Last Light

by Claire Kent

I trust you.” Something flickers on his face. “Yeah?” “Of course yeah.” I frown at him. “Of course I trust you. So which do you think we should do?” He sits for a long time, and I can see he’s thinking, trying to decide. He looks painfully torn. He finally murmurs, “I just wanna keep you safe.”

His smile is fond. Entitled in a way that’s deeply thrilling. Like what he sees is his.

It’s that yelp that pierces the fog of panic in my brain. Guns are firing. Travis is standing there unprotected. He’s going to get shot for sure. And one of those bastards just hurt my dog. I don’t care what Travis told me. I’m not going to run away.

If anyone in this world belongs to me, it’s Travis and that dog.

“I get a bullet in the chest, and she decides to take a li’l nap.” I straighten up with a gasp. His eyes are open and resting on me. They’re bleary but aware, and the corner of his pale mouth is turned up. I say the most irrelevant thing. “You took a bullet in the shoulder, not the chest. It didn’t even do much damage.”

Travis is grumbling wordlessly as I lean over him. My lips hover over his. “Are you really whining about this?” He huffs. “If you kiss me, darlin’, I’ll never whine again in my life.” That just about does me in.