Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Three

Kellan

I didn't like him.

His walk. The smug look on his face. I didn't like any of it. I hated that he'd shown up when Josephine and I needed to go home and rest. I hated that he had been thinking about her during this entire time.

It was pathetic, but I couldn't blame him.

"What are you doing here?" Josie asked exasperatedly.

Jacob's dark gaze landed on mine as he walked nearby. I felt him sizing me up, as if I were some kid he was about to bully.

"I don't know? Maybe I'm worried about the girl I dated for the last three years because she won't answer any of my texts or calls."

I hated the condescending tone of his voice and the images my brain kept tossing at me of them two together. The urge to throat punch this guy grew by the minute.

Josephine opened her mouth to speak, but he sliced through it. "Who the hell is this?" he asked, jabbing his thumb at me. As if I weren't standing there.

"I'm Kellan," I said. "I'm here with Josephine."

Jacob's jaw locked tightly, and he shifted nervously from one foot to the other. "So, you have been sleeping around with other people?" He looked me up and down.

I was covered in dirt from our time in the other realm, and I was pretty sure I looked as if I hadn't bathed in days. "This guy, Josie? Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you? What did I do for you to abandon us?"

He went to grab her, but I stepped in front of him. I could feel Josephine's heart hammering against her ribs. Her thoughts were a mess because of her mother, and I felt the need to end this before it started.

"Josie's mother is missing. I think you should leave and not come back. She's expressed her feelings. She has none. So, beat it."

Not the gentlest way of saying it, but I wasn't a gentle guy.

Jacob scoffed and ran his fingers into his hair. "Josie, your mother is missing—"

He tried to step around me, but I stopped him. Jacob pulled his forearm from me. "I suggest you stop touching me."

"Or what?" I asked.

He watched me for several seconds and stepped back toward his vehicle. "I need to speak with Josephine alone. I need to know what happened. I need to know ..." he trailed off. Not wanting to admit the true reason of him showing up.

He couldn't get over the breakup. I understood the loss of everything you knew. I glanced down at Josephine, and she met my gaze.

She nodded, and I walked over to my truck, leaving them alone for a few brief moments. His begging and pleading were evident by the way he grabbed her hands.

I tightened my fingers around the steering wheel of my truck and rested my head against the headrest. Letting them talk was hard, but it needed to be done. There were only a few ways to get over a broken heart.

Jacob would get over it just like I had mine.

Minutes went by when Josephine climbed into the passenger seat of my truck and nervously dusted off her clothes, avoiding eye contact.

I started my engine. Jacob watched us back out of the driveway. "Are you breaking up with your soulmate?" I asked.

She chuckled. "Hardly. Even though I feel I deserve the lowest of the low at the moment. My dad's heart is broken."

"I know. He'll come around, Josephine. It won't be easy, but he will. You"re his daughter, and he loves you."

She looked out of the window. "I was always Daddy's girl. I can't believe I've hurt him like this."

We drove the rest of the way home in silence. I knew there wasn't anything I could say to her to make her feel better.

I parked underneath the giant tree in my yard and turned to look at her. Those blue eyes were coated with tears. "I love you, Josephine."

"I love you, Anti-hero."

I leaned in to kiss her when something hit the back of my truck. We lurched forward, and I hit the steering wheel. Josephine hit my forearm as I used it to shield her from hitting her head.

When I looked back, Jacob was getting out of his car and walking toward us. "Oh no." Josie said. "Don't get out—"

I opened the door to my truck at the same time he pulled a pistol from his pocket. I stalled, even though I knew being immortal, I would come back from it.

He lifted the gun at the same time Josephine came out of nowhere and tackled him. The bullet rang in my ears, deafening me as a sharp pain sliced through my leg.

I went down to one knee and cupped my palm over my ear. Startled at the ringing in my skull, I stood up and found Josephine fumbling with Jacob for the gun.

My heart sank as I stepped, and the pain grew up my leg. That was weird. Fighting through it, I grabbed Josephine around the waist and pulled her off Jacob. He fumbled with the gun and pointed it right at my face. The darkness in his eyes swirled like a vortex as he pulled the trigger.

The slow motion that followed was more startling than the growing pain in my leg. The bullet stopped inches from my face. Jacob's features were more shocked than mine.

He pulled it again.

And again.

Numerous bullets hung in the air between us. I reached up slowly and flicked one, two and then three away from me. I expected to see Ernest step out from the forest, but I didn't.

Josephine watched as the slow motion disappeared and the bullets fell to the ground.

Jacob scurried away from us with fear on his face. Neither of us stopped him when he climbed into his car and sped out of my yard. I looked at Josephine as she stared at me.

"You?" I asked.

"I think so," she said in a small voice.

Her gaze traveled toward my leg as I stumbled against the truck. Dizziness swirled around inside of me. I felt my mind begin to shut down, and I slid down the truck.

She knelt beside me. Her voice began to grow distant as blood soaked my jeans and the ground beneath me. Josephine's soft voice vanished, and so did her shaking my shoulders.

I'd defeated a wicked witch. Traveled across realms to save my soulmate, only to be taken out by a coward with a broken heart and a gun.

I slid from the moment and into the void of my mind.

***

I woke to the smell of a sterile environment and a freezing room. I blinked away the sleep that hung heavily on me and looked around the white room.

Josephine sat on a chair in the corner of the room, her legs tucked underneath her chin, and her cheek rested against her knees. The sunlight brightened her ebony hair and the drool trailing out of her mouth.

I chuckled and attempted to move but my leg cried out in pain. Why was I hurting so bad?

I looked down at the hospital gown, my bare feet and the IV stuck into my arm. "What the ..."

"Kellan, you're up."

I looked over to the unfamiliar voice. A blonde nurse stood in the doorway with a friendly smile and a clipboard. Josephine stirred at the noise and slowly opened her eyes.

When her gaze met mine, she wiped off her mouth and shot up. "Kellan," she said in a sleepy voice. "You're up. Thank God. How do you feel?"

"Like death, which is surprising," I said to her.

She nodded. "I know."

But then the corner of her mouth pulled into a smile. She wasn't smiling because I was hurt, but she was smiling because I was hurt. That meant I wasn't immortal any longer.

She grabbed my hand, and I squeezed her tiny fingers in my grip. "That means ..."

Josephine beamed. "The curse is broken," she whispered. "When you killed Deidamia, you broke it."

I felt an array of feelings awaken inside of me. Hope. Sadness. Joy. It was so overwhelming I felt a tear race down my cheek. Josephine leaned in and kissed it.

"Don't cry," she whispered against my cheek. "You're killable, but I'm a killer.

I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up my throat. I snaked my fingers around the back of her neck and brought her toward my mouth. "My killer," I whispered. "My hero."

"Well, one of us needs to be," she said. "We can't both be Anti-heroes."

The nurse cleared her throat. "I'm going to go inform the doctor that you're awake from your surgery. Also, the cops are here to talk about the incident. Do you feel well enough to talk?"

I nodded, though speaking with cops was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to curl into my bed at home with Josephine tucked into the crook of my arm and enjoy my life.

A life that would end eventually. One that wouldn't link me to a world that never ended, and one that I would lose my soulmate and keep living forever.

Josephine leaned down and rested her cheek against my chest. "Jacob is going to go away for attempted murder."

"Do you think he'll talk?" I asked.

She nodded. "Oh yeah, but who would believe him? He just tried to kill you. I doubt they'll believe I stopped bullets."

I nudged her until she looked up at me. "But you did."

"I did. I don't know how to feel about the powers, but I'm glad I had them. Can you imagine if we finally got back home for your life to be taken by that jackass?"

"No, I can't. Have you spoken to your dad?"

She frowned. "No."

"He'll come around. Did Ernest and Fern make it back?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "I've been up here with you for two days. I'm assuming they did, but I'm not sure."

I stroked my fingertips against her flesh. "Well get back to them soon enough."

"With a limp immortal and a human with powers. Oh, how the tables have turned," she said.

I brought her down toward my mouth again. "There are some things that'll never change. Immortality or not. I'm still in love with you."

"How could you not be?" she said with a smug smile. "I just saved your life from three bullets. I'm kind of a big deal. And to think you didn't want anything to do with me at first."

I chuckled. "Josephine, I wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you. I was just afraid of wanting you. I was afraid of falling in love with you."

"Of course, you were. Anti-heroes never make the right decisions. They have to be guided into rationality. And falling for me ... it was inevitable."