Page 175 of Deadfall

“Of course you’re making this into a competition,” I said irritably.

“Who said that?” Seven sighed. “I’m not going to make her choose.”

“You think she’ll go for that?”

“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself,” Seven said evenly. “You haven’t even made a move yet.”

I sighed heavily and leaned back in the chair. “I’d be okay with that,” I admitted.

Seven scoffed lightly. “I should hope so. You’re stuck with me, man.”

We stared at each other for a long moment. “Besides,” Seven sniffed. “I almost died, so—”

“Oh, absolutely not,” I exclaimed, but a grin broke out despite myself. “You do not get to pull the death card.”

Seven’s eyes narrowed playfully. “One day I’ll be able to tease you about it, and when that day comes, I’m going to be unstoppable.”

I shook my head at his antics, and we settled into a comfortable silence.

“Will you tell me how you got off the island now?” I asked.

Seven frowned. “It’s kind of a strange story, honestly.” He sighed. “I was thrown down the cliff by the explosion—that wasn’t fun, I’ll tell you that much. 10/10 do not recommend. Mahoney’s men made it down and found me on the beach. I managed to lead them away, but I was not at my fastest so they caught up pretty easily.”

My earlier humor evaporated as I envisioned him alone on that beach without backup. My stomach revolted, and I hated myself for leaving him. That same devastating wave of anger and grief washed over me. How would I ever forgive myself for doing that to him?

84

SEVEN

I watched G as guilt swamped him and gave him a knowing look. “Don’t do that. I’m not going to tell you the story if you sit there and blame yourself for leaving me. I told you to go. I meant it.”

“We don’t leave people behind,” he said gruffly.

“Sometimes you do,” I said gently. “Besides, I’m here, aren’t I? Let me tell the damn story without your puppy dog eyes making me feel guilty.”

“Why would you feel guilty?” He asked in surprise.

“For making you leave me,” I said. “I knew you’d blame yourself no matter what. I didn’t want to put that on you. Especially after what you and I had been through and everything to do with your sister—I knew it would kill you, and still I forced you to go. I’m sorry—”

G sighed and nodded, and I could tell while all was still not forgiven within himself, I’d stemmed the flood, at least for the time being.

“You’re right. We can’t change things now. Go on.”

“So, I was pretty done at that point. I was out of ammo. It looked bad—it was bad,” I said. “Gun to my head type of bad.” G steeled himself, fists tight on his thighs. “I heard the shot and—”

A bullet hole exploded across the man’s forehead and then he, and the gun pointed at me, dropped dead in the sand. I looked behind him to see his partner with a gun raised and a grim look on his face. I hadn’t noticed it before, but he had an eyepatch across one eye and a gnarly thick scar ran out from under it, down his cheek and all the way down his neck to his collarbone. He had the sides of his head shaved close, with the rest of his brown hair braided across the crown and pulled in a bun at the back of his head.

He approached, and I scrambled in the sand for the dead guard’s firearm. He kicked it away just as my fingers brushed the metal. I sank back on my haunches, convinced he wanted the kill. I followed his boots back up to his face where a striking gold eye glared at me.

“You gonna shoot the man who just saved your life?” He growled. “Bad form, my friend.”

“Friend?” I echoed.

Apparently it was the only word I could get to come out of my mouth. Gold Eye looked at me like I was dumb as the rocks that surrounded us.

“Yeah. You going to make me regret it, Pretty Boy?”

“Pretty Boy?”