Page 50 of Somewhere Without You

“Don’t come any closer,”she warned, not glancing his way.

Logan raised his hands slowly, palms out.“Okay. I’m not. Just. . . let’s talk, alright? This doesn’t have to go any further.”

Her lips curled, a bitter smile stretching across her face.“Now you want to talk? After everything?”

“I don’t want anyone getting hurt,”he said, eyes locked on the trembling weapon in her grip.“Put the gun down, Mads. Please.”

“You don’t get to call me that!”she spat.“You lost the right to call me anything the moment you started sneaking around with her .”

I held my breath, afraid to speak, afraid to move. Logan took a slow step forward.

“You’re right,”he said softly.“I screwed things up. But this isn’t the way, Maddie. You think this fixes anything? You think killing anyone makes any of this hurt less?”

“I don’t care about fixing it anymore,”she snapped.“I cared for so long. I bent over backwards trying to be what you needed. And then she shows back up, and suddenly, I’m not enough.”

Her voice cracked, and for a split second, the rage in her eyes faltered—replaced by something raw and broken.

Logan took another slow step forward.“Mads, listen to yourself. This isn’t you.”

She laughed, but it was hollow.“You don’t know me at all.”

“But I do,”Logan said, pleading.“And I know this isn’t what you really want.”

Madeline turned slightly, her eyes wounded.“I wanted you ,”she said.“I’ve wanted you since we were kids. But you never wanted me back, did you?”

“Mads. . .”

“ DID YOU? ”she screamed, snapping the gun toward him.“She’s what you really wanted. It was always her.”

Another flash of lightning lit the room. With her attention shifted, I slowly eased off the couch, one eye on the phone still lying on the floor.

Logan exhaled.“I’m sorry. I tried to love you that way, I really did. But I couldn’t force something that wasn’t there.”

Madeline’s face crumpled as tears poured down her cheeks. Even now, as messed up as it was, part of me still ached for her. Heartbreak that deep doesn’t just wound you—it reshapes you, hollowing out the person you used to be.

I inched sideways, careful to stay behind the couch, my focus split between her and the glint of my phone.

Just a few more steps. . .

But the floor betrayed me. A loud creak snapped her head in my direction.

“Well then,”she said, her voice now eerily calm as she wiped her tear-streaked face with one hand.“Since you broke my heart. . . it’s only fair I break yours.”

The flash that followed wasn’t lightning.

It was the flash of the muzzle.

The shot stole my breath entirely, searing through flesh and bone like fire. I cried out, staggering back—when a second blast rang out.

This time, Logan jumped in front of me.

His eyes widened, body locking in place. For a breathless second, an eternity pressed into a heartbeat. Our eyes met. Then the light in his gaze dimmed. His body jolted once, then collapsed against mine, heavy and terrifyingly still.

Madeline stumbled back, eyes wide in disbelief, the gun clattering to the floor. She backed away slowly, her expression blank now, the adrenaline draining as she sank where she stood.

I lay helpless as the world tilted and spun around me, the air thick with eerie silence. Blood pooled beneath me, dark and spreading, swallowing the floor where Logan and I lay.

I reached for him, but my fingers were numb. My vision tunneled as I tried to hold on.

“What have I done?”Madeline whispered. Her hands hung useless in her lap as she stared blankly ahead.“Oh my God. . . what did I do?”

I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I couldn’t tell if Logan was breathing. I couldn’t feel anything anymore. My vision dimmed as everything softened, floating somewhere between pain and silence as I drifted.

Inches away, my phone lay where it had landed.

I bit down hard, pushing through the white-hot pain that tore through me with every shallow breath.

Using the slick trail of mine and Logan’s blood, I dragged myself across the floor, inch by inch, stretching my arm as far as it would go—until finally, my fingers closed around it.

My hand shook as I brought the phone closer, smearing blood across the screen. It slipped once, nearly falling from my grip, but I caught it.

I punched in the numbers, my eyes flicking to Madeline. She sat frozen in place, staring down at her hands in stunned silence, like she didn’t recognize them anymore.

Then a voice crackled through the speaker.“911, what’s your emergency?”

I tried to speak, but nothing came out—just a strained gasp.

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

I swallowed the blood in my mouth and forced the words out, hoarse and broken.“Shot. Two of us. Bleeding. . . 981 Crescent Hill Road. . . please. . .”

“Emergency units are on the way. Stay with me on the line, okay?”

But the phone was heavy now. Everything was. The voice on the other end faded, drowned by the rush of blood in my ears and the rasp of my own slowing breath.

I turned my head toward Logan, my fingers brushing his.

“Just. . . hold on,”I breathed, unsure who I was saying it to.

“Ma’am, are you still with me? Talk to me please, let me know you’re okay,”the dispatcher pleaded. But her voice was little more than an echo now, following me into the dark.