My hands grab the wire before it can reach my, throat trapping them. The cut is instant. My fingers sting and burn as the wire embeds into my flesh.
“Hmm, your fear smells divine.” He groans in my ear.
The sound of a door slamming alerts him to Gavin’s entry. He pulls me against his body and takes steps backwards towards the fire exit.
Gavin aims a gun towards us and my tears blur.
“Let her go, or I swear I will kill you.”
“You’d have to because if you didn’t, I’d snap her fucking neck like a twig.”
Bloods drips down my chest and I swear my fingers are severing.
“Let her go!” he shouts, fear desperate in his tone.
“I’ve come too far, waited too long. Don’t be a fucking hero.”
He drags me to the door and boots the handle, releasing it. It opens into a back street. Gavin is searching for a place to shoot but my body is in the way and he won’t risk it.
“Don’t let him take me.” I choke as he strengthens his grip.
My own hands are going to crush my windpipe if he doesn’t lay off pulling me by the wire.
“Why are you doing this?” Gavin pleads, and that stops him in his tracks.
He tilts his head and brings it down to the blood coating my hands, neck, and chest. “Because I like this color on her. She became a trophy I needed to claim.”
Sick motherfucker.
The cold air washes over us as he fully enters the alleyway. The door’s just about to close when, all of a sudden, I’m tumbling and a force smashes into us.
Voices ring out and I’m free from his grip. I crawl to gain more space between us. The grit and dirt burn the cuts on my fingers but nothing can stop me from fleeing.
The door is open and I find myself at Gavin’s feet, wrapping myself around his legs. Looking back to see what happened, I see Aidan and Jackson scrapping on the concrete. Aidan gains the upper hand, pounding his fist into Jackson before standing over his bloodied body and looking back to us. “What the fuck is going on? I came here to steal a case of water for the gym.”
Oh God, Aidan. “That’s him.” I point, my hand shaking and blood pumping from my hands.
“Fuck, you’re hurt real bad.” Aidan rushes over to me and drops to his knee. He unwinds my arms from around Gavin’s legs.
“Gav, call an ambulance now.” Ripping his shirt, he wraps my hands in the material. “Gavin?”
We both look up to find Gavin pointing his gun. Following the barrel’s sight, a whimper concaves my chest. Jackson is on his feet. He’s pulled a knife from somewhere and is holding it by his thigh, glaring down at me.
He takes a step and a loud pop rings out, followed by another and another. A thud signals Jackson going down but Gavin doesn’t stop. He pushes past Aidan who is trying to restrain him.
A sob wrenches from my chest as Gavin stands over Jackson’s body.
“I’ve left her a little present at home.” Jackson gurgles, coughing as blood splats from his mouth. “She tastes of ice cream on a sunny day.”
“You’ll never touch her again.”
Gavin fires the gun, leaving a hole in Jackson’s forehead.
Not even flinching, he killed him. For me. To save me. To end this.
Turning, our eyes clash and I see all the love he’s been keeping shining through them.
“I’m going to go to your apartment. You need to call your mum and dad and make sure they’re okay and that he didn’t mean back home. Aidan’s going to take you to the hospital.”
“No.”
“Antonia, you need to go to the hospital.”
“And I will, but after. I need to know the people I love are okay. God, Gaby and Mary are both home today.”
“You can’t leave the scene, Gavin. You just fucking killed that guy.”
“He was a criminal. A wanted felon, trying to kidnap and kill Antonia.”
“Well, you can tell the cops that.” Aidan points upwards; siren sounds can be heard.
I’m on my feet and running down the alleyway to the street.
“Tell them to meet us at home, Aidan.”
Gavin is holding me back as we approach my apartment. He doesn’t want me to witness if there’s anything inside. My cell rings, causing us both to startle. “It’s Mum calling back.”
“Answer it,” he whispers.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sweetheart. Is everything okay? We had lots of missed calls. I was answering the front door. No, David, it’s Antonia. What?”
I breathe a sigh of relief to hear her voice.
“Mum, what is it?” She’s distracted and talking to Dad and someone else.
“Oh, sweetheart, some good news. They’ve found James. What do you mean?” She drifts off, talking to whoever’s there.
Gavin pushes my apartment door open and the world stops. My cell clutters to the floor as I collapse to the ground and crawl over to where Finlay lays in a pool of blood.
There’s so much blood. Too much. I’ve seen this much blood before; Richard, when he was murdered in front of me at our shop. That monster cut his throat with total disregard for what he was taking from the world, and his blood soaked into me, just like now, only this time it’s different. This is Finlay’s blood.
I can’t lose him, not like this. Not because of me.
“Finlay! Stay with me! Please God.” My hands shake uncontrollably as I try to stop the life from leaving him… leaving me.
Willing him to be okay is a fool’s errand, yet my soul screams for him not to leave me all the same.
Fat, salty drops leak from my eyes, dripping my fear onto the perfect white flesh of his face. Penetrating green pierces me through the blur of my tears, and I see his own sorrow, crystalized like jade, staring back at me.
“I’m sorry. I love you.” He gurgles as his body becomes limp in my arms. His head lolls and crimson stains taint his lips.
All we are, everything we’ve been through, has brought us to this moment; him dying because of me.
I was right; we’re destruction for each other.
All the good, the love, the lust, doesn’t justify the pain, sorrow, and turmoil.
My heart bleeds through the holes left from our chaotic past.
His breathing shudders, causing his chest to concave.
Fear almost stops my own breathing. This can’t be real.
Acid burns over my tongue; the room expands and fades.
Gavin is saying things but it’s distorted and distant. Focusing my eyes on his lips, I urge myself to hear him. I’m losing myself; my soul is trying to flee so it doesn’t have to face the reality of what it’s witnessing. Darkness begins to drag me away.
“An ambulance is coming. Stay with us, Fin. Fuck,” Gavin barks, and I’m dragged back to the now. Gavin’s hand comes over mine, pushing down on the wound with me.
Our eyes meet, and I can see the defeat alive in his, and the grief crushing his features.
He knows the blood in Fin’s mouth means internal injuries.
We’re going to lose him… I can’t… I’m not ready.
He’s too cold. Oh God. Sobs strangle me and I’m suffocating.
A scream, raw and rabid, rips from my chest.