Page 8 of Die for You

Knox murmurs some useless prayers, and the last thing I hear before the deafening, metallic crunch is the word Finn mutters. “Fuck.”

Dead.

I have to be dead. No other explanation for the unforgiving, frigid ice coating my back.

A honey scent wafts up my nose, a soft tickle tracing gently over my cheek.

Something warm wraps around my hand. Gentle and small.

“Please.” A frantic whisper. “Please wake up.”

When I finally manage to wrench my eyes open, a girl with round, brown eyes peers down at me, terrified. Her pale blonde hair sticks to her head, wet from the sleet that’s stopped falling, and whispers over my skin. Her tiny hand squeezes mine like she can bring me back to life.

But I’m not dead. The ice at my back isn’t the cold of death—it’s the frozen pavement. The silent, abandoned road we took on the way back to the hockey house. Not a single pair of headlights approaches at this time of night.

The girl from the sidewalk. She must’ve seen the accident and run over to help.

If she wasn’t out here, if all three of us stayed unconscious in that car, who knows what could’ve happened to us.

A few blinks and I can finally make out her features in the dim light.

My heart damn near stops.

The girl we saw on campus last semester from the quad. Who we saw in the dining hall when Sienna and Juliet transferred to Diamond. The girl who captured our attention, who engraved herself in our minds without a single word or glance in our direction.

She’s nearly unrecognizable with her hair soaked and sticking to her face, most of her features cloaked in shadow. I didn’t think we’d ever see her again, but here she is. Here when we need her most.

Our angel. In the hands of her Devils. “Finally.”

“What?” Confusion is adorable on her, scrunching up her nose and squinting those mesmerizing amber eyes.

“We found you.”

This is the part where she should turn into putty in my hands. Where she should smile and whisper that she’s been searching for us too.

Instead, she straightens her shoulders. “Listen, I think you must’ve hit your head in that accident. Do you know what day it is?”

“The day I finally get to meet you.”

Her eyes narrow. “Yeah, you definitely have some sort of brain injury. Can you get up? I sure as hell can’t lift you.”

“What happened?”

“Your car slid on ice and hit the barricade.”

Behind her, smoke wafts up to the night sky. Gasoline clogs my nostrils, overpowering the sweet honey smell of her. The engine is smoking.

My heart nearly bursts out of my chest as I jerk upright. “Finn, Knox?—”

“They’re okay.”

From the passenger seat, Finn helps Knox out of the car. She must’ve woken Finn first and he pulled me out. Knox isconscious, but he’s limping and leaning his weight on Finn. Is that from the game earlier or the accident?

Fuck. I nearly killed my teammates. My buddies. My brothers.

I grit my teeth. If anyone should be hurt right now, it should be me. But a quick examination tells me I don’t have a scratch on me.

Sirens wail, and our angel nods at me like she can read my thoughts. “I called 911.”