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“D-don’t pull it out,” he staggers. “Keep it still, and don’t let it move.”
I look at the shaft, then the blood soaking through his shirt. “What do I do?”
“Put pressure around it. Not on it,” he continues, biting down from the stinging pain.
I tug my sweater off, but it’s useless, soaked through from the rain. The wet shirt clings to me relentlessly, soaked through as well, so I brace the shaft with one hand and press the fabric against his side with the other.
My arms are bare now, and the bracelet around my wrist catches Dante’s attention immediately. His bloody fingertips trace over the chain. “You kept it.”
“Of course, you asshole. Now stay with me,” I say. I slide an arm beneath his shoulders and lift him, settling his upper body against me until his head rests against my chest and his weight lies across my legs.
Those eyes.
Fuck.
Those stupid fucking, soft puppy-dog eyes are still looking at me.
“Adrian…” he utters. “Y-you need to run, find a way out.”
Is he fucking insane?
“I told you already.” My hands tighten around him. “I’m never leaving your side again, so shut the fuck up about it.”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “Well… if I’m dying, at least it gets to be in your arms.”
Something inside me snaps, and I bury my face in his hair. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you fucking dare.”
I shift, letting him lean on my shoulder as I grab his face and fix my gaze on his.
“Stay alive,” I demand, voice breaking on the last word. I swallow and shake my head, as though I can somehow force reality back into place. “You’re not allowed to fucking die on me.”
I kiss him.
Once. Then again, frantically, as though I can somehow give him the life he’s losing.
“Stay alive.”
Another kiss lands as my hands remain locked around his face.
“Stay alive,” I beg. “I can’t lose you.”
Dante grunts, trying to force down his own panic. He’s trying for words, but they’re unable to reach his lips.
“I don’t know when this happened,” I whisper, brushing the wet hair away from his forehead. “When you went from being the person I wanted dead to the person I can’t fucking imagine losing.”
His breath stutters, and I choke it down, staring at him like it’s the last time I’ll ever be allowed to.
“I spent so much time convincing myself that needing you made me weak. That loving someone meant giving them a weapon to use against me.”
My thumb drags across his cheek. “But I was wrong.” The words feel foreign coming from my mouth, almost embarrassing in their honesty. “I love you, Dante Graves.” I lean closer, my lips brushing his forehead.
“And I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do with that, so you’re going to have to stay alive long enough for me to figure it out.”
A shaky breath leaves him. “Fuck… never thought I’d ever hear those words from you… I love you too, Adrian Summers. I have from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Dante smirks, reaches up as he cups my jaw, eyes softening, but whatever else he has to say dies down as the sound of sharp clicking of heels against the platform pulls my attention upward.
Selene stops a few feet in front of me just in time as the rain stops.
