Fold

I don't want Landon to die, either, but if I have to choose...

I choose her.

I choose us.

Fuck. My brother's never going to forgive me for this, but it's the only option.

Kyle's not going to spare our lives. Our death warrants were signed, sealed, and delivered the moment he stepped foot inside this cafeteria with a gun.

It's up to us to change our fate.

I take a deep breath and give Landon one final look. We have one chance at this, and our best course of action is to act now while Kyle's still preoccupied on the phone.

I don't want my brother to hear what's about to happen, so I slide my finger over the end call button...right before I drop it.

“Pick that up,” Kyle barks, like I hoped he would.

As I sink down to my haunches, I say a silent prayer that Landon knows how to throw a punch, and Kyle doesn't pull the trigger.

Everything happens so fast, it's all a big blur as Landon charges for Kyle and I maneuver away and run straight for Kit.

I hear Kyle howl in pain behind me, but it becomes background noise as I wrap my arm around Kit and proceed to drag her, kicking and screaming, toward the elevator.

My blood turns to ice and my heart pounds out of my chest when a bullet whizzes by my head.

She's still fighting me, so I have no choice but to pick her up and force her through the gap in the doors.

“Landon,” Kit cries out as I shove the dead body that's in my way to the side and step in.

The last thing I see right before the doors close is what appears to be an insulin needle stuck in Kyle's eye.

I start to smile because that was a bad ass move, but then Kit dives for the button panel like a lunatic. “Get out of the way, asshole. I'm not leaving him.”

I push her back. Landon's sacrifice won't mean a damn thing if those doors open and Kyle kills us too. “Are you out of your fucking—”

I'm cut off by the sound of bullets firing in rapid succession.

There are only four buttons on this piece of shit, including the emergency stop button, so I press the only one I can...the one for the floor above us.

“What's upstairs?”

Generally speaking, if there's an elevator, then there are stairs leading to the same destination.

I don't get a response from her, but it doesn't matter. We won't be getting off until I know it's safe. And since I'm almost positive Kyle's the last man standing, that won't be for a while.

I slam the stop button when we're between floors...and that's when a fist goes sailing into my jaw.

I'm too flummoxed to speak. I know she's upset, I get it. I don't like what happened to Landon either. But I don't understand why she's treating me like I'm some kind of villain.

If anything, I'm her hero. I was the one who tossed her ass in this elevator, despite her kicking and screaming.

“We have to help him!” She shoves me and when I don't budge, she pounces for the panel again. “I can't let him die. He's my friend.”

I place my hands on her waist, holding her in place. “Stop.”

She tries to knee me in the balls, but I twist before she can make contact. “Calm the fuck down, Bishop.”

“How could you do that to him?”

My heart tugs and I know the guilt I feel is something I'll carry around forever. “There was no other choice.”

“There's always a choice.” She points to herself. “I'm not the kind of person who leaves someone to die. I'm not—”

She collapses in my arms and sorrow wraps around me like one big cloak of grief.

God, my heart is so heavy. So heavy for what happened to Landon. The choice I was forced to make. So heavy for how it will destroy my brother. How it's already destroying Kit and making her relive what happened to her parents.

The worst part is, there's no way I can fix this. I can't lie and reassure her everything will be okay. I can't turn back time and refuse to go along with Landon's plan.

The only thing I can do is hold her as she falls apart. “I'm so—”

I don't have a chance to finish that sentence because she reaches around me and hits the button, causing the elevator to jolt back to life.

I don't know whether to be impressed or pissed.

I'll go with pissed. Pissed will keep us alive.

I punch the button and it shakes to a stop...and then I do the only thing I can do. For her safety and mine.

I back her into the wall, lock her wrists in my hand, and pin them above her head. “If Kyle kills us, then Landon will die in vain. He chose this, Kit. This is the plan he came up with. Get that through your fucking cerebellum and let it marinate, because I am not the bad guy here. I'm the guy who saw his chance and took it.”

Her body goes slack, her expression defeated. “I hate you.”

“Duly noted.”

Her chest heaves right before she lets out a scream. Or whatever's between a scream and a wail...all I know is that the sound shreds me.

But not nearly as much as when those tears come again. So much faster now. Only this time, they're mixed with giant waves of shivers that wracked her entire body, and with each ebb of the tide, she cries out for her mom and dad.

My God. I never knew a person could cry so hard. So severely.

It's like she's sobbing from the very depths of her soul. Falling apart piece by broken piece right in front of me.

Not only is it one of the most personal things I've ever witnessed. It's the saddest and most gut-wrenching.

I despise the things it does to me.

Her breathing speeds up, coming in short tattered bursts. I need to figure out a way to calm her down before she passes out.

I cup her face with my free hand. “I won my first poker game when I was twelve.” I wait for her to look at me before I go on. “My father had a few of his old football teammates over one night, and even though he told me I wasn't allowed in the room with them, I snuck in anyway.”

I run my thumb over her jawbone and she sucks in a breath. “He decided to teach me a lesson for disobeying him, so he made me sit down and play. If I won, I'd get whatever I wanted. But if I lost, I'd be grounded and confined to my room for the rest of the summer.”

Her eyes widen, and I continue. “The stakes were pretty steep, but to everyone's shock, including mine, I ended up wi

I reach into my pocket and take out the small blue disk. “This was one of the chips from the wi

She gasps when I slide the chip inside the pocket of her jeans. “Illusions aren't always a bad thing, Kit. Sometimes it's your mind's way of saving you when reality keeps trying to break you. A way of giving you something to believe in when you don't have anything left.”

I rest my hand on her hip. “Our reality sucks right now, and unfortunately for you, I don't know the first thing about comforting someone. But if you can pretend I'm not your mortal enemy and work with me, I'll do my best to get you through this. Deal?”

She gives me a small nod. “Deal.”

She looks like she wants to say something else but decides against it.