sit and listen. When I battled my way through decisions made in my time overseas, she would be the one to ask the tough questions. Those discussions gave me something solid to hold onto until the sun rose.
So now, when the darkness seemed all encompassing, I needed to borrow
Kelsey’s compass, just for a little bit, just until I could justify the faith of the man sitting in front of me. The decision drew me back from the crumbling edge
and firmed the ground under my feet. I turned into his touch and covered his hand with mine. I pressed my lips against his palm. “Thank you.”
In that quiet moment of understanding, the nebulous connection between us
strengthened, and for the first time since all this horror started, I didn’t feel so alone.
He rocked forward and placed a chaste kiss on my forehead, then rose to his
feet, not letting go of my hand.
In an attempt to re-establish some normalcy, I asked, “What did Delacourt say?” I set my feet to the deck and started to rise from my chair.
He let my hand go. “There’s been some chatter about a pending sale.” He
stepped back, turned, and headed to the sliding glass door.
I opened my mouth to reply but a blurry form popped up inches from
Kayden and cut my response short. Whoever it was pulled back the curtains on
sliding glass door, their attention on the second tower of condos across the way.
The image made my skin crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stood at attention. Having the past take part in my present shocked the hell out of me.
I must have made some noise because Kayden paused halfway through the
sliding glass door and started to turn toward me.
My body was moving before everything clicked into place. A red dot
appeared at the base of Kayden’s neck as instincts outpaced thought. I sprang toward him, sending my chair tumbling to the side. I executed a clumsy tackle,
hitting him just below his waist. My weight slammed into him, leaving him no
time to react as we hit the ground. His pained “umpff” stopped my heart, but the
echoing crack had me shoving him deeper into the condo.
For the first time I cursed the floor to ceiling glass windows. The expanse of
glass offered zero protection from the sniper. My spine did its best to crawl out
of my flesh as I covered Kayden’s unmoving body. I cursed as I shoved the close
to two hundred pounds of dead weight across tile. Not an easy feat when you were attempting a low profile on the seventh floor of a high-rise. Yet with adrenaline’s help, I got us both into the bathroom, where the only opening left was the small, high window in the wall above.
I counted the seconds waiting for a second crack. It didn’t come. With each
passing second, the chance of a second shot dissipated. When I reached thirty, I
felt confident enough to push off of Kayden. The abused muscles in my thigh throbbed as I sat back on my heels next to his prone body and ran my shaking
hands over him. My fingers tangled in his hair, tracing over his skull searching
for an entry wound.
Nothing met my touch.
Relief began to peek out. Then just above his ear, warm wetness coated my
fingers. I pulled back bloody fingers and the world stilled.
CHAPTER 14
“No, no, no,” I whispered. “Kayden, dammit!”
Cracks appeared on my heart, running deeper than expected. I
didn’t dare turn on the light to get a closer look. I gingerly traced the wound, muttering the entire time. Only when I realized it was a furrow, not a hole, did I
stop.
A graze.
