Hard to Speak || l.h.

Twenty-six

The whole trip to Brooklyn felt like a lifetime, like the plane ride to New York before it. I had the vague premonition that things would be different after tonight. I shove that part of back.

When I get to the door of the apartment, I pause. I take out my phone and send a quick text. The door is ragged and scrapped. I take a deep breath and pull the pin out of pocket and begin on the lock. Once it clicks, I swing the door open without a second thought. The first thing that I notice about the apartment is that smell, like sulfur. Then my heart clutches. In the middle of the room, tied up to a kitchen chair, is Raine, one eye swollen and still in the hospital gown. I rush over to her, pulling the duct tape from her mouth.

"Luke," she gasps, her eyes brimming with tears. "You shouldn't have come."

"The hell I shouldn't," I take her face in my hands. "God, I've missed you." I lightly kiss her, but am interrupted by the sound of clapping.

"Wonderfully expected," Brett steps out of a side room, a gun in his hand. He pulls the safety back. "Now get away from her." I stand up and back away, hands slightly raised.

"You don't want to do this, Brett. You risking your entire life. Let us leave and I won't tell the police," I speak slowly.

"You're so dense, Luke. This was never about me. It was always-" he twirls the gun into Raine's hair. She clenches her teeth but keeps her eyes steady on me."It was always about her."

"If it's all about Raine then-"

"Don't say her name!" he snaps, his voice loud. He swings the gun at me again. "You don't know her!" His hand shakes with every word, and I keep a steady eye on the trigger. One false move...

"You're right," I think of every crime show I've ever seen. Relate to the enemy. "I don't know her." My voice is calm, controlled.

He laughs slightly, sweat dripping down his brow, his pupils dilated. "Finally," he breathes. He leans down to Raine, his lips against her ear. "Hear that, baby? He doesn't care about you."

"Yes he does," she says, meeting my eyes. I can't read them. I can't understand why she's antagonizing him. She knows it makes him angrier. "He loves me."

"No," Brett's voice is low, threatening. He digs the gun into her abdomen and she winces. "He doesn't. And you don't love him. You love me, baby."

"No I don't," she snaps at him. "I can't stand the fucking sight of you, Brett."

Brett looks confused. I hold my breath.

"Confused, babe? Read my fucking lips. I love Luke Hemmings," she whispers before spitting in his face. Brett's teeth grit and he slaps her so hard her head swings back.

"Stop!" I yell out. Behind me, the door swings open, a swat team fills in behind me.

"Drop the weapon! Drop it now!" They yell.

"Stop!" I yell at them. "He'll shoot her unless he hears what he wants to hear! Stop!"

The room falls incredibly quiet even though it's far from it. Brett jams the gun against her neck again, and looks pointedly to me. "Tell her you don't love her," he says quietly. I bite my lip and start to shake my head. Raine's eyes sink into mine.

"DO IT!"

"FINE! I don't love her. I don't, I don't."

Raine's lips tuck between her teeth. Her face falls, all the fight flooding out of her. She shakes her head. "That isn't true," she breathes, but I'm the only one that hears. The swat team is still yelling, but I hear static, like a VHS left in too long. In Slow motion, Brett's crazed face grows into a crazed smile, and he presses his cheek against Raine's. Raine closes her eyes. He lifts the gun to the side of his head. I hear myself cry out, but he's already pulling the trigger.

The shot rings out, silencing everything this time for real. My knees give out below me, and as I fall to the ground a few swat members try to catch me. Their bodies are one the ground overlapping. I hear myself yell at the swat members to get him off of her, by God, get him away from her, please God. No one listens. I hear myself yelling and I feel tears on my face and I see Raine's body and the blood around it but I don't feel any of it. They drag me out, out into the street as I kick and yell. The everything goes dark.

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I'm sorry

I put in the song for this chapter