Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

AFTER... JESS

The car felt stifling, the air too thick to breathe. I stared out the windshield, watching the ambulance ahead of us, its flashing lights bathing the night in ominous reds and blues. My hands trembled in my lap until Luke grabbed one, his firm grip grounding me just enough to

keep me from spiraling completely.

"She's going to be okay," he said, his voice calm and steady despite the storm swirling around us.

I turned to him, my throat tight, my heart in pieces. "You don't know that."

Luke's jaw clenched, but he didn't respond, his thumb brushing over the back of my hand in quiet reassurance.

Laura had been shot. She had been shot-because of me. Because she tried to save me and the baby. The thought turned my stomach

And Sarah... God, Sarah had been a lunatic. A gun-wielding, delusional lunatic. She'd been in our house, in our lives. How had we missed it? How had I not seen how dangerous she was?

My breath hitched as the tears finally broke free. "When does it end, Luke?" I whispered, my voice cracking. "When do we get our happy ending?"

He didn't answer.

followed close behind, pulling into a parking space just as the EMTS wheeled

as we approached, his face pale and haunted. "They're

doctor in scrubs appeared, his expression grim.

his body

ultrasound, and there's free

"What

internally," the doctor said, his voice tight. "We need to take her to the operating room immediately to stop the bleeding. There's

to the gut. Laura was bleeding inside. They needed to operate.

of my vision blurring.

1159

cracking under the weight of the realization. "No, no, no,

cry, his hands clutching at his hair as though trying to physically keep himself together. I stared at him, my

are you okay?" His voice was soft, but

freely down my cheeks. The ache in my stomach that I

his voice rising with alarm. "Sit