Bone crunching.
Blood spilling.
My soul breaking.
I wasn’t sure I would survive this.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
The pain was too great and death seemed easier.
Eventually the punches stopped coming.
I lay curled up in a ball on the cement.
Boots sounded next to me, until they were a distant noise I could hardly hear. The door clicked shut.
And then came silence.
Beautiful silence.
I was alone.
Floating.
Drifting.
Dreaming of heaven.
Arms embraced me.
Pulled me into a lap.
Warm breath whispered across my skin.
A hand gently smoothed my hair.
“I’m so sorry, Vegas.” Nitro’s grief-stricken voice broke through the haze, and I blinked my eyes open.
He stared down at me. His eyes were filled with tears. And pain. So much pain. I didn’t want there to be any more of that for either of us. We’d had enough. Done our time. Paid the price for our sins.
He rocked me for what felt like hours. It could have been. Or it may have only been minutes. It didn’t matter how long it was. The only thing that mattered was that those final moments together were filled with so much care. The kind of care a person searches their whole life for. In those moments, Nitro loved me.
41
Nitro
“State Of My Head” by Shinedown
“Send her home.”
Joseph narrowed his eyes at me. “And then?”
“And then I will do what you want.”
He watched me closely f
or a few moments. “You will give up Storm.”