Page 3 of Wild Heart
“Don’t close your eyes!”
“It was just a blink.” He ground out. “I’m fine.”
“Fine?” The blood loss was making him delusional. “You were shot.With a gun!”
It was mere feet away, lying crooked against the hard floor. I risked a glance in its direction, and bile moved up my throat so fast I barely had time to twist away from his wound before hurling across the floor.
“Marcos.”
A whimper left me, and I felt the faint trickle of saliva trailing down my chin. My throat was raw when I spat the remaining vomit from my mouth, and I coughed hard enough to bring tears to my eyes before turning back to him.
“I didn’t let go,” I said.
He slapped his hands over mine.
My eyes bounced to the place we were connected, noting the way blood stained his skin as quickly as it did mine. It dripped across his knuckles and over his tattoos. I knew right then I’d never look at hands the same way again.
“Marcos. Look at me.” Something in his tone loosened the grip on my lungs, and I found myself obeying him without thought.
“That’s it. Good boy. Don’t look at the blood. Look atme. My eyes.”
His gaze was icy, but it wasn’t…cold.It was soft somehow. Calming.
“You’re doing great. You hear those sirens? Help is almost here.”
I couldn’t hear much of anything apart from the ringing in my ears, but I trusted him.
“You’re not allowed to die,” I told him.
“These eyes look dead to you?”
“N… no.”
They were the only part of his body that hadn’t succumbed to all the pain he must’ve been feeling.
“I’m doing just fine. Barely in any pain. Just a scratch.”
“A scratch?”Are you kidding me?“You… You don’t have to pretend for me.”
“No one is pretending.”
His hand came away from my grip. I opened my mouth to yell at him, but he shushed me with a single sound. Shaky fingers wrapped themselves around the base of my neck. They were warm and covered in his blood, but I didn’t mind. Not when he swept his thumb across my jaw.
I didn’t know Ivan, not really. He was the man who protected my best friend, but right now, it felt like the only person he cared about protecting was me.
Which was ridiculous, considering he was the one bleeding out.
Still, I leaned into his touch.
The wail of the sirens grew louder. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck in uneven waves, and I only felt marginally relieved.
Don’t let him die.
“I won’t let you die,” I promised. “I’ll make sure the doctors don’t fuck anything up, and if they try to stop me, I’ll scream the place down.”
His lips twitched. “Is that so?”
“Yes.”
