Jasper Vale (The Edens)

Five shots.

I’d heard five shots go off as I’d tackled Eloise to the floor. Then . . . nothing. For a long moment, not a sound.

But beyond the counter, people were moving now. Footsteps. Crying. Screaming. The doors had opened and people were shouting outside, calling for help.

“Jasper.” Eloise shook me, squirming beneath me.

I didn’t budge.

Was Blaze still out there? How long until he rounded the counter to come for Eloise? Part of me wanted to risk it. To look around and see if there was a way to get her the hell out of this hotel. But I stayed huddled on top of her, hoping that my body would be enough to shield hers.

“Jasper,” she screamed in my ear.

I was crushing her. But I didn’t move.

“Winn!” Eloise shouted.

My hold on her only tightened, my frame molding around hers like I was trying to tuck her into my pocket.

At my movement, Eloise stilled. “Jas? Oh my God. You’re bleeding. You have to move. You have to get up. I need to get you help.”

Bleeding? The pain registered a moment later. The burning in my shoulder. The blood, soaking my shirt.

Fuck.

That motherfucker had tried to kill Eloise.

I shoved up, ignoring the screaming in my shoulder. The world tipped upside down, spinning until it had righted itself again.

“Are you hurt?” Safe behind the counter, I used my good arm to start checking every inch of her body.

Eloise scrambled to her knees, her hands going to the blood. Her blue eyes flooded. “Oh my God. Your shoulder. Winn!”

A moment later, Winn rounded the counter, her gun gripped in her hands.

“Blaze?” I asked.

Winn shook her head, her expression hard but grim. A cop doing what she’d been trained to do. To lock it down. To help others.

“Put pressure on it, Eloise.” Winn’s voice was calm. Firm. “Until an ambulance gets here, just keep pressure on it.”

Eloise nodded, the tears beginning to streak down her face as she pressed her hands to the hole in my shoulder. One side where the bullet had gone in. And the other where the bullet had come out.

I hissed, the pain beginning to blur the edges of my mind. “Are you okay?”

“He shot you.” Her voice trembled. “He shot you.”

But he hadn’t shot her.

I sagged against the counter, the crash coming.

Eloise was okay. She was okay.

If I had lost her today, if I hadn’t been fast enough . . .

Fuck, I could have lost her.

“I love you,” I whispered.

A sob escaped her mouth. Her hands clamped my shoulder so hard I winced, but with the tears streaming down her face, she didn’t notice. “Why did you do that?”

I tried to lift my arm but it wouldn’t work.

Why wouldn’t it work?

Oh, yeah. That motherfucker had shot me. Was Blaze dead?

“Jasper, look at me.” Eloise moved so close to my face that my eyes crossed. “Stay with me.”

“Where else would I be?”

She pressed her forehead to mine, then kissed my mouth, her salty tears lingering on my lips. “I love you. Don’t close your eyes.”

“Okay,” I murmured and closed my eyes. My body was going into shock. The adrenaline. The blood. “Love you, El.”

The world faded in and out. EMTs. An ambulance. Talia wearing her hospital scrubs. Pain. Getting shot hurt like a bitch. It all faded in and out with a blur.

Everything but Eloise.

Until I was in a hospital bed and she finally let me close my eyes.

When I woke up, minutes or hours later, darkness had settled beyond the windows. And asleep beside me in the narrow bed, my wife.

Cuddling.

I closed my eyes.

And pulled her closer.