Fear For Me (For Me #2)(97)

Lauren shoved Anthony out of the way.

The gunshot hit her, slamming into her chest.

Anthony roared her name. He rushed at Greg even as Lauren fell back.

She saw Anthony’s hands fly out. He ripped the weapon away from Greg. Twisted the weapon, turning it back on the ME—

Then fired.

The blast seemed to shake the earth. Then she realized she’d shaken the earth as her body slammed into it.

“Lauren!” Anthony’s voice was roaring again. His head was over her. “Lauren!”

He was there. Safe. She wanted to smile.

“No, baby, no.” His hands were on her chest. It should have hurt. He looked like he was pressing so hard.

But she didn’t feel his touch.

She wanted to feel him.

Cadence’s face was above her, too. The profiler ripped away Lauren’s shirt. Applied her own pressure to the wound.

Lauren couldn’t feel any of it.

Before she’d fallen, her heartbeat had been so loud. Almost as loud as the shots. Now, she could barely hear it at all.

“Don’t you do this,” Anthony ordered her, but the words sounded ragged. “Don’t! Lauren, look at me.”

She wouldn’t look anywhere else. She knew what was happening. She wanted him to be the last thing she’d see.

The best thing.

He’d said he loved her.

She should have told him how she felt.

He was the only man she’d ever loved.

“Baby, please…” Then he raised his voice. “Stop the blood, Cadence, stop it!”

“Tony…”

Just saying his name made her feel so hollowed out and weak. It was getting darker, so dark that it was hard for her to see him at all.

“Hold on, Lauren, you’re going to be okay. Cadence says the medevac is coming. You’ll be—”

“Love…” The word was a rasp, but she was determined to tell him. “You.”

“I f*cking love you, too. If you think for a second I’m letting you go, think again. I’ve got you for the next thirty years. Hell, I’ve got you forever. We’re getting married. We’re having kids, and we’re telling them to stay the f*ck away from swamps and—Lauren!”

Her lashes were closing. “Yes…”

“Lauren?”

Yes…I’ll marry you. She didn’t get to tell him. She didn’t get to tell him anything else.





*


A low, constant beeping pierced the darkness around her. Lauren slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the onslaught of light.

Everything was so bright and white.

She tried to move and found tubes running over her body. She tried to speak.

Panic hit her.

Something’s in my throat.

Lauren twisted, clawing, and a long, hot burn rushed across her hand.

“Lauren!” Anthony said. His voice was rougher, raspier than she’d heard before.

Her gaze flew to him.

“About f*cking time,” he whispered. He leaned across her and hit the call button. “It’s okay,” he told her, his eyes staying with hers. “You’re safe.”

In a hospital. I hate these places.

“He almost got your heart, it was so close.”

She frowned at him, noting the hard lines on his face. Deeper lines. She tried to talk again.

His jaw tightened. A nurse burst into the room. He still didn’t look away from Lauren. “You’ve got a breathing tube in your throat. You can’t talk, baby, not yet.”

Her eyes stung.

He looked so worn.

How long had she been there?

“Seven days,” he whispered, as if he’d heard her question. “Seven of the longest days of my life.”

Another nurse came into the room. The doctor followed.

They tried to push Anthony back, but he was putting something in her hand. The hand that had burned before. The object felt cold.

Her head turned so she could see it. She’d yanked out an IV. The machines beeped wildly. In her hand, clutched between her fingers, he’d put two necklaces.

Two crosses. Two perfect crosses.

Merry Christmas, girls! She could hear her mom’s voice rising with laughter and love.

Her hand clenched around the crosses.

“Greg had the crosses on him. I think he meant to plant them on Hawthorne, but he didn’t have enough time. After…” He cleared his throat. “Cadence found them after.”

After Greg had shot her.

After Anthony had shot him.

Tears tumbled from her eyes. The nurses went to work on her. The doctor tried to soothe her.

Anthony stayed by her side, and brushed away her tears.





*


“Where am I supposed to go?” Lauren asked, her voice still not as strong as Anthony would like. He’d just put her in his SUV, and they’d left Our Lady of Mercy Hospital behind them. Finally.

Two long weeks.

The first week, when she’d struggled so desperately to live, he’d nearly lost his mind.

Anthony glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He had lost his mind. Cadence had been forced to pull him off one of the doctors—a prick who’d said Lauren only had a 10 percent chance of survival.