Chapter Five
There was a moment, just a moment, when Jake Martin finally registered that he had heard two gunshots. He knew that he had pulled the trigger on Eli Goldsworthy. The man was bipolar and was going to kill him. The police would easily believe a clean, easy story like that. Clare wouldn't dare speak up against him. Eli's death would be ruled as self-defense and he and Clare could go back to their lives without worry. She would never cheat on him again.
His chest suddenly gushed with warm liquid and he looked down.
His white shirt was turning crimson.
"What the hell?" He muttered, covering the wound. He applied as much pressure as his weakening body could, turning around to Clare.
She stood behind him, a smoking gun in her hands. She wasn't shaking as he expected she would be. She was firm and resolute. Staring into her irate eyes, he finally got it. Just as he had pulled the trigger on Eli, she had shot him; square in the back.
"You... you son of a bitch!" He took a step towards her and tumbled to the floor. The corners of his vision began to fill with black. He could feel the black, tempting him. Telling him that with this abstract, there was no pain. No hole in his back where his wife had shot him. No betrayal. No Elijah Goldsworthy. A place free of pain.
"Eli!" Clare cried and stepped over his body. He couldn't hear if Eli was alive or not. He could only hear Clare's sobs. Even those sounded like they were coming from across a great distance. Everything seemed to be fading away. He tried to fight it. He tried to say that he loved Clare one last time.
But her name was caught in his final breath.
As the darkness receded, Eli was met with a brand of pain that he was not familiar with. It was heavy. It felt warm. And someone was applying pressure to his chest. That's what managed to bring him back from swimming in the depths of black. That pressure. And as his eyes slowly opened, he was looking into the beautiful blue eyes of the angel he had met so long ago.
"Clare?" He asked weakly. "Am I... dead?"
Despite busying herself with cleaning and applying pressure, she chuckled. "No, you're not." She sighed. "But Jake did shoot you. The police have called an ambulance."
As she mentioned his name, Eli's thoughts turned briefly to the other man. "Where is Jake? Under arrest?" He asked, scanning his apartment as best he could.
Clare continued to apply pressure and by her expression, Eli had a feeling something happened. "I shot him." She explained after a moment. "As soon as I saw him pull the trigger, I pulled my gun out. I had thought he killed you." Her voice broke and she continued her work in silence.
As Eli put his head back, his thoughts seemed to be everywhere. How had this happened? He was just supposed to have signed some books and have been on his way. Clare entered the picture and everything suddenly turned out to be something he would have worked out in one of his books.
Clare had proved herself to be the hero he always knew she could be.
"I was right, you know." Eli whispered softly.
"Right about what?"
"You are the hero." Eli said and opened his eyes to look into hers.
Her eyes glistened and her bottom lip trembled. "You made Clara the hero.."
"That's because she is the hero." He finished and smiled, despite the pain.
Clare leaned over and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss. "I love you, Eli."
His pained smile broadened as their lips met. "I love you too, Clare.."
Shortly thereafter, the medics arrived with the stretcher. They placed him gingerly on it.
Clare rode all the way to the hospital with him.