Lunar Crest University (Forbidden Fruit)

Chapter Forty-Three

FINLEY

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND, 2023

L evi and I are quickly forgotten about after the explosion—not even an afterthought in Javier’s mind as he barks orders at his men before they all storm out of the room, closing the door behind them and locking it tight. A sloppy decision on their part.

Not that it matters. Where there is an explosion, there is also fire. If these wounds didn’t kill me, I’d just burn to death instead.

The ominous red glow of the emergency lights doesn’t help my nausea, nor does it lessen the growing feeling of the end. This is the end of life as I know it, because my extremities are getting colder with each shaky breath I take. He had to have hit an organ with the amount of blood oozing from my torso.

Levi doesn’t waste any time ripping the tape from his mouth as he scrambles over to me, his hands hovering over the knife still lodged into my thigh as if he doesn’t know what to do about it. His eyes flicker up to meet mine, and they’re glossy with fresh tears.

“Finn, I’m so sorry.”

I shake my head weakly. “Don’t do that.”

His face construes into a sad grimace as he looks down at my stomach, but he composes himself as he sniffles, grasping at the rope tied around one of my wrists. All my restraints are bound tightly, which he quickly figures out once it doesn’t budge. With a frustrated groan, he falls back into a seated position on the ground as his hands slide through his hair.

“You should f-find a way out?—”

“ No .” He points a finger at me. “Fuck that. Don’t say that to me. I’m not leaving here without you.”

“I’m stuck,” I rasp. “The b-building is on fire, Levi.”

The statement of the obvious only upsets him even more. He turns his attention to the rope tied around my ankles but to no avail. Tears streak his dirty cheeks as he growls in frustration, rearing his foot back to swing the tip of his boot into the leg of the chair. The jolt shakes my entire body, and the pain that rips through me is almost crippling. A tiny cry leaves my lips as my head falls back, and he immediately stops as he cradles my face in his hands.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Don’t do…that again.”

“I won’t.” He wipes his face against his shoulder. “I won’t.”

There’s a faint smell of smoke in the air now, and I know he smells it too, because he starts to panic again. Leaving me for a moment, he paces back and forth in front of my chair. He’s mumbling quietly to himself, but I can’t make out what he’s saying over the sound of the alarms blaring.

“I have to take the knife out.” He stops pacing like the thought has lit up the lightbulb inside of his brain. “ I can cut the ropes off with it.”

“I’m g-going to bleed to death.”

“No,” he grits out. “I’m going to get you out of here. Get you some help before that happens.”

I swallow thickly. “The door is… locked .”

“We’re getting out of here.”

“There’s smoke. So…much smoke?—”

“Stop it!” he yells, and I don’t even have the energy to flinch. “I listened to you. Now you listen to me. I’m not leaving you here.”

I hate seeing him like this, so worried sick that he’s crying and sweating and trembling. So instead of fighting anymore, I nod feebly as I stretch out my fingers, hoping he’ll take my hand. Any ounce of warmth sounds better than the ice pulsating through me. His lips press together as he grasps my hand so tight, I’m scared he’ll break my bones.

His other hand wraps around the blade of the knife as gently as possible.

“Okay,” he pants. “Ready?”

I shake my head.

“You have to be ready, Finn. I need you to be ready.” His voice shakes as his hazel eyes lower to meet mine. “Please don’t give up on me.”

“O-okay,” I say. “Okay.”

My body feels weak like I could pass out at any second, and I know it’s because of the blood loss. I might be wearing more than I have inside me at this point. My breath comes in slow pants, and the smoke that permeates the air doesn’t help. What energy I do have, I’ll give to him.

Which is why, instead of screaming as he dislodges the knife from my leg, I hold my breath enough to where a choked wheeze escapes me. There is pain, but it’s a numb kind of pain. Sharp, but soft around the edges. Stinging, but swallowed by the cold.

That can’t be good.

Blood pools out of my thigh faster than the wound on my stomach, and that can’t be good either.

Levi saws at each binding until I’m free before snaking his arm around my waist to hoist me up and out of the chair. It’s not until I try to stand that I realize how dire my situation is. My legs give out from under me, and as I go to collapse to the concrete floor, he braces my fall.

I’m so tired.

“No. No. No,” he whines. “You have to stand up.”

“I… can’t .”

“Fuck!”

Scrambling to the metal door, he grabs the handle and pulls on it a few times. Harder and harder, he pulls until he’s yelling strings of curses. The door doesn’t even make a sound. He bangs his fist against it—nothing. Kicks it—nothing. There’s a point where he throws his whole body into it, but again—nothing. We’re stuck here.

Gunfire echoes out in the hall.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck !” He kicks the door as hard as he can with each word, coughing from the smoke that continues to build in the air.

I press my face against the floor, shivering. “Levi.”

“God damn it! Open the fucking door!”

“ L-Levi .”

Turning on his heel, he peers down at me as he puts a hand over his mouth while gripping his chin simultaneously. The turmoil is evident in his eyes. I know how badly he wants to get us out of here, but we’re not.

“Please…” I pant. “Come lay with m-me?”

I don’t want to spend whatever time I do have left watching him exhaust himself trying to open a door that isn’t going to budge.

He doesn’t hesitate to lie down on the dirty concrete floor beside me, scooching as close as he possibly can as he takes my hand in his. He’s so warm, sweat trickles down his forehead, and it feels good against my freezing skin. It must not be good that I feel like ice is running through my veins, but I push the feeling aside as I give him a very tiny smile.

“You don’t…h-hate me?” I ask him.

“God, no, Finn.” He presses his lips to my knuckles as he sniffs. “I don’t hate you. I’m sorry I ran off on you like I did. I should’ve stayed and talked it out.”

I shake my head faintly. “You had every right…to b-be mad at m-me.”

“I wasn’t mad at you.” His voice wobbles. “I was just being an ass. I’m always such an ass. I’m sorry.”

The smoke is thick in the air. Just looking at him is like looking through a haze, and it’s harder and harder to take a deep breath. Maybe it’s just me, though. Is this what it feels like to die? You get cold, your vision blurs, and you can’t breathe?

“You’re freezing,” he comments, pressing my hand to his face before he scrambles up into a seated position and props my head in his lap.

His clammy hands feel good against my face as he cradles my cheeks, brushing my forehead with his thumbs and then massaging my scalp. It’s the most comfort I’ve felt since I got here, and I want to close my eyes, but I don’t. If they close, I don’t think I will have enough energy to force them back open again.

“Yeah,” I whisper, blinking slowly up at him. “I g-guess I’m pretty numb…now.”

There are so many questions bouncing around in my head: how did he get here? Where did they take him from? How long has he been here? But I don’t ask them, because I want to use the strength I have left to just be here with him, soaking in his warmth as much as I can.

None of it matters, anyway. We’re here, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.

“I’m here,” he tells me. “I’m not leaving you.”

Tears fill my eyes. “You’re my b-best friend.”

Levi whimpers as he presses his forehead down on mine. I want to lift my hand to comfort him too, but it doesn’t move. That should scare me, but I’m not scared at all. I’m too tired to feel anything, really.

“I love you, Finn,” he mumbles into my forehead.

It’s getting harder to keep my eyes open.

“I l-love you…too.”

My eyes flutter closed as he brushes my hair from my face. It’s so soothing, I can’t fight the lull of sleep that wants so badly to take over. His touch and his warmth are comforting enough for me to be at peace with falling into nothingness. Into the black.

There’s a tiny, broken part of me that screams at the thought of never getting to see Luca’s face again, never getting to tell him goodbye.

The gunfire ceases as a loud boom sounds around us, but I’ve faded into the nothingness before I can even figure out what it was.

Dark, empty, nothing.