Shatter-Me-PDF-Shatter-Me-Series-Shatter-Me-Shatter-Me-1-Tahereh-Mafi (1)

would be comfortable to fight in. I take a deep breath and
beg my hands not to shake.
The pounding gets harder.
I point the guns at the door.
“Juliette . . . ?”
I spin back to see Adam staring at me, the guns, the door.
His hair is wet. His eyes are wide. He nods toward the extra
gun in my hand and I toss it to him without a word.
“If it were Warner he wouldn’t be knocking,” he says,
though he doesn’t lower his weapon.
I know he’s right. Warner would’ve shot down the door,
used explosives, killed a hundred people to get to me. He
certainly wouldn’t wait for me to open the door. Something
calms inside of me but I won’t allow myself to get
comfortable. “Who do you think—?”
“It might be Benny—she usually checks up on James—”
“But wouldn’t she know he’d be at school right now?”
“No one else knows where I live—”
The pounding is getting weaker. Slower. There’s a low,
guttural sound of agony.
Adam and I lock eyes.
One more fist flailing into the door. A slump. Another
moan. The thud of a body against the door.
I flinch.
Adam rakes a hand through his hair.
“Adam!” someone cries. Coughs. “Please, man, if you’re in
there—”
I freeze. The voice sounds familiar.
Adam’s spine straightens in an instant. His lips are parted,
his eyes astonished. He punches in the pass code and turns
the latch. Points his gun toward the door as he eases it
open.
“Kenji?”
A short wheeze. A muffled groan. “Shit, man, what took
you so long?”