Chapter 77

I’m still screaming as I look backwards, upwards into the dark sky and see Christian standing there, panting, rain streaming through his hair and down his face.

My breath leaves me as I figure out who it is – who was driving the blue car –

But I don’t have a chance to say anything as Christian grabs me, hauls me out of the car backwards with his hands firm around my arms. I gasp and try to get my feet beneath me as Christian pulls me out into the rain, but he holds me steady even as his hands shake.

“Iris!” he grits out from between his teeth. “What did he – are you –“

I spin, standing straight, still stumbling a little, and my hands find his chest. I lean against him, my legs quaking – still not understanding what happened. “Chrisitan?” I breathe, staring up into his beautiful face, my eyes wide. “What are you – how did you –“

“Iris,” he says again, softer this time, raising his hands and pressing them to my cheeks – not gentle, but as if he needs to make sure that I’m here, I’m alive and unhurt. He shakes his head like he can’t believe it – like he’s livid with me, but also like I’m the most precious thing in the world, and he almost, almost lost me.

“Christian, how –“

But I don’t finish my question – can’t, because suddenly Christian’s mouth is on mine.

I go still, my eyes still open as Christian pulls me close against him as the rain pours down around us, bending me backwards slightly as his lips part my own. And then, with a shudder and a very tiny moan, I kiss him back – ridiculously forgetting everything, not even worrying about where Edward is, or if he’s going to kill us, or what’s coming next –

Because Christian – my Christian – is kissing me. Finally kissing me, after years of wanting it. And it’s everything I wanted it to be, dreamed it would be like.

Christian’s mouth is firm on mine, but his lips are incredibly soft. He kisses me with a desperation, like a caged animal finally released, like the moment he stops I’m going to disappear, disintegrate like salt in this rain. And so he holds me close, and moves his lips against mine, and tastes me as one of his hands slips up into my hair, curling it into his fist at the nape of my neck.

Too soon, he pulls away – but just an inch. “Are you all right?”

My eyes open slowly and I blink, dazed, looking up at him. “What?”

He shakes me a little, frustrated. “Are you all right, Iris?”

And then I gasp, my reality flooding back to me as I stare up at him. I don’t answer his question, instead turning my head frantically to the left, looking to the front of the car – peering through the rain, trying to find Edward.

My gaze fastens on a pair of legs laying on the ground at the front of the car – legs that end in feet wearing ridiculously expensive shoes. Legs that…that aren’t moving.

And I gasp again, remembering the gunshots, turning back to Christian and frantically pushing him far enough away from me so that I can see him. “Christian!” I breathe. “Did he – did he shoot you!? Are you okay –“

“Iris,” Christian growls, pulling me hard back against him. “No, he missed – fucking drunk idiot. Are you all right!?”

I blink at up at Christian and realize that I never answered his question. Eagerly, I nod. “Yes,” I say, staring up into his face. “Yes, Christian, I’m fine, I just – how did you –“

He sighs, glancing over at Edward at the same moment that he raises a hand again to my cheek, cupping it in his palm. “I couldn’t let you go to dinner with him without eyes on you,” he murmurs. “And when I saw what happened at the valet stand…I knew this wasn’t going to end well. That I had to intercede.”

I murmur Christian’s name again, shaking my head, looking back over at where Edward is laying. “What did you…do…”

“Hit him,” Christian murmurs, his eyes moving in the same direction as mine even as his arm tightens around my waist. “With a tire iron.”

“Shit,” I whisper, going tense and staring at what part of Edward I can see. Because he is…still not moving.

“Come on,” Christian says, starting towards the blue car I haven’t seen before and pulling me with him.

“Chris!” I gasp out, putting my weight into my heels so that he can’t pull me along – or at least, without a great deal of effort. “We can’t just leave him there like that!”

“Yes, we fucking can!” Christian shouts, turning towards me and stepping close again, angry now. “Do you know what he would have done to you tonight, Iris!?”

I stare at Christian, torn, because – I mean, considering how angry and coked up and fucked up Edward was, I know it wasn’t going to be good. But still – it’s wrong, to just leave a man laying unconscious in the rain.

“Iris!” Christian shouts, insistent, but his hands slip against my wet skin as I pull out of his gasp and run to where Edward lays, wondering if I can get him back into the car at least – or call an ambulance –

But when I see the pool of blood spreading around his head, and the strange angle at which his neck is bent…

“Oh…oh my god…” I whisper, my hands immediately going to my mouth.

Christian is there in the next moment, his hands on my arms as he stands behind me, peering over my shoulder. “Shit…” he whispers, his voice awed, and as I look up at him I see the shock on his face – I realize that he didn’t know what he did when it happened, that he probably ran to check on me the moment Edward went down.

I look down at Edward’s lifeless form, and then back up at Christian, having absolutely no idea what to do. And as I stare at my oldest friend, I see him grit his teeth, and lock his jaw, and set his shoulders before he turns his eyes back to me.

“This never happened,” he says, staring hard into my eyes.

I stare back at him for a moment before I nod, agreeing to his terms.

“Okay,” I whisper. “Whatever you say, Christian. I trust you.”

He takes a moment to stare into my eyes, his own sad – though I don’t know for what. For the man who lost his life? For being the one who took it? For dragging me into it?

But I raise my chin and stare right back at him, determined not to let him feel sorry for me. After all, this is not the first man’s body we’ve stood over together, is it?

But as I stare into Christian’s eyes, I will that thought away, because that memory is…for another time.

“Come on,” Christian says, determined and efficient now that he’s made a decision. He keeps a hand on my arm even as he reaches down for the tire iron that lays next to Edward’s body, rolling it in a puddle for a moment to get the blood off of it before lifting it from the ground. Then he’s moving, taking me with him, fast towards his car.