Page 82 of His Toy

CHAPTER 22

Zaid

A blurry haze covered my vision. The ceiling. The thick bars. Chains in heaps on the ground. And blood. His. Mine.

Heather.

Heather dropped the knife. Her red hands trembling. Terror took hold of her expression, wrenching her eyes and mouth into a cry. She clutched my face, her chest tightening. Her mouth moved, her tongue reaching for words. My name on her lips. A clouded, fuzzy voice, as if underwater.Zaid, Zaid.

Heather.MyHeather.

No. That was over now. Heather was safe. She could live in peace. Without me.

“Zaid!” Heather’s voice called through the mist, piercing straight to my heart. “Zaid! Don’t give up, damn it! Not now. Be stubborn. Don’t give up—”

He was gone. She was safe. There was nothing I had left to do.

I closed my eyes.

“We’re just getting started,” her sweet voice whispered in my ear. “I love you, Zaid.”

But then there was nothing. No sound, no voice, no image. No Heather.

***

The harsh fluorescent lights of a hospital were immediately irritating. I squinted my eyes and tried to turn over, urging myself back to sleep. But the IVs in my arms prevented any comfortable position. Fuck this. I wanted to rest. Needed it, apparently.

“You’re awake,” a familiar voice said. Heather was perched on a chair between my bed and the window, the natural sunlight creating a halo around her face. “How are you feeling?” I grunted my disapproval. “That good, huh?” A subtle grin perked her lips. Damn it, she was beautiful. I ached all over, but seeing her smile, made me smile too. I couldn’t help it. “They said you’re lucky that the wound was where it was. Any lower, and you might not have survived.”

“And Eric?” I asked, my voice raspy. I coughed. My throat was unbearably dry. Heather handed me a cup of water.

“In the ground.”

I sighed. It was over then. And Heather was okay. I was alive. Heather opened her mouth, as if to give more information about the funeral, but then pursed her lips. Her instincts were right; I didn’t care what happened to him, as long as he couldn’t hurt anyone ever again. As long as he couldn’t hurt her.

But then she smirked and held a finger to her mouth. She let out a whine, and the information she was holding back burst through her. She could never keep a secret, not even when she wanted to. “Grant said your company has been soaring since we killed him. Everyone wants protection from the man who killed one of the most sadistic crime bosses of the century. The police are ecstatic too. Everyone is. Even the old followers. They’re all free.”

They thought it was me. They didn’t know how instrumental Heather had been. We had worked together to take him down, but she had been the one who had finished him off. It was because of her strength that they were free. That I was free too.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

She tilted her head, huffing. “What do you mean?”

“You should be with your sister. Gone. Not with me.”

“You don’t want me here?”

“I do. But you deserve better,” I said, raising my voice. “Not someone like me.”

She took my hand, holding it. That’s when I noticed the collar around her neck.

My collar. Her neck. Her voice rang in my head, a distant memory:I love you, Zaid. Don’t give up.

“I’m exactly where I need to be,” she said.

“You’re a fool for loving me.” My mind was racing. I wanted to be with her until the end of our days, but damn it, she knew what I was capable of. Didn’t she see everything that was wrong with us? That I was wrong for her? She deservedbetter.

“Do you love me?” she asked.