Fuck!
I fire back blindly as the walls explode next to me, plaster and wood raining down. I can barely hear over the gunshots, barely see or think. Still, I keep shooting, giving him his chance for revenge like he gave me, even though it’s probably going to get me killed. I jump when a bullet whizzes past my ear, that was too close. Sitting up, I fire with a scream as my blood drips down my ear. I hit two, but it’s not enough.
“Idris!” I scream desperately, needing him. I look back as my gun clicks empty. He snarls, releasing Nikolic and turning to me. He’s choosing me rather than his revenge. He slides across the floor to my side, swinging his weapon up as I grab the spare from his waistband. Together we hold the surge at bay, pushing them back. We kill them, even though it means Nikolic has time to start crawling away.
When the last guard is down, we look around, panting and covered in debris and blood. Where is that Serbian bastard?
Then I see him. He’s climbing out of a window. Fuck. I drop my gun and run. Idris deserves his revenge. I throw myself at him, grabbing his shirt as he leaps. I fall to the floor, yanking him back in and on top of me. He elbows me, and I grunt, but I wrap myself around him as his elbow connects with my face again. I keep him there until Idris reaches us after checking the hall. He grabs Nikolic, dragging him into the air as I roll onto my back, my nose dripping blood.
Idris meets my eyes, sees the blood, and goes wild.
He slaps him around like a rag doll, throwing him into the walls and around the room as I sit up and watch. Eventually, he gets tired when Nikolic stops fighting, and Idris tosses him to the ground near me. “If you weren’t already a dead man before, now you are. No one hurts my bitch,” he snarls, pulling out his knife and stabbing it through the side of his head.
No drama, no movie lines.
He kills him, ending his reign of terror.
With a grunt, he pulls it free before looking at me. “Let’s go.” I nod, and he helps me to my feet. On our way out of the room, he freezes and meets my eyes. “Go, I’ll meet you outside.” I frown but do as I’m told, walking past the corpses and chaos to the front of the house, where I wait anxiously at the door. I hear him moving around, and then about two minutes later, he comes down the stairs with a smirk.
“I set a fire,” is all he says, and I laugh. We step outside into the early morning light, the sun rising and fresh. Clean. It’s a new day, it’s a new me.
I feel… sad almost. My revenge is over. They are dead. I achieved everything I wanted. I turn to watch flames lick at the windows of the house and crawl through the building.
So… what do I do now? I feel useless.
Idris comes to my side as we watch the house burn, both of us silent. The quiet after a storm.
We stand in the destruction of the smoking, flaming house. Bullets and guns are everywhere, and bodies litter the floor. Blood covers the once pristine walls, and our car is still perched on the front portico.
“What now?” I ask as I sit on the step next to the car and watch the sun rise over the horizon. “I can’t go back to my old life. Yet there is no place for me.” I look up at him then, but he crouches next to me, watching the sunrise. I turn back. He’s silent.
I’m silent as well. He’s going to leave me here, he has to, doesn’t he?
His phone rings, and he answers, putting it on speaker. “I take it it’s done? I have calls from police and fire departments, and a whole lot of alarms going off.” Donald sighs.
“It’s done.”
“Good, so what now, Boogeyman? Can I expect you to die again, or are you back for good?”
He looks at me then, his dark eyes running across my face. “I’m back, but I have a new partner.” He hangs up.
“Partner?” I repeat.
Leaning closer, he cups my bloody, aching cheek. “You were right. I was running, hiding from what I am, but no more. If you want, we can be partners. We’ll find a new life together. A new balance.”
“Really?” I query, searching his face. “What happened to wanting peace? To retirement?”
“I’d rather have you,” he replies, making my heart flip as emotion overwhelms me. For so long, I’ve been alone, scared, and angry. Now I have a new life, a new dawn, and my heart isn’t as dark as it once was.
I throw myself at him, sealing my lips to his as he chuckles, his hand cuffing my neck. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” I murmur against his lips.
Yes, I’ll be your partner.
Yes, I’ll be yours.
Just… hell fucking yes.