Chapter 43

It's been a week since my eye was cut, and my balls were snipped. I'm standing in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection. The deep cut criss-crosses over my right eye, a reminder of the price I paid. I am still yet to see if I am blind or not.

The stitching was poorly done by Wrath; I swear he decided to make me look even more like a fucking monster than I already am on purpose. M will be impressed at least. The rough, uneven lines give my face a more menacing appearance, as if I needed any more fucking help in that department.

I've been wearing a black eye patch, but as soon as it is healed enough, I will just paint over it. Dolly is feeling guilt, and it's eating her alive, but she will come to understand that this all means nothing to me if it means she lives. My eye will heal, my pride will heal, but I would never have fucking healed if I had to kill her. This is nothing compared to the depths I would go for her.

I hear her enter the bathroom behind me, and I side-eye over my shoulder. She wraps her arms around my mid, placing a kiss to my back. I grab her wrist, pulling her around in front of me. She gazes up at me, her focus fixed on my eye, and I lean down.

"I'm going to pull it open, and you tell me what you see."

She holds her breath before giving a sharp nod in agreement.

As I pull from my cheek and eyebrow, I pry my eye open, gritting my teeth from the pain. Light strikes it straight away and then I see Noir's silhouette in a very blurred haze which is always a good sign.

"It's bloody and has a small line across it, but it's not as deep as I thought. It could heal, Hell," she murmurs. "Can you see out of it?"

I release it slowly, a hiss escaping my lips. "Kind of."

A big smile paints across her face, "I'm so happy to hear that."

Then, she looks at me seriously, "Look, I've been thinking about a plan…"

Suddenly Soul shouts from my bedroom, "HELL?"

I turn around swiftly, and he comes to the bathroom door, "Oddity is under attack. They're shooting the carnival to fucking pieces."

I look down at her quickly, "We need to get you out of here." I take her wrist and drag her behind me.

When we're outside, the rain pelts down on us and I lift her, dumping her onto the front of the bike as I get on the back.

"What… What are you doing?" she stutters out.

"You're riding."

"What? I don't know how to ride a fucking bike!" she gasps.

"You will now. It makes sense if I'm on the back; they can't shoot me.." I growl, making her place her hands on the handlebars. "Now fucking ride."

"Hell, I'm not sure…"

Gunfire erupts behind the circus, screams following suit and I glance back to see bikes rounding the corner, heading in our direction.

I place my hands over Dolly's, revving the engine. "You've fucking got this, Noir. Trust me on this one."

I make her turn the throttle and she screams as we bolt forward, with Soul and Wrath in tow.

I guide her through the woods as the boys shoot at Kyro's men. I need to get her somewhere he doesn't know until I kill him. I cannot believe this motherfucker has been stupid enough to allow his men to raid Oddity. If I don't kill him, The Shadow's will now.

I look back again, noticing they're gaining, many of them. I look at Soul and Wrath before I yell, "Split!"

They nod before they take separate routes, hoping to guide some of Kyro's men off course. We speed through the trees, the only light in the dark forest coming from the bike's headlight, illuminating our path. The muddy ground is uneven, but the bike handles it. I release one of Dolly's hands, retrieve my gun from the back of my pants, aim, and shoot until a bullet hits a rider that is close, sending him off his bike. But there are at least six more not too far away.

I seethe, looking forward, and make Dolly take a sharp left, causing her to let out a loud scream followed by laugh. As we ride, she seems to get more excited by the danger, and I can't help but grin.

Soon we're on an open pathway that leads near the ocean, and I look back to see them still following. I open fire, taking a few more out.

"Hell, if I was dead, it wouldn't be this way; you could kill him caught off guard." Her yelled words make me look down at her side profile.

"What?" I ask, shouting over the engine.

She shrugs her shoulders. "He won't stop until he has me."

"You're not fucking dying, Noir!"

"No, I didn't mean…"

I lift my head to see a dead end, a cliff edge coming up.

"Noir, squeeze the right break," I order because my gun is still in my hand. She does as I ask, and we come to an abrupt stop, jolting forward. I hear Soul's and Wrath's bikes close by somewhere in the woods.

"I can take these fuckers out," I state as I look back to see them closing in, readying myself with my gun aimed, until I feel Noir's hand reach back, her touch finding my cheek. With her head tilted, I gaze down at her. As I scan her pretty, wet features, I release the left handle, bringing my palm to the side of her neck, my thumb gliding down her jaw.

"I know we don't express any fluffy feelings or speak the words boring couples would use to bare their souls. But I want you to know that I have always liked it our way, on our terms. I need you to know I'm obsessed with you too, Hell," she murmurs. Despite the danger coming up behind us, I can't help but listen because of the sincerity in her blue gaze. "We might not be normal, but our broken pieces fit. Every injury, every stain, every chase, and every frightening whispered word in the night has brought us together. You taught me to accept my flaws, to see them not as imperfections but as parts of my story that you have always cherished. And I can't thank you enough for all you have done for me. For how you've made me feel."

I search her eyes which are filled with tears, "Promise me something?" She croaks and my brows knit with confusion, but I give a slight nod. "Promise me you'll take every single last one of them out and make them pay for what they have done."

"Dolly…" I whisper, about to shove my tongue down her throat until a gunshot goes off, whizzing past my head and I look back sharply, anger spiking in me.

The bike suddenly darts forward, and I glance down at Noir quickly. "What the fuck are you doing??" I yell.

She stays completely silent, determination in her eyes.

"Noir! No!"

She aims straight for the cliff's edge, and I feel a rise of anxiety. I drop my gun as she full-throttles it, and I reach for the front brake. As soon as I squeeze it, we're already at the cliff's edge, both of us flung over the handlebars and we descend from the cliff, my bike following.

I hear Noir's scream until I submerge into the black, stormy sea below. The current smashes over me, filling my lungs with water as I try to swim to the surface, desperately wanting to find Noir, but it's near impossible with one eye. When I finally push my body upward to the surface, I take a huge gasp of air. I frantically look around, scanning the turbulent waves that continue to crash over me.

"NOIR?!" I roar, my voice hoarse with panic.

I can't see or hear anything as I float. The water is a dark, churning abyss, swallowing every sound, every sign of life. The currents toss me around like a fucking ragdoll, and my heart pounds in my chest. I start swimming around, desperate to find her, dipping my head underwater to see if I can spot her silhouette in the murky depths.

"DOLLY!" I continue to shout, the saltwater burning my throat and eyes. The worry in my voice echoes back at me and my muscles ache from the force of fighting the relentless sea, but I refuse to stop. I can't stop.

Each second feels like an eternity, her slipping away from me with each passing minute and the cold seeps into my bones, but the adrenaline keeps me going. I push through the discomfort, the exhaustion, the dread. I hear Kyro's men far above on the cliff edge, and they shine torches down, but my mind races with thoughts of her, of losing her, of the emptiness her absence would create in my life.