Page 64 of You for Her (The Edge of Retaliation 2)
Tanner moves toward it while the others keep speaking to each other quickly.
Tanner disappears into the office and what seems like hours pass before he finally comes back out, even though it’s only been a matter of minutes.
“I feel sick,” I say to Jo, my stomach churning, my whole body on high alert, full of anticipation as I watch.
“I do, too.”
Tanner walks out of the office, and that’s when I catch movement at the side of the small office building. Someone else is in the compound. My heart feels like it launches into my throat as I see a man slowly creeping down the side of the building, a huge gun in his hands. He peers around at Tanner and raises the gun.
He’s going to shoot him.
The other men are far too busy to notice; they’re not close enough.
“He’s going to shoot Tanner,” I say to Jo. “Oh, god. I’m calling out.”
“No,” Jo says, grabbing my arm. “If you call out, we’ll all be in danger.”
I jerk my arm out of her grips, my eyes frantically watching as the man brings the gun up and looks through the scope. No. I can’t let him hurt Tanner. I can’t. I’ll risk it.
I stand, even when Jo yells at me not to. I raise my arms in the air and scream as loudly as I can, “Tanner! Behind you!”
Tanner jerks and his head slowly turns in my direction. All the other men stop talking and they turn, too. The guy with the gun moves quickly, his whole body swinging in my direction, the gun raising up, his eye still looking through the scope. I’m a distance away, but obviously not far enough. Jo screams and launches up, grabbing me around the waist at the same time the gunshot sounds out.
Everything after that happens in slow motion.
One minute I’m standing, the next something hard hits my shoulder. At first, it feels like a punch, shoving my whole body backward to the point I can’t stay on my feet. I hit the ground with Jo beneath me, and seconds seem to pass by, and I don’t feel anything.
Then comes the pain.
Like a burning hot poker being shoved through my body over and over again.
I open my mouth and my screams can be heard echoing through the bushland. Blood soaks my shirt and the sounds of more gunshots can be heard in the distance. Jo is calling out, her voice frantic, but I can’t stop myself from rolling around screaming long enough to hear what she’s saying.
I’ve never felt pain like this in my entire life.
It’s so intense I can’t breathe. I can feel my entire body reacting to the pain, slowly becoming less and less in control. I can’t move my arms, I can’t get to my feet, I can’t stop the sounds being ripped from my throat. My stomach turns, my heart races, and every single inch of me feels like it’s being lit on fire.
Then my breathing becomes labored. One breath gets a touch harder, and before I know it, all of them come out as short hard pants. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get the air into my lungs. As a result, my body feels strange, like slowly it’s starting to go numb. Jo’s screaming is drowned out by a white noise and my head feels light, airy even.
Is that what it feels like to die?
Is this how Celia felt?
It’s kind of enjoyable.
Comforting, even.
I like it.
Yeah.
It’s nice.
19
“CALLIE!”
Someone is shaking me.
My eyes flutter open and my vision is blurred. I’m trying to focus, trying to pay attention, but the pain in my body is far too great. As I come to, it comes back with it. The scorching agony that is slowly consuming my body, little by little. I open my mouth and scream, my body arching backward, trying to thrash its way out of the fiery pits it feels like it’s being drowned in.
“Callie!”
Tanner’s voice seems distant. Like he’s not even close by.
Yet I can feel his hands against my face.
“Pull her up a little, Tanner, she’s goin’ to bleed out.”
Tatum?
Ethan?
I don’t know.
“Gotta get her to a hospital, now!”
Someone again.
I don’t know who.
“Callie, need you stay with me. Do you hear me? Stay with me. Don’t close your eyes again. Don’t disappear. Please. Fuck.”
I look up through the pain and see Tanner looking down at me. I can feel his arms around me now, a gentle comfort in this agonizing time of need.
“There you are,” he says, his voice thick, scared, horrified. “Keep lookin’ at me. We’re goin’ to get you help.”
“Tanner,” I croak. “You’re okay.”
“You saved me,” he murmurs, cupping my face. I can’t feel if his skin is warm or cold. “You saved my life. Don’t you fuckin’ die on me. Do you hear me? Don’t you die. I need you.”
