CHAPTER TWELVE
A POUND OF FLESH
LEO
SNOW FALLS SOFTLY FROMthe sky. It floats around her face, sticking in her long lashes. The bow of her lip moves as she screams something directed to someone over my right shoulder. Her chin, the perfect curve to end her face, quivers. Kendall’s gaze finds mine once more. I can see the raging fire reflecting in her big, beautiful eyes. “Are you okay?” My throat hurts, so I know the words were spoken even though all I can hear is incessant ringing. I wince.
Her hands are on my body, a soft pressure I can feel even though I’m numbed and frigid. She might answer, but I’m still bottomed out from the blast, and I’m so grateful she’s okay, all I can do is stare at her beautiful face. “Kendall,” I say, but it’s lost in the echo chamber. “Kendall. Kendall.” I try twice more.
I know she hears me, because tears cut a path down her cheeks as a response.
Her lips turn up and she says something. Her smile. Her fucking smile. I’d kill for it—do anything to make it light up her face. The ringing is still too loud, and a niggle of annoyance creeps in. What did she say that makes her smile that way?
“Say it again,” I growl.
This time I watch her lips, my breathing turning desperate because I’ve never been tagged this long. The ringing in my ears comes and goes. One other time when I was close to an IED explosion I was fucked for maybe a minute or two. This time, it’s different. This time there isn’t noise behind the faint ringing. There’s deep silence.
Kendall’s mouth moves slowly, I read her lips. “I love you.”
I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.
I meet her gaze, alarmed. She told me she loves me for the first time and I didn’t hear it. My chest moves up and down quickly as I try to catch my breath. “I can’t hear you.”
Kendall puts her hands on the sides of my face and nods. I shake my head as a reply. “Nothing,” I say. She lays a palm on my chest, and that serves to calm me down a bit. At least I can feel that. I can see her face. She’s okay.Focus on that, Leo. Focus on her face.Breathe. I can’t hear my breaths. Am I breathing okay? Enough? Her hand is moving up and down so I must be breathing. What is happening? Bringing my hands up, I cover my ears and flinch when the ringing morphs into a buzz.
Kendall yells. I can see the way her neck muscles move. She’s calling for someone. Frantic. She loves me.
She loves me.
The scarf around her neck loosens and the wind blows it. Without noise and with my mind hazy from the fucking explosion, this whole scene looks like something out of a movie. Unrealistic. Not my life. Not hers for sure. I grab her wrist, and she looks at me.
“Help,” I say.
Kendall opens her mouth to speak, but then closes it. She points at me with her free hand and says, “You.” Then she takes that hand away and makes the universal sign for okay with her fingers. Her head nods furiously after.
I nod back even though I’m not fucking okay. Not in the least. Long comes over, and he has Fulton, a medic, with him. Kendall backs away when the men grab me from under my arms and haul me toward the medical building. The bomb squad must have cleared the buildings if they’re bringing me inside. When they place my feet on the ground, my knees buckle. Long and Fulton carry me the rest of the way. Their mouths are moving, and yet I can’t hear anything. Not one syllable. “Where is Kendall?” I say, looking at Fulton.
He just nods. She told them I can’t hear right now. It’s then I see the pity. Fuck. Fuck. The ringing will stop. The silence will cut away any second and noise will return. It has to. I was close to the fucking building when it went off, but I killed the motherfucker who was lurking in the corridor who was trying to shoot Kendall. When I shot him, he fell back, and that triggered the explosion. That was his plan. He was counting on me saving the girl. Why wouldn’t I? I’m a fucking love-sick idiot.
The hospital ward is busy as we filter inside. I try to throw their arms off me to stand on my own two feet, but my legs still don’t work the way they’re supposed to. My brothers catch me and usher me onto the hospital bed being wheeled toward me by a nurse with a severe look on her face. “Do I look that bad?” I ask Long.
He smirks and then helps me sit on the bed. He lifts my legs on and pushes down on my chest so I’ll rest against the back. He doesn’t lay me down, because fuck knows I have a concussion working. Long and Fulton look on as the nurse wheels me back into the treatment area and in to a room. The morose look on their faces doesn’t help my mood. Kendall rushes into my room, her coat and scarf hanging over one arm.
She says something, but then shakes her head sadly.
I smile. “You can hear me,” I say.
She nods.
“Did they secure the base?”
She nods.
“Did anyone di…get hurt?”
She nods, brown hair falling into her face, eyes rimmed with red from crying.
“SEALs?”
