Black Thorns (Thorns Duet #2) by Rina Kent

But even if the method was trash, it wasn’t impulsive or spur of the moment. I wasn’t proposing to her because we’re in danger and might never get out of this alive. I proposed because this woman right here is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.

It’s not a hot-blooded moment where two young people make a decision that’s seemingly too old for them. It’s not about age for me, it’s about mentality. I know it for a fact, so what’s the point in delaying the inevitable?

Naomi tucks my jacket around my sides so that I’m fully covered. Her hands are cold. She must be freezing without her T-shirt, but she doesn’t stop fretting about me.

“You were out for so long. I think it’s been more than a day or two. It feels like fucking months.” She sniffles. “I got to the toilet and had to use the water to cool you down. I also made you drink some from the bottle. I think it helped bring your fever down, but you’re still too hot and I don’t think your wound is doing so well. I tried to see if there was a bullet inside, but I didn’t find anything and…and I didn’t want to hurt you more, so I stopped searching and…”

“Baby…” I attempt to raise my good hand so I can touch her, but my energy fails me and it falls to my side.

Naomi grabs it and places it on her wet cheek. “What is it? Are you in that much pain? What can I do to make it better?”

“Kiss me.”

Only a fraction of a second passes before I feel her soft lips against my dry ones. She’s gentle, careful, as if she’s afraid a kiss will kill me.

Maybe dying while kissing Naomi is the right way to go.

I growl deep in my chest as I attempt to deepen the kiss and taste her properly. But my mouth barely moves. I’m too weak that I can’t even kiss my girl the way she deserves.

A groan spills from me, filled with pent-up fucking frustration.

Naomi pulls back and grabs my face with both her small hands as if she can see my expression in the dark. “Did I hurt you?”

My hand drops from her face and I grunt a “No.”

There’s nothing I hate more than the helplessness. It’s fucking insane how the human body can become weak in a fraction of a second.

Right before I went to the forest, I was running over ten miles in an hour and lifting weights like nobody’s business, but now, I can’t even touch Naomi without help.

This situation could go on until I completely lose consciousness. And then I’ll die.

Tap water will keep Naomi alive for a few weeks before she’ll follow. That is, if it doesn’t give her some sort of infection beforehand.

The only other time I’ve felt so helpless was after my parents’ accident. But I was young back then. It’s not the same situation.

“Sebastian? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, baby…”

“Please stay with me…”

“Don’t…be…scared…”

“How can I not be? I think they’re trying to break me and you’re paying the price just because you know me. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you. I’ll just follow you to wherever you go.”

Don’t.

I want to say that, but even my tongue is heavy and unable to move.

The constant assault of pain from my wound and the pounding in my head don’t help in my attempts to stay conscious.

Even Naomi’s voice has turned into a low hum.

That’s when I know I’ll pass out again.

When her voice is clear and she’s calling my name, it means I’m back.

I keep slipping in and out of consciousness, and after a while, I think I’m going fucking insane.

The only thing that’s keeping me anchored is Naomi and her soft touches and soothing words.

It’s the brush of her lips against mine as she makes me drink water. It’s the feel of her body snuggled into me.

It’s even the low, haunting sound of her weeping when she thinks I’m unconscious.

She doesn’t cry when I’m lucid enough to speak a word or two of gibberish. She puts up a strong façade and tends to me, holding on to hope I don’t think I have anymore. But when she believes I’m out, she releases her hopeless side, too. She cries silently or sometimes loudly.

Then she bangs on the door and asks them to let us go. She says words in Japanese that I would normally understand, but I don’t have full access to my brain and, therefore, can only hear the fear and determination in her tone.

The fight.

Maybe she’s not as hopeless as I am, after all.

Because, at this point, I do believe they brought us here to kill us.

Or to kill one of us.

My grandparents couldn’t be involved in this. No matter how much they want to teach me a lesson, they wouldn’t put my life in jeopardy.

Does that mean I’ve been kidnapped? Did they request a ransom?

If they had, my grandparents would’ve paid it already. This isn’t a normal case of kidnapping. If it were, there wouldn’t be games of survival.

A hand softly touches my cheek as a cool cloth is placed on my forehead.

“I’ll get us out of here, Sebastian. I promise. So please…please hang in there.”

So many words form at the back of my throat, but the only thing that comes out is a pained moan.

Naomi strokes my cheek as if she knows exactly what I’m trying to say.