There was a ruckus somewhere out of sight down the hall, but neither Kincaid nor Graham turned around to look.

“You fuck her?” Graham said, trembling with volcanic anger.

Ash’s gaze met Kincaid’s, a silent sorry, and then he shrugged. Graham charged forward, and Ash tried to duck but it was too late. Graham’s fist smashed into his jaw. Ash fell backward, skidding across the slick floor, pain radiating through his face and ear.

“Stop it!” Kincaid yelled. “Both of you!”

But Graham had lost all ability to control himself, exactly what Ash had wanted to show her. That almost made the kick Graham delivered to Ash’s ribs worth it.

Kincaid grabbed at Graham. “Stop! You’re going to really hurt him.”

“That’s the idea.” He kicked Ash again, making him curl into the fetal position.

Kincaid sobbed and yanked at Graham’s jacket. “Stop. Please.”

Graham whirled around. “Why? Don’t want me beating up your best buddy? I always knew you two were too close. I should’ve known.”

“What?” she pleaded. “Graham, I would never. I love you. I don’t know why he’s saying this.”

Graham grabbed her roughly by the bicep and hustled her away, one of her heels falling off in the hallway as he guided her into an alcove farther down the hall. Ash could hear him yelling and tried to roll to his feet. Pain was shooting through his side where Graham had kicked him, every move making him gasp. This wasn’t part of the plan. He wasn’t going to let him hurt Kincaid.

But right as Ash climbed to his feet, a loud noise like a firecracker sounded from somewhere down the other end of the hall, out of sight. Someone screamed, and there was another bang.

No.

Not a firecracker.

Ash remembered the sound from when his dad had made him go to the range.

A gunshot. An icy sense of dread filled him.

A figure dressed in black appeared at the end of the hallway. Ash’s whole world zeroed down to that one sight, and panic bolted through him. “Oh fuck.”

Ash took off in the opposite direction, running toward Kincaid and Graham, even though it was a dead end. A new kind of fear filled him, one that had his muscles wanting to seize up. When he turned the corner into the alcove, Graham had caged Kincaid in with his arms. He was sobbing and asking her why, why had she hurt him like this. Mascara-black tears streaked her face as she pleaded with him to believe her.

“Stop,” Ash cried. “We’ve got to run. Someone’s—”

“Get the hell away, Isaacs,” Graham seethed. “Or I will fucking end you.”

Kincaid’s eyes went wide.

Ash forced himself between them, pushing Graham away from her, but Graham shoved him hard, knocking him backward into Kincaid. Ash felt her body collide against his back, heard her hit the cinder-block wall.

He spun around right as she slumped to the floor. Her eyes closed, knocked out cold.