“Shut up. Follow his lead, Drey,” Bill said.
Without another word he nodded and came to my side. “Hunter was rambling about Lina. Lina’s gone. Lina’s in danger.” Drey shook his head and ran blood-stained fingers through his dark hair. “What thefuckis going on?”
“Is that…Hunter’s blood on your hands?” I yelled. “Bill. Let me go! Please!”
Oh, God. Hunter was hurt. Dead maybe.
Bill plowed through the crowd both with his body and powerful voice while Drey and George surrounded me. My heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear the crowd. Other than seeing Hunter on the video feed on his daily visit to my door, I’d not seen him in person in more than three weeks.
Just yesterday, I’d almost opened the door, needing to see him in person so badly. Wanting him. Each day we’d been apart, I’d been thinking things through, talking to Lizzie and Jenna about the whole situation. And each day, I’d come closer and closer to understanding Hunter and what he’d done. Slowly piecing back together the trust that’d crumbled.
“Get back!” Bill yelled.
The people parted like the Red Sea and what I saw could have been exactly that…a sea of red blood.
Hunter lay on his back on the cold asphalt holding his side. Sirens echoed in the distance, and I flinched, knowing at the sight of Hunter’s motionless chest that they were too late.
I pushed off of Bill, and he finally let me go. “Hunter! Hunter!”
Bill stepped to the side, clearing the way for me with his big arms, while George followed me closer than my shadow.
I skidded to my knees, the asphalt slicing through my yoga pants, and I grabbed Hunter’s hand. “Hunter! Hunter!”
George touched his neck. “Got a pulse!”
Bruises and cuts littered Hunter’s smooth flesh. His eye was swollen shut and his lips busted and bleeding. “Hunter! Please, Hunter, it’s me, Lina. Your Lina.”
Hunter turned his head toward me and blood trickled from his mouth.
“Got…him…” he whispered. “Safe…you’re safe.”
I cradled his head to my chest and looked up at Drey. He nodded farther in the alley, and I saw another body, lying motionless on the ground, but no one was near it.
“Is he dead?”
“No.” Drey shook his head. “But he’s close.”
I grabbed Hunter’s hand, and the eye he could open looked straight at me. “Had to…he was…going to…hurt you.”
“Shhh,” I combed his hair back. “Lay still.”
“You…safe. All that…matters to me.”
“Hold on. Help’s here. Just hold on.”
“Love…you…brought my soul…back.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks. “I love you, Hunter Amos. I’m so sorry…for everything. I love you.”
The ambulance pulled up along with three police cars. Right behind them Marshal came running with three guys flanking him.
I looked back down at Hunter, and his eye was closed again. “Hunter!” I shook him, but he didn’t move.
“Shit.” George took his fingers to Hunter’s throat. “No pulse!”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Hunter