Page 92 of Cruel Proposal
If he's ready for me, I'm not going to get the upper hand.
"Come back home with me, please." I keep my tone gentle and soft, staying put when he takes another step back. "We can take some time to figure this out, and then I promise you we can find a way to end this, okay? I'm sure Aiden would be willing to sit down and negotiate with you. He used to be willing to."
Noah barks out a sharp laugh. "He's not going to be willing to do that again. Not after all that's happened. There's too much water under that bridge. I'm not going anywhere other than to end this."
I reach for his arm, trying to tug him to the car. "No. You have to get out of here and go get to the doctor. Please, just get in the car. Please."
I hate the way my voice breaks as I see the slight shake of his head while I'm talking.
Noah shakes off my hand, but I grab him again, tugging as hard as I can, trying to force him to come with me.
I haven't spent years training to be weak, but even with all his blood loss, he's still not moving.
Noah stumbles away from me, turning and heading toward the pier. "Not happening. You need to get out of here. Now."
"I'm not going to leave without you." I grab his hand, holding it tight and trying to haul him with me.
He plants his feet and looks down at me, still swaying a little where he stands. "Go home, Summer. Go home, and I'll meet you there when this is over."
"For fuck's sake! Get your fucking ass in the car now!" I wrench his arm hard as a couple of men break off from the pack and turn toward us.
Sirens start screeching in the distance, but they're getting louder.
Fuck.
If I get caught here, everything I've worked for is over.
If I leave him here alone, he's going to die. He's either going to do something stupid, or the blood loss is going to take him out.
This is a shitshow. Not at all what I wanted to be dealing with, and it's going to send me over the edge.
I grab him, tugging him to the side, but he spins the gun in my face.
My heart stops in my chest, breath catching in my throat.
He's going to kill me.
This is it. He's finally going to kill me. I'm not going home today. I've finally pushed him too far. We're past the point of no return.
There's an anger in his eyes like I've never seen before.
He squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Summer, you're making this more difficult than it needs to be. I don't want to fight with you about this. Just please."
"You can barely fucking stand, and you're going to go charging in there and do what exactly?" I take the chance while his eyes are shut, pulling out the thin knife built into the clip holding my hair back, slicing it across his wrist.
He yelps from the pain, dropping the gun to the ground.
I crouch down, swiping the gun and aiming it at him.
I really don't want to shoot him again. He's already lost too much blood.
But if it's the only way to get him in the damn car and out of here, I'll do it.
Noah looks at me, eyeing the gun in my hand. "Don't you see? Aiden is over there, and this is the chance I need. This could be the night when everything ends. We won't have to keep fighting with them anymore."
"You want to go kill my brothers? My family? The people I grew up with? I have friends over there."
His face hardens, sweat now pouring down. "Summer, you knew what this was. You knew what it was always going to be."
