to the side of the bathtub like he wasn't twice her weight. "Stupid boys," she muttered under her breath as she went to work cleaning up Archer's eyebrow.
He shot me a smug look while she was distracted with his wound, and I flipped him off behind her back. I didn't even know why we were being so competitive about her attention. She was a full four years younger than us, and neither of us was interested in her like that. But... there was just something there.
Like a past life connection or some shit. I dunno. Karma.
Present...
Every time I started to slide into the darkness, her voice pulled me out again. I clung to that sound like a lifeline, using it to drag myself back from the abyss when the pain became overwhelming.
Her hand gripped mine hard as my dying body was lifted from the back of the car and placed on a gurney.
My lids flickered as her hand tugged on mine like someone was trying to separate us, then they succeeded and her fingers fell away. I focused my eyes just in time to see her ball up her fist and punch a hospital security guard in the face.
I wanted to laugh. I really did. But my body wasn't under my control anymore.
The hospital staff raced my gurney through the doors, and my lids drooped. I needed her. Could I make it through without her voice, her touch pulling me back?
I had to. There was no other choice. I had to survive... because my Hellcat had finally said she loved me.
Love conquered all, right? Even a bullet to the chest.
2
Madison Kate
"I can't do this," I whispered, my hands balling into fists and bunching the heavy white skirts of the wedding dress I wore. "This is insane. I can't marry Archer." And certainly not in a dress that made me look like a fucking meringue. What the hell had I been thinking when I let him talk me into this ludicrous idea?
Bree snorted a laugh, dragging my attention back to my phone, which I'd propped up on the shelf to my left.
"Uh, newsflash, babe. You're already married to Archer." She was grinning, but her face on the video call was still a mess of yellow-brown bruises as she healed from our crash.
I rolled my eyes, releasing the dress fabric. The last thing I needed was to damage the designer gown and be forced to pay for the ugly thing.
"Not like this, Bree," I replied with a grimace. "This is the real deal. Everyone will know, and it'll be, you know, legit."
She gave me an indulgent smile. "No, the paperwork that was filed with the state registry eighteen months ago was what made it legit. This is just a party and a pretty dress." She paused, wrinkling her nose. "Or it will be a pretty dress if you can find a better one than that. Try the next one."
I reached behind me, tugging the dress clips loose so I could step out of the enormous gown and move it into my rapidly growing reject pile.
I turned back to her with my hands on my hips. "Which one, then?"
"The lace one on the end. I wanna see that!" She grinned at me, her bruised face filling the whole screen.
Doing as she asked, I wiggled into a dress made almost entirely of lace, only to be met with the sound of Bree booing and giving me a thumbs down from my phone.
Agreed.
"Okay, try the pretty one now," she ordered me with a huge smile.
I groaned. "Seriously? Bree, that looks like something a Disney princess would wear." But still, I pulled out the dress she wanted and hung it on the rack to change into.
"So what?" she challenged me. "If this isn't a real wedding, then why are you stressing so hard over what dress you wear? Just let me choose it, and you pay the lady with your husband's black Amex."
Damn. She had me there. And even I had to admit... the dress was freaking