. Closer. “Don’t hide again…” She takes a heavy breath, her breathing coming in slow staggers. “Shine bright, Liam… the world is meant to see you.”
“I can’t, not without you.” I touch her cheek and it’s cold. She closes her eyes, and I watch as the last breath leaves her mouth.
It’s all black now, everything is black, just like me. Just like everything I touch.
Sax tracked us, that’s how the ambulance and police knew where to come. Sax was the first I saw as he ran up the Hill with a gun in hand. He looks to me, then down to Rose. He panics, takes off his shirt and covers her body.
She’s taken to hospital, and the whole way her heart stops and restarts. Like a game, a game I don’t want to play.
I pace the floor, the floor of the hospital. Stand, then sit, then pace. How do I control what’s happening in me. How do I make this right? How do I make her feel right again? I wait, wait for the doctors. It goes on for hours, and for hours I do the exact same thing—I wait.
The doctor walks out hours later. Telling me I can see her now. My heart jumps, I actually feel it kick start again.
She’s now in recovery and asleep. Her head was hurt badly, her nipples had to be restitched, her body needing time to repair. I watch her every day, only leaving when I have news, news that Sax has just brought me.
He found Ru.
The police stand at the front of her hospital room door, thanks to Robbie. They connected all my killings to Gray, it was originally him that killed people and left a card, the same one I have left at every kill I’ve ever done. No one suspects me, I was young when the killing first started, so the case is closed.
I kiss her head, squeeze her hand, and walk out of that hospital going straight to my home. Jake’s there, so is Sax. Jake looks bad, like he should still be in the hospital. Maybe he should be. I don’t talk to them as I walk straight to my room, grab every weapon I can strap to myself and walk out.
I follow the address and see it’s a strip club. One the club owns. He’s been hiding out there. He’s heard that his president is dead, now he hides for life.
Jake and Sax follow me out. Getting in their own cars and following me until I stop at the destination. Security lines the outside. Jake walks up and tells them to leave. They give him an odd look, but technically he’s the president now.
The music is loud when we enter, the place is in darkness. I look for him and don’t see him anywhere. Jake points to a back room and starts walking in there. I follow, and when he opens the door, there he is, dick in hand, a woman on the ground. Jake smiles and pulls his gun out, making Ru freeze mid-stroke. The girl on the floor screams and runs for the door. We let her pass.
He looks to us, his eyes on Jake, gauging his damage. He pulls again, stroking his cock. I pull a knife from my pocket, walk up to him and slice his hand that’s on his cock. He pulls it back and a scream tears from his throat.
“You bastard!” he yells. Jake has a rope in his hands. He walks to one side of Ru and I walk to the other. There’s a table in the room. Sax hits him with the blunt of his gun, knocking him out, and we lift him to the table. Jake starts tying him down.
“When will they be here?” I ask Sax, and he scratches his bald head.
“You sure you want to do that?” he asks.
“Sax, when?” I ask impatiently. He pulls his phone from his pocket and looks back up to me. I haven’t slept for days, just sitting at her bedside, waiting for her to speak, to see me.
“You have ten minutes.” I nod my head. Jake has stripped Ru completely naked, and he’s just starting to rouse. He pulls against the ropes that have tied him to the table, but has no luck. Jake’s made sure of that.
“We’re going to play a game,” I say to him. He looks panicked for a second, then laughs.
“That’s all you got? Cut me, I love it,” he says. I nod to Jake, and he grabs the barbwire from his bag and starts strapping it around his mouth like a cloth, stopping him from speaking the same way Jake was.
I walk to his hand which is placed on the table and let the coldness of my knife touch his pinky finger. He looks to it, the wire cutting his mouth each time he moves. Jake smiles.
“I think the game we should play should be Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe,” I say, touching each finger. “Moe,” I say, smiling at him before slamming the knife down on his pinky, cutting it away from his hand.
“Black,” Sax says, looking at the finger on the ground in shock. Jake has a smile on his face. “There here,” he says. Looking over his shoulder, a group of men walk in. Looking around, but the leader has his eyes on Ru.
“Sax.” He nods to him as he enters. These men are dangerous and perverted. Men I wouldn’t associate with. Sax has, though. He’s done work for them. He told me if I pay them enough, his men would do whatever I wanted them to. I just couldn’t be there to see it.
So I paid them, I paid them to rape him. Break his soul, break his body. Just like he did to Rose. A tiny little man comes bouncing in, his nails are painted and his hair is long and pulled up high. He looks to me, smiles and whistles.
“I want to play with you,” he says, winking. The main man calls him to him, and he puckers his lips in disappointment as walks over to the naked Ru. He starts undressing, and we’re told to leave. I watch as he climbs on the table, dick in hand. He sees me and winks, then slams into Ru.
That’s all I can take as he screams. I walk out the front, the sky bright. Jake stands next to me, shaking. I tap his shoulder, he looks surprised. Except I know what they did to him, how seeing that would have made him feel. It was Ru that did it to him, he told me. So I got Ru back with two stones. For Jake, and especially for Rose.
“Will you protect her?” I ask him, Sax stands there with his glasses on his head watching as I speak to Jake.
“Of course.”
“I won’t always be there, Jake. She is my soul, she owns it. I bleed for only her. I weep for only her. Do you understand?” He nods his head, and I know, I know he will. He will put her first. Just like he has me, and just like I have him.