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Forto love me after this

CHAPTER 1 REALITY

Not happening This was not happening

I walked down the hall of the ICU at Edward Billings Meed there Holding oldtoBut I didn't I didn't knohere I was going, or where I was, or how I'd gotten there I had never navigated these sterile halls, never had to visit this cold, o The one thing I kneas that this could not be happening

In my mind's eye, all I could see was the blood I had woken up on the floor of the solariu with pain Noelle had been hosting a preparty there for Kiran Hayes's birthday fete in Boston, and I had gone to confront Sabine DuLac about her relationship with Ariana Osgood She had pulled a gun on me, I had blacked out, and when I'd come to, I had

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seen Josh's prone body, his face pressed into the hardwood floor And blood Blood everywhere The scream that had escapedout of a science fiction fil that could have come from my own throat That hen Sabine had realized the bullet had h Trey Prescott and Gage Goolidge were holding her back, she hadme in whatever way possible I had thrownhard A second body Dark hair had been splayed everywhere, arles Another screa had become a blur

The shouting as the police had hauled off Sabine The Peirl who, splattered with blood, had fainted dead away The flashing lights of the a for us to stay back as they'd sorted out as hit and as unconscious and who ht bedead

Now an orderly shoved a ht into my path I was so startled that my hand flew to my heart My knees felt like they could collapse at any second I pressed ers landing just above a gold plate with a room number printed on it: 4005 Whichfor The room I dreaded

Deep breath, Reed You can do this You have to do this

I closed my eyes for a moment This wasn't about me Yes, Sabine had tried to kill , I had

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thought washo in the saed me and sent out a lewd video of me to the entire Easton Academy community That was all about me And I could deal with all of that later

But right now This This was not about me