Marcus actually winced, while Edward laughed. “Come on, Daniel. I gave you that gun. There are no bullets in it. You don’t think I’d give you something that was actually loaded.”
Daniel looked down at the gun and nearly whimpered. Edward had given him the gun. In all their travels over the past week, Edward had never given him a gun. And when Edward said it was loaded, he didn’t even bother to check it. He just trusted Edward to be telling the truth. He trusted the man who had lied to him on day one.
There was a little voice in his heart screaming as loudly as it could that it was all an act. Edward wouldn’t betray him. Edward loved him. He could feel it in his every touch, every kiss. He could hear it in the satisfied hum he made when Daniel snuggled his body up against the bigger man’s. He could see it in his smile and the glow in his eyes. Edward loved him.
He didn’t know why Edward was saying these things. He just had to go with it, even if his heart was breaking.
Closing his eyes, Daniel lowered the gun, the weapon suddenly feeling too heavy in his hand to keep up. “I hate you. When they catch you both, I hope you fry. There isn’t a place in hell evil enough to house the likes of you.”
“Maybe so, but you won’t be around to see it.”
Daniel opened his eyes, glaring at Edward. If his lover was going to kill him, then he was going to force Edward to look him in the eye as he pulled the trigger.
Edward’s smile wavered for a second and Daniel’s heart skipped.
Gunshots rang out and all three men ducked. The shots had come from the edge of the far field where the grasses grew tall outside of the amphitheater. The bullets hit in a line between Edward and Daniel, forcing them apart. Daniel dove for the ground away from Edward, but it felt like a shitty option. They were out in the middle of the open arena, yards away from anything that might offer shelter.
He rolled to his side, searching for Edward only to find him fighting with Marcus. The two men grappled on the ground for a moment before Edward came up with his gun again. He pulled back and placed two quick shots in Marcus’s chest. Daniel watched in horror as he quickly searched the man’s body, coming up with a thumb drive and cell phone that he tucked away in his pockets.
Shoving to his feet, Edward turned, his expression frantic, but he quickly zeroed in on Daniel. He stalked the short distance to Daniel, the gun still clutched in his fist. Daniel dug his heels into the gravel and tried to crawl backward, put more distance between them as he searched for a weapon, something. The gun Edward had given him was still in his hand, but it wasn’t loaded. Right?
“Stop!” he shouted, lifting up the gun.
Edward immediately stopped and lifted both hands. “Daniel, please. What I said wasn’t true. You know that.”
“But if it’s not true, why did you bring me?”
A soft smile played on his mouth. “Would you have let me leave you behind?”
“No, but you could have found a way.”
“Maybe, but I knew Marcus was aware of you. If shit went south today, I had to be sure that he wouldn’t come looking for you later when I wasn’t around to watch out for you. This was my way of getting him to trust me and protecting you.”
Daniel wavered, but he couldn’t bring himself to lower the gun.
Edward shook his head and slowly lowered his hands until he finally dropped his own gun on the gravel. “Baby, if you really think I could shoot you, then go ahead and kill me. I don’t think I can live with the idea of you believing that of me.”
With that, Daniel knew Edward had him. He couldn’t shoot the man. Whether he was lying or not, he couldn’t shoot Edward. He loved him. Not that those words were likely to ever cross his lips, but they were true, nonetheless. He loved him and he couldn’t shoot Edward.
“You’re an asshole,” he muttered, lowering his gun.
A strong hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him roughly to his feet. He collided with Edward’s wide chest and gasped. But the sound was instantly swallowed up by Edward’s mouth as it covered his own. The kiss was possessive and scrambled what was left of Daniel’s brain. Just as he started to relax and participate, Edward ended the kiss, pulling away.
“I’m sorry, baby, but we’ve got to get out of here. I’m sure the cops have been called about those shots.”
With Edward still holding his wrist, Daniel let himself be pulled away from the tunnel entrance they had used when they arrived and toward the grassy field behind the amphitheater.