“Oh my god!” Lydia grabbed my arm, the one I had just flung at Max, her fingers firm yet trembling as they wrapped around me. Her green eyes darted to my knuckles, which were scraped and smeared with blood, stark against the pale backdrop of my skin. The blood, though not much, seemed to alarm her more than it should. “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice a blend of concern and frustration, her gaze lifting to meet mine. Her eyes shone with a kind of empathy that cut through the boiling chaos inside me, but it wasn’t enough to calm me down completely.
“Is he okay?!” Max’s voice rang out from the other side of the bar, shrill and filled with indignation. He hunched over, holding a cloth to his nose, where blood poured freely. The crimson stains were spreading across the white fabric, and hi
