Page 53 of Obsessive Love (The King #1)

Chapter Fifty-Two

Sophia

I lie on my back, rapidly blinking in an attempt to clear my vision so that I can understand what's going on. My whole body is on fire. Everything looks fuzzy and distorted and all I can hear is a shrill ringing sound in my ears.

Panic seeps into my bones and I try to lift my body, but my legs are trapped and I can't move.

My vision starts to clear and when I see leather seats above me, my eyes widen as I realise the car's upside down. I glance down at my legs and see Kaleb's limp body strewn across them.

I scream when I realise that's why I can't move and I try to force myself into a sitting position so that I can reach him, but the immense pain that spreads through my body with every movement makes it too difficult.

"Sophia!"

I twist my head around, groaning at the pain that shoots down my neck, and turn to face Jericho as he clambers through the destroyed car towards me.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I can't get out. Kaleb's not moving," I whine.

His panicked gaze pings around the car until he spots Kaleb's body lying across my legs.

"Kaleb!" he shouts, trying to wedge himself between the gap of the front seats and the roof to try and get to him.

The distinct sound of a gunshot has both of us freezing in place.

"Go," Jaylen says from somewhere in the flipped car. "I'll get them out. You go and get that bastard."

Jericho disappears from my view and a moment later, Jaylen is squeezing himself through the gap that Jericho tried to get through, his hand holding the side of his stomach as he does so.

"Jay, are you okay?" I ask, worried by his pale complexion and his shakey movements.

"I'm fine, just got bashed about a bit."

He helps me sit up and attempts to drag me backwards towards the smashed window beside me, but I shake my head.

"Get him out first," I tell him, motioning to Kaleb.

"I can drag you out from underneath him, Soph."

"No. Get him out first, Jaylen. He's unconscious and he's been shot. Get him out and make sure he's okay and then you can come back to get me out."

"Have I ever told you that I hate how stubborn you are?" he grumbles as he carefully crawls over me and lifts Kaleb's body off of mine.

"Yeah, plenty of times."

He turns Kaleb onto his back and I gasp as my heart plummets down to my stomach when I see Kaleb's blood-soaked shirt.

Now that my legs are free, I fight against the pain and move my body, twisting myself around so that I can reach Kaleb.

Jaylen puts his arms underneath Kaleb's and tugs him backwards, slowly dragging him towards the gaping hole at the side of the car where the door previously was.

"Kaleb!" I shout, smacking my hand against his leg, trying to get him to wake up.

He remains unmoving.

My eyes scan his body, looking for any other injury besides the one on his arm and that's when I see the huge chunk of metal protruding from his stomach.

Tears swarm my eyes, blurring my vision once again, and I sob into my hand as fear consumes me.

Jaylen drags him backwards, over the lip of metal on the side of the car and Kaleb gasps for air, his eyes shooting open as he releases a roar of pain.

"Kaleb!" I crawl across glass shards, moving with them as Jaylen manages to hoist Kaleb out of the car and onto the dewy grass. He holds his hand out, helping me out of the car and then he uses his shaky limbs to carry me over to Kaleb, resting me beside him.

Kaleb stares up at me with drooping eyes as he lies on the ground with blood pouring out from the wound in his stomach, causing the panic in my chest to swell.

I stroke my thumb across his cheek, cupping his blood-smeared face in my hands with tears trickling down my cheeks as I hear Jaylen's weary voice in the background as he calls for an ambulance.

"I feel it too," I whisper, emotion clogging my throat. "The connection between us. I feel it, Kaleb."

He smiles up at me, and his eyes start to shut slowly.

"No!" I scream, tapping my hands against his face. "You have to stay awake for me. You can't leave me, Kaleb. You need to hold on. You're not allowed to make me fall in love with you and then leave me."

His eyes flutter open for a moment and his face twists in agony.

"I've always loved you," he chokes out, his head lolling slightly as his eyes drift closed again. "I always will."

"Kaleb! Please, baby, please keep your eyes open!" I plead. "We're so close to having the life you've always wanted for us. You can't give up."

"So close," he whispers.

Tears cascade down my cheeks, dripping onto his face, and my sobs echo around us as his eyes slowly close again.

"No, no, no," I chant, panic engulfing me as I watch the fight gradually leave his body.

"S-soph."

I reluctantly turn my face away from Kaleb's slack face when I hear Jaylen's quiet, pain-laced voice from beside me.

My eyes meet his, and I watch him stumble towards me.

"I don't f-feel so good," he says, just before his eyes roll and his body falls to the ground beside me with a sickening crack.

A gut-wrenching scream releases from my throat as I stare in horror at my cousin's limp body.