Agent 1 (Book 3)

Chapter 11

Sam's POV

Fire.

Blood.

Gunshots.

Screams.

Despite the flames licking at my body, I'm cold. Freezing.

More screams.

More gunshots.

More blood.

An explosion.

Nothing...

Darkness...

Silence...

I feel something grab hold of my shoulder so I strike back. I feel something soft in my hand and a tightening pain in my wrist. Something like claws scrape out at my fingers and try to pull them away but I only tighten my grip on the soft object in my hands.

It's still dark. Pitch black. Still cold. Still quiet. A dead silence.

Suddenly colors begin to blur through the darkness. My vision begins to come back into focus and to my horror I realize this is no longer a dream. My reflexes kicked in, in my sleep.

I release the death grip on her neck and push myself back across the floor away from her, my back pressing against the edge of the bed I'd clearly tumbled out of.

She leans over on her hands and knees, one hand clutching at her throat as she struggles to draw in a breath. My lips move but I don't hear anything. I grab my hearing aids off the nightstand and put them back into my ears and switch them on. Her coughing fills my ears.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I mutter, repeating the words over and over again barely audible. "I'm so sorry Daggers." I say again, staring down at my lap.

"I'm fine Sam." She says finally. Her voice comes out slightly hoarse and I wince. I hear her sigh.

"Sam." I feel her hand on my shoulder and I look up finally to meet her eyes. "I'm alright, promise."

I shake my head and look back down into my lap. "I could've killed you." I mutter.

I hear her scoff. "Do I look dead to you? And besides that what makes you think you could actually kill me?"

I smile slightly and look back at her as she takes a seat on the floor next to me. Her back against the edge of the bed, and her arm pressed against mine.

"You want to talk about it?" She asks softly.

I shake my head. "No." She nods and it's only now when I look at her that I realize she's still in her clothes from earlier instead of a pair of pajamas.

I tug on the end of her tank top. "What were you doing?" I ask.

"Paperwork mostly." She replies and I glance at the clock hanging above the door.

"At one in the morning?"

She shrugs. "I was actually coming up to bed when I heard you crying out in your sleep."

I look away from her and stare at the navy blue colored walls in front of me. I try to block out the memories and just let them drift back into the depths of my mind but it doesn't help. I feel Thirteen shift her weight away before getting to her feet next to me. I feel her tug lightly at my arm.

"Come on." She says and I allow her to pull me to my feet. I sit back on the bed the moment her hands leave my arm. I wince when I notice the red marks forming on her neck.

She lets out an aggravated sigh. "I'm fine Sam." She says firmly. "The marks will fade." She hasn't even seen the marks, but she knows by my facial expressions that they're there.

I throw myself back on the bed and cover my face with my hands. I feel the bed dip down next to me as she takes a seat. Neither one of us say anything and we just stay that way in a comfortable silence. Finally I feel the bed shift as her weight is lifted off.

I hardly even comprehend what I'm doing as I shoot up into a sitting position quickly and grab hold of her wrist. she stops and turns to look at me, her expression unreadable.

"Stay." I finally manage to say and notice her gaze turn calculating but I continue. "Please. I know you have a boyfriend now and I know it's not fair to ask this of you but please, stay."

She stares at me for a few seconds longer before casting her gaze to the floor and shaking her head. I feel my heart sink in my chest as she pulls her wrist out of my grip and walks towards the door.

I lie back down on the bed and place my hands behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. There's no way I'm going to be getting to sleep. I let out a long sigh as I hear the door to my room close. I move my hands out from behind my head and to my hearing aids preparing to switch them off and remove them, but the click of a lock gets my attention.

I push myself up onto my elbows as Thirteen drops her hand from the door knob and looks back at me, a small smile on her face.

"Don't want Cody to walk by in the morning and try to kill you...and then me." She says simply and I give her a smile back. She jerks her thumb towards the dresser. "I'm stealing some of your clothes and taking a quick shower." She states and I just nod, lying back down.

I hear the drawers open and close and then the bathroom door. I listen to the shower start up. The water hitting the tiled floor in a steady stream. As she said the shower shuts off not too long later and she comes out of the bathroom wearing a pair of my sweat pants and a t-shirt. She sits on the edge of the bed as she dries her hair with her towel.

She tosses the towel on the floor and lies down next to me. I sit up to grab the covers from the end of the bed and pull them over us. I stop for a second when I see the scars peeking out from the rolled up sweatpants.

I turn to look at her and I see her studying me. "You know you don't have to hide your scars from me." I tell her and she just shrugs.

"Habit." She offers as an explanation.

I pull the covers up over both of us and lie back down. "Do the boys know about them?" I ask her.

She turns her head to look at me. "No."

"What about Lily?"

"Yeah she knows."

I can tell by her tone of voice that this is the last thing she wants to be talking about so I drop the subject.

"Goodnight Sam." She whispers, rolling over onto her side, her back to me. I listen to her breathing for a while as she falls asleep.

"Goodnight Daggers." I whisper before switching off my hearing aids, removing them, and then placing them on nightstand next to me. I turn back towards her sleeping form and pull her into my chest before drifting off to sleep.

***

I walk down the stairs towards the kitchen. Thirteen was gone when I woke up but that was no surprise.

Lydia's got her arm in a sling and I keep the smile that threatens to spill across my face when I see her contained. Especially when Thirteen gives me a glare when I can't keep my lips from twitching. She finally just rolls her eyes at me and mutters something into her cup of tea.

"If I had been the one to shoot her I'd be getting skinned alive." Hayden grumbles as he comes and stands by my side.

I smile slightly. "Well we both know who's the favorite between the two of us."

Hayden scowls at me. "Yeah I know." He agrees. "It's completely unfair."

"Hey what time did you come to bed last night?" Cody asks Thirteen.

My gaze immediately snaps over to Thirteen. Her eyes meet mine for a second but she's completely calm, completely relaxed. She looks back over at Cody and gives him an apologetic look.

"I didn't. Sorry." She shrugs lightly. "I fell asleep catching up on some company paperwork." Cody just nods his response.

"So did the paperwork attack you?" Lily questions with narrowed eyes.

Thirteen looks at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She turns in her seat to face Lily who simply glares back at her.

Lily hops off the counter she's perched on and all but stomps over to Thirteen. She grabs hold of Thirteen's wrist and yanks her off the stool she was sitting on.

"Hey!" Thirteen protests. "What has gotten into you?" She rips her arm out of Lily's grip.

Lily doesn't let up. She grabs hold of Thirteen roughly by her shoulders. She then reaches one of her hands up and begins to rub at Thirteen's neck. Thirteen realizes what she's doing a moment too late and shoves her away.

Lily stumbles back but she wiped off enough of the make up to clearly show the bruised hand print on Thirteen's neck.

"As I said, did the paperwork attack you?" Lily practically growls out.

Thirteen glares back harshly. "Drop it Lily." She warns. I look nervously between the two of them. I've never seen them fight before, but it's beginning to head in that direction and somehow I just know it's going to be ugly.

"You want me to drop it?" She waves her hand at Thirteen's neck. "That's a freaking hand print!"

"I said drop it." Thirteen's voice and expression has gone cold. Lily takes a step towards her and she matches it.

"Who did that to you?" She presses. Thirteen only glares and doesn't say anything. "And don't give me that bullshit about sparring last night because I was down there all night. I never went to sleep and not you nor anyone else came down last night. So I'm going to ask you again, who did that to you?"

"It was an accident." Thirteen bites back.

"I don't give a s**t!"

"Leave it alone Lily. It was an accident. He didn't mean to."

"He?" Lily's furious gaze snaps over to Cody. He takes a step back and holds his hands up in surrender.

"Did you not just hear me ask her where she was last night?" He questions Lily, though there's fury shining in his eyes as well as he eyes the bruise on Thirteen's neck. He's just as pissed off as Lily...actually I don't think anyone could be as pissed off as Lily right now.

Lily's eyes scan over everyone and all the guys immediately copy Cody's moves, putting their hands up and taking a step back. Except Devin, who just causally waves at Lily while wolfing down strips of bacon and taking sips of his orange juice.

Lily's looks at me with a blazing fury and I just give her a blank stare. I don't take a step back, and I don't hold my hands up in surrender. For her that's all the confirmation she needs.

She moves so fast Thirteen doesn't have the chance to stop her. Pain spreads across my jaw line as her fist makes contact with my face. I don't move. It's a fairly good punch, but it's not nearly as bad as other hits I've taken in the past. Unfortunately when I don't move at all, it only pisses Lily off more. Her foot makes contact with my side and the pain that spreads through my torso is almost unbearable.

I collapse to my knees and clutch at my side, keeping the pain from showing on my face. I'm shocked when my fingers come into contact with blood. My blood. I look over at Lily who's being restrained by Lydia of all people and it's only then I notice her shoes.

Dangerously spiked high heeled ankle boots.

Thirteen kneels down next to me and gently presses against the wound. I shove her hands away quickly when a searing pain shoots through my body. I can't stop the pain filled hiss from escaping my lips. Thirteen looks murderous.

I catch her wrist as she begins to get to her feet. "Daggers, it's not worth it." I tell her but I can see in her eyes she's already made up her mind.

Thirteen yanks her arm free and turns to Lily with that murderous look. Lydia lets go of Lily and takes quite a few large steps back.

"And not even I'm stupid enough to get in the middle of this." She mutters just as Thirteen shoves Lily back forcefully.

"What the hell was that for?!" Thirteen roars.

"Are you seriously asking me that question?" Lily bites back. "His hand print is on your neck!"

"I told you it was an accident! You didn't need to attack him!"

"He deserved it!" Lily hisses. "Sorry to burst your bubble but I'm not going to let anyone get away with nearly killing you."

"Leave. Him. Alone." Thirteen grits out. She's standing with her back to me, in front of Lily. Suddenly her gaze snaps over to Cody. "And don't you even freaking think about it. You touch him and we're done."

Lily lets out a humorless laugh. "Why the hell are you defending him?"

Suddenly Henri seems to just magically appear by my side with a first aid kit in his hands. He gestures for me lift my shirt for him.

I point over to Lily and Thirteen. "Aren't you going to stop them?" I ask Henri.

He gives me a pained look and simply shakes his head. "They've been fighting a lot lately. Though Thirteen usually tries to make sure the boys aren't in the room when they do."

I look at him in confusion and wince, biting my tongue to keep from letting out a hiss of pain as Henri wipes at the wound. "Why?" I ask in an effort to take my mind off the pain.

I hear Lily scoff loudly and I tune back into the conversation before Henri can reply. "As I said, why the hell are you defending him? You never answered the question!"

"Maybe it's because he's a good person. Because he's one of the only people in my life that haven't died or just walked out on me!"

"I'm one of those people that are always there for you yet you're the one yelling at me for having your best interest in mind!"

"Well maybe it's because he knows everything, just like you but he doesn't look at me the way you do."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lily counters, crossing her arms over her chest. "How do I look at you?"

"With fear." Thirteen states.

Lily scoffs and rolls her eyes at Thirteen. "That's ridiculous-"

"You woke up once." Thirteen states and Lily gets quiet. "Before now. You woke up maybe...two and a half weeks after being brought in." Thirteen takes a step towards her. "And I was waiting. I was sitting by your bed side. And do you know what you did when you opened your eyes and saw me? You screamed." Lily looks at her as if she's in pain. "And you just kept screaming till the point the nurses had to sedate you."

Lily shakes her head. "I didn't...I don't remember..."

"Of course not." Thirteen shakes her head and looks down at the floor. "And you still look at me the same way you did when you woke up the first time. Though now you do a better job at hiding the fear in your eyes. The fear of me."

Something about what Thirteen says seems to piss Lily off and reignite her fire. Lily gives Thirteen a hard look.

"Well can you really blame me?"

Thirteen glares back at her and I catch a glimpse of the hurt in her eyes when she sneaks a glance at me. "I'd think you'd know and believe that I'd never do anything to hurt you." She growls back. "At least not purposely."

"I use to believe that." Lily shakes her head. "But not anymore. She looks over at me. "And if he really knows everything...then he should know to stay the hell away from you!"

"And just what the hell do you mean by that?!"

I can't make out what either of them are saying as they both begin yelling loudly back and forth at each other. It's impossible to make out hardly anything but somehow they seem to be understanding each other perfectly...that's not a good thing.

I can finally make out some part of the conversation when Lily yells louder "-like a-" She stops abruptly.

"Go ahead say it." Thirteen growls. "Finish your sentence. I'm dying to hear what you have to say." Thirteen bites out sarcastically.

"Like a monster!"

I can tell the second the word leaves her mouth Lily regrets it. Her face turns into a mixture of horror and shock as if she can't believe she actually said it. I can see Thirteen's face because of the position she's in, and she looks as if Lily just shot her.

She staggers back a step as if she can't get her balance. As if she can't believe it. Lily reaches a hand towards her and Thirteen flinches like she's been struck.

"I didn't mean it. I'm so sorry Thirteen." Lily says softly, her apology'sgenuine but it doesn't look like Thirteen's listening. Thirteen turns on her heels abruptly and runs out of the room.

Lily calls out after her but Thirteen doesn't stop or turn back. She doesn't even react...not even when Lily begins calling her out...by her name.