Page 5 of His Deadly Devotion
Now she’s standing in front of me, with a few scratches on her face, her clothes covered in dirt. But she’s in one piece. She’s here. And then I’m reminded about what she did. The fact that Kenny is gone. Because of her. I know she wasn’t in her right mind, but that doesn’t make it any better in my head.
I turn to face her as a searing pain tears through my shoulder. Ignoring it, I close the gap between us, stopping just before my toes touch hers. So close I can smell her shampoo. I want to move closer, bury my head in the crook of her neck and inhale.
I don’t.
“What. The. Fuck. Were. You. Thinking,” I hiss out. My relief is now replaced with rage. Anger. Fucking desperation to make her realize how damn stupid she was to go back to that cabin.
Aurora doesn’t flinch at the harshness of my tone. Not that I expected her to. She holds up a hand. I’m assuming to stop her brother, who I was just about ready to put through the damn wall. The asshole wouldn’t tell me where she was.
“What was I thinking? Are you out of your damn pretty mind, Connor O’Malley? You?” Her finger pokes at my chest. I don’t move. “You idiot! Who runs towards a fucking bullet? Connor, what wereyou thinking?” she throws back at me.
“I don’t know, princess. Maybe I was thinking I didn’t want your brains splattered all over the ground.” My voice rises and I add some distance between us again. “Why? Why run back? Todo what? We were out of there, Aurora. Why the hell would you put yourself in that situation?”
A throat clears from behind me. “Because she’s fucking crazy and acts on impulse,” Enzo mutters.
“She’s not crazy,” I tell him.
“Maybe I am.” Aurora shrugs. “But I’m not the one who ran towards a bullet. Do you really think my life is worth more than yours? That’s stupid. It’s not.”
“Yeah, it is,” I correct her.
“No, it’s not. And I swear to God, Connor, if you do something so stupid again, I’m going to kill you myself.”
I smirk. “No, you won’t.”
“Yeah, she would,” Enzo adds.
Fuck, he’s annoying. Irun a hand through my hair. I don’t know what the fuck is going on.
“What happened? Where are we?” I ask Aurora.
“What happened was you were a fucking idiot and saved my life.Andgot yourself shot in the process. Which you are not allowed to do ever again, by the way. So, we brought you here, the doc stitched you up, and you slept. For hours,” Aurora tells me.
I need to get out of here. The longer she’s near me, the more at risk she’s going to be. I have no doubt her family can keep her protected, make sure mine doesn’t get to her. But I can’t do the same, not unless I go home. I can make up some bullshit excuse about why I was at the cabin, about why I’d run with her. They’d believe it, because it’s better than the truth. That their heir is—was—sleeping with the enemy.
“I need to go.” I look around for my shirt. I can’t find it anywhere. “Where’s my shirt?”
“It got cut off,” Aurora says. “You’re not leaving.”
“Yeah, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
“What are you going to do to stop me? Tie me to the bed? Drug me again? I need to go,” I tell her.
“Enzo, get out,” Aurora directs at her brother.
“And leave you with the enemy? I’m good right here,” he replies.
“Enzo…” Aurora glares at him.
“Not leaving,” he tells her.
I always thought that being an only child was lonely. Now, I’m fucking glad I don’t have siblings.
“Is there a problem?”
My neck snaps to the doorway, to the last person I expected to see. Aurora’s father. And, surprisingly, he’s not pointing a gun at my head. Yet.