Matt had to leave the room when we removed the fragments of the bullet. I had to hold my breath and sit on my shaking hands. Only Darlien seemed calm.

"Why are you so good at this?" I whispered, grimacing as she patted away more blood. Always fucking blood.

Darlien flashed me a sad, pained smile, before plunging the tweezers back into Alex's flesh. "I run a drug safehouse, Alexa. More people have died on this couch than you could ever count."

Alex's corpse flashed through my head. He'd just be another statistic to the SJWs, just another paycheck to the funeral home, just another sob story for the school. He'd stop being Alex. Death took away your identity.

My fingers clasped his palm.

"Almost done, sweetie. Then we just wrap him up and hope he wakes." Darlien was so focused. I hoped I looked as calm as she did.

I stared down at Alex's face, adjusting the cool, damp cloth we'd placed over his forehead. He was such a... a pretty boy.

Darlien leaned back. "I think that's as good as it's gonna get."

"As good as it's gonna get? We need to be sure, Dar. He can't..." my voice trailed off. Die.

She smiled softly. "Don't worry, sugar. Your handsome little man will be okay."

"He's not mine," I corrected. "I wouldn't want him to be."

She gave me a "mom" look. Even though I hadn't seen my mother since I was eleven, I knew of the infamous "mother knows best" looks.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like that."

"Let's wrap him, darling."

I nodded, avoiding eye contact as best I could. Darlien instructed me to lift him up by the arms, careful of his fucking massive wings. She wrapped him so tightly, I thought maybe he was a mummy.

My air was intoxicated by his scent. Even covered in blood and sweat, I could smell the slight Axe Deodorant he wore.

I pressed my face into his soft, messy hair. He smelled like sex at this close proximity. It must have been Gracie. He must have been with her earlier. I tried to push my mind away from the thought of their sex life.

Darlien sighed. "I'll leave you two alone."

I set Alex back down and sat on the floor beside him as Darlien walked out.

My hand wouldn't let his go. Maybe I was afraid that if my fingers released his palm, he'd slip and fall into the eternal, identidy stealing blackness of death.

My body was on auto-pilot. Uncontrolled lips pressed themselves onto his hand. Uninvited tears swelled up in my eyes and slid down my cheeks. "I'm so sorry," I heard myself whisper. "Alex, please... please, wake up..."

His fingers twitched. I looked up at him. His eyebrows furrowed. I squeezed my fingers around his.

He opened his eyes.