Laura kept smiling.
It wasn’t a big smile—just a small curve of her lips that pulled at the split in the corner of her mouth, making it bleed fresh. It was the smile of a reckless person cornered at the edge of a cliff and about to jump off.
Garrick’s expression shifted. His brow furrowed, eyes narrowing as he stared at her like she’d lost her mind.
Maybe she had. Her world had narrowed to three things: pain, breath, and staying upright. Her legs trembled with the effort of keeping her standing. Blood trickled from her split lip, the copper taste coating her tongue. Every breath sent sharp stabs through her ribs—probably cracked, maybe broken even. s**t.
*Don’t fall. You fall, it’s over.*
She blinked hard, trying to clear the spots dancing at the edges of her vision.
Garrick stood a
