Page 100 of Taken With Trouble

His eyes roll back in his head, but his breaths still come.

“Youliiiikeme,” he lilts.

“Yes, I would like for you to not die.”

“Because youlooooveme,” he sings.

The backs of my eyes burn.

“Yes,” I whisper so softly he can’t hear. No one can hear but myself.

His eyes pop open suddenly. “My dad…”

I cast a glance over my shoulder. His dad is on the ground, his chest rising and falling, but there is a pool of blood on the floor beside him.

I look to Liam. “He’s alive.”

“Blast.” He closes his eyes again, and I worry I’ve lost him. Warm blood pulses through my fingers. The compression isn’t enough. I rip off my shirt and press it to Liam’s side as hard as I can.

Liam’s eyes open, and he smiles a lazy, tired kind of smile. “I’m glad the sports bra made it.”

“I told you it was the best of the best.”

His eyes close again and each time they do, I worry they won’t open.

“Listen, Liam, I know you won’t remember any of this, but just listen, okay? I hated you for ruining my life as a kid, but you didn’t. You didn’t. And I hated you for—”

“Whatisthis nonsense?” he grumbles.

“I hated you for making my job harder. But I love how you give all you have to other people without looking back. I love how you take care of me. I love how you can somehow be both cocky and humble, even though it’s really infuriating.”

His eyes open ever so slightly. “I dare you to kiss me.”

Tears fall from my eyes as I drop my lips to his, and with my kiss, I try to pour the life from my body into his. His lips are soft, but they don’t move against mine.

I pull back. “Liam?”

Chapter 45

Serena

I tap my footon the ground and drum my fingers on the plastic chair. Then I pace down the hall to the closed door and back to the waiting room. I’m sure I look crazy. I’m wearing a shirt that’s not mine, my pants are covered in blood, my eyes are swollen, and there are bruises on my cheeks. But I don’t see anyone or anything except that closed door.

Why won’t someone just tell me if Liam is alive? When they finally got him on a stretcher and into the ambulance, his pulse was so low, his skin so pale. And that was five hours ago.

Meanwhile, my heart is beating enough for both of us. I’m on the verge of a panic attack. I can’t even see his grandpa Henry because he was taken to a different hospital to get checked out and only family is allowed in.

A familiar figure walks into the waiting room and heads straight for me.

“Give me good news, Harris,” I whisper.

“We got them all,” he says.

I nearly collapse, but he catches me. He doesn’t say anything as he holds me and my entire world upright. “Thank you.”

“For what?” he murmurs. “This is what partners do.”

A sob clenches my throat, but I’ve cried enough for one day. “So, w-what happened?”