“One step at a time. Marcus will be right there to hold you,” Kameron says as Marcus steps down the ladder.
“I got her, Kam. I’ll get her out. I promise.”
I shoot my eyes back up to Kameron and see he is still in the room. He needs to get on the ladder.
We need to go.
“Kameron?” I say.
“I said I would save you, no matter what. Follow Marcus. He will get you to a safe place.”
“Kam, get on the ladder.” I step up the rung to grab him, but an arm wraps around my torso.
Kameron closes his eyes in the window before he shuts it. I reach for him again, but he walks away.
I look down at Marcus. “He—”
“Let’s go!” he growls and yanks me down each step.
My hands are reluctant to let me follow his lead.
I need to get Kameron. He can’t stay here. I need him.
Marcus hops off the last step of the ladder and grabs at me to follow, but I lurch for the ladder again.
“We have to go, Elliott!” He tugs at me, my fingers sliding off the step.
Rain falls on my already wet face as I scream, trying to get out of his hold to go back for Kameron. “No!”
But my attempts are useless. The cathedral disappears out of view the farther he drags me through the trees, and rain blurs my vision.
How could I leave without him? He said he would save me, but I needed him with me to feel safe.
Marcus holds me tighter.
He is doing this for Kameron and isn’t going to go back on his word. He isn’t going to let me go back for him.
Epilogue
Marcus
Ididn’t fucking ask for this shit.
I didn’t ask to be hauling Elliott through the woods in the rain, but here I fucking am.
I had to watch Kameron’s face break as he handed her over to me. When I knew all he wanted to be was the one who rescued her.
He feels to blame for something that went down in that building. I don’t know what, but from the look on Kam’s face, it is bad.
It should be him here with her, getting her to safety, not me.
She knows it. Kam knows it. I fucking know it.
I’m not a fucking hero. I’m the sidekick to the hero,ifthat. A very silent, behind-the-scenes, don’t-ask-me-to-get-into-the-action-unless-it’s-in-the-shadows kind of a sidekick.
But something besides the way Kameron needs her to be safe makes me want to take on this role.
She looks just as broken as Kameron. I saw it the moment my eyes landed on her as she was sitting in that tub. It’s as if her whole soul has shattered. I itched at my brain that I don’t know what the fuck happened in Everton, but whatever it was had Kam and her in shambles.
