The smoking pistol in my hand was warm to the touch. This time pulling the trigger worked. Ian lay dead on the floor with a hole in his head, blooding pooling around his body. Not bad for firing a gun for the first time in my life. I kept the gun pointed at him, my grip firm on the handle. I wouldn't let him hurt us ever again.
Ryker opened his eyes and checked his body for bullet holes. He turned to me and realized what happened. He knelt down and pried the gun from my fingers. I wanted to shoot Ian a million more times. Make sure he'd never come back to life.
“You saved my life,” he said, gazing into my eyes.
“Only because the gun was loaded. You really need to keep that shotgun of yours loaded at all times. Could have saved us all a headache.”
Ryker chuckled. “I'll take that into consideration.” He looked down at my wrists and saw that they were still bound together by the ziptie. “How the hell did you get your hands free.”
I pointed to the broken pipe. “I was trying to break it the entire time you guys were fighting. I guess seeing you about to be shot gave me that extra ounce of power.”
Ryker walked over by Russel and picked up his switchblade. He returned to me and sawed the zipties until my hands were free. My wrists were red and raw from all the struggling. Ryker held my wrists in his hands and looked over them. “I'm so sorry this happened. It was all my fault.”
Ryker's head was down and tears rolled off his cheeks and fell into my hands. I raised his chin and looked into his eyes. “You saved my life, Ryker...twice. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead from an overdose in that godforsaken dungeon I called home. If it wasn't for you, Ian would have killed me.” I kissed Ryker softly on the lips even though mine hurt. “You're my hero.”
Ryker wiped the tears from his eyes and helped me to my feet. I walked over to Ian and kicked him right in the chest. His lifeless body slumped over. “Fuck you.”
But we still had one more thing to take care of. “What do we do about Russel?” I asked Ryker. “We can't let him live, right?”
Ryker laughed and kicked Russel over the same way I did to Ian. His head twisted in a way that wasn't humanly possible. There was no life left in his limbs. Russel was dead. He'd been dead the entire time and Ryker fooled both Ian and me. “You killed him before you even entered the room? But what if Ian noticed?”
“It was a risk I had to take. I couldn't fight both of them at the same time. But if Ian knew Russel was dead, he'd most certainly kill you before I had a chance to do anything. My only option was to act like I held Russel's life in my hands. It was the only thing stopping Ian from killing you in front of me.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It was the first time in hours that I actually breathed. “I'm just glad it's all over.”
“Not quite yet, Tempest. We can't let people find out what happened here. That means we need to dispose of the bodies.” Ryker pointed at Ian and Russel. “There's also the guards outside that I had to take out.”
I imagined the amount of digging it would take to bury four bodies.“We have a long night ahead of us then.”
Ryker stared down at the body of Ian and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Nobody should have to kill their best friend. “I'm sorry you had to kill him. I know how close you two were.”
Ryker nodded and I noticed a line of blood running down from his scalp. “Are you hurt?”
Ryker cocked his head to the side. “My face feels sore but other than that I feel fine.”
I pointed at his wound. “But you're bleeding from your head.”
Ryker felt around and looked at the blood on his hands. “It's nothing. Don't worry about. Help me move these bodies.” Ryker went to the shoulders of Ian and lifted. “You get the legs.”
“Stop for a second. Let me take a look at that wound first. We don't want a bunch of your dried blood all over these corpses for someone to find later.”
Ryker thought about it for a moment and dropped Ian to the ground, agreeing with me.
I took his hand and led him into the bathroom off the living room. I flipped the switch and three out of the four bulbs above the mirror lit up. I pulled Ryker's head forward and bathed his wound in the light. His short brown hair was matted with blood. “It looks like you have a nasty gash in your head. But it's not too deep. You shouldn't need stitches.”
“Motherfucking Ian. It's those damn gold rings of his. I'm surprised my face isn't cut up more. I've seen guys lose an eye from those.”
I didn't even want to picture what losing an eye would look like in real life. I'd already seen enough death and destruction today. “Let me see if I can find a first-aid kit.”
“There's one underneath the bathroom sink. We've had to stitch each other up here many times before.”
I looked under the sink and found a big white bag with a red cross on it. Inside was everything a doctor would need to do brain surgery. I wasn't that experienced so some gauze and antiseptic would have to do.
“Okay now, lean your head back,” I asked nicely. Ryker did as he was told and I carefully poured the antiseptic into his cut.
Ryker started squirming in his chair and biting his bottom lip. “Easy, woman. That shit stings.”
“Stop being a baby. You've been hurt so many times I'm surprised you even feel pain anymore.”
Ryker laughed and let me finish bandaging his head. He stared up at me with a longing desire. “I won't let anything bad happen to you.”
I stopped for a moment and looked into his eyes. “I know.” he made me feel so safe. Even in the worst, I knew everything would turn out all right if Ryker was around.
Ryker ran his fingers through my tangled hair. “Do you know how beautiful you are?”
I blushed and slapped him on the shoulder. “You're just saying that because of the blood loss to your head.”
Ryker stood up and held me close. “No I'm serious. You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.” Ryker wrapped his arms around me. “I don't ever want to let go.”
I looked up at him, my mouth inches away from his. I could feel his hot breath against me. “Never let go.”
Ryker pressed his lips against mine, holding me firmly. My body felt like goo in his hands as I melted away. My heartbeat raced in my chest. I never wanted him more than now.