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Joshua is closest to me, just off to my left at the edge of the bed. I see a backpack, his gun on the bed and next to it a garrote. In his hand… a knife.
Juniper is on the other side of the bed, staring back at me wild-eyed with her hands outstretched as if in supplication to Joshua.
At first, nothing happens. Joshua is clearly stunned to see me but he moves first, lunging for the gun.
“Don’t!” I yell at him, my gun moving down just an inch so it’s pointed at his chest. I hope to fuck he can’t see it but my hand is shaking slightly, and I don’t know if it’s from nerves or my injury. “I will pull this trigger.”
Joshua freezes and his eyes gleam as he stares at me, his lips curving into a smile. He grips the knife tighter in his gloved hand, bringing it up before him to study. “Will you really?”
“With great joy,” I assure him.
“I don’t think you will,” Joshua replies, running a leather-covered fingertip over the edge of his blade. “You don’t have it in you. In fact, I bet I could walk right out of here and you’d let me. You’re weak where I’m strong.”
I hate that he’s not wrong about one thing. I don’t have it in me to pull the trigger while he’s standing there in a non-threatening manner. While I’d go to any lengths to protect Juniper, she’s not in imminent danger. Now, if he’d had that gun in his hand when I stormed into the room, I would’ve pulled the trigger right away. But that knife and the ten or so feet between us doesn’t alarm me. The garrote on the bed—while it amps my nausea, thinking what he wants to do with it—isn’t cause for immediate concern.
And Juniper… she’s got a king-size bed between her and Joshua.
It seems we’re at an impasse.
I’d have Juniper call the police but my phone is still in my car and I have no clue where hers is. I’m not about to ask her to move out from behind the safety of the bed.
Joshua tosses his head Juni’s way. “Really, man… what do you see in her? I’ll admit… I had to have a taste once it was over between you two, just to see what all the ruckus was about, but I don’t get it.”
“Then why did you even ask me to marry you, you pig,” Juniper sneers.
Joshua’s eyes flash with a coldness that shows the monster within as he turns to look at her. “Because I knew you’d make a great fucking punching bag,” he whispers. “And you were stubborn. Never quite learned your place so you provided me endless hours of entertainment trying to put you there.”
“Maybe I would have been a better wife if you’d have known what to do with your dick,” Juniper taunts, and my gut twists as I see Joshua’s hand tighten on the knife hilt. His teeth grind and a muscle ticks in his jaw. “Christ, Joshua… do you know how hard it was to continually fake my orgasms with you? Or how awful it was to lay there while you rutted like a horny pig on top of me?”
“Juniper,” I warn in a low voice as Joshua’s gaze drops to the gun and then slides right back to her. His body is coiled tight but the ice-cold impassivity has returned to his face and it’s terrifying. That emptiness behind his eyes tells me there’s nothing of a human inside him.
“No,” Juniper snaps, her eyes darting at me before going back to Joshua. “It’s time I said how I feel and since Joshua has all his little implements”—she waves at the garrote and gun on the bed—“because he wants a captive audience, let’s just go ahead and say how we really feel.”
Joshua moves the knife from his right hand to his left and takes a tiny half step toward the bed. His gaze flicks to the gun, then back to Juniper.
She straightens up, tosses her hair behind her shoulder and puts her hands on her hips. Her eyes are on fire, her cheeks flushed, and I’ve never seen her look so fierce. “Joshua… you’re a child. Always wanting what others have without doing anything to earn it. You’re lazy, entitled and you have the ego of a toddler and a dick the size of a—”
Joshua lunges so fast, I’m caught off guard. Not at me, but for the gun. I can tell Juni was ready for it. She goaded him to make that move.
It takes no effort on my part to swing my gun one foot to the right to follow Joshua’s trajectory, and I’m squeezing the trigger with no hesitation. The blast reverberates, pain lancing through my head but all I care about is the spray of blood from the bullet connecting with Joshua’s hip. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but I’ll take it.
He screams and drops to the carpet, his hand clutching the wound as the knife falls out of his grip.
“You shot me, you crazy son of a bitch,” he yells in a high-pitched voice, rolling to his back to glare up at me.
“You went for the gun,” I reply, knowing that Juniper orchestrated every bit of that. She pushed him into a fit of rage, knowing I wouldn’t pull the trigger unless he made an offensive move.
I don’t take my eyes off Joshua and keep the gun trained on him. “Juniper… get your phone and call the police. Tell them I’ve shot an intruder in my house, he’s fine—”
“I’m not fine,” Joshua bellows. “I’m dying.”
“Tell them I have a gun on him until they get here. And when you’re done with that, get a towel for Joshua’s wound.”
Joshua screams at Juniper as she walks out of the room, begging for her to come back and help him. He then turns his ire on me, promising every bit of retribution that he can muster. He’s still yelling threats when officers stream into the room. Protocol demands they have their guns out and focused on me. I follow their instructions and disarm myself, even letting them put me in handcuffs until they can sort it all out. I’m not worried in the slightest.
I have the right under the law to defend myself and Juniper in our home. Joshua assaulted me first, brought tools with which to kill Juniper and made a lunge for the gun with the intent to fire it. No charges will be filed against me, but just to be safe, I have Juniper call Brienne so her lawyer can meet us down at the police station.
CHAPTER 30
