Jump agreed. He ran down the first set of stairs, trying to ignore the rumble and shaking underneath his feet. The stairs were moving a lot more on the way down than they had on their way up.
When his feet hit the ground, he didn’t stop running. He grabbed hold of the fireman and dragged him along beside him. There was no trusting a building that was rattling, shaking, and screeching as much as that building had been doing.
They ran around the corner of the building and saw people being told to back away as firemen moved their trucks back. He didn’t spot Blakely or his crew. Where were they?
He had stopped dragging the fireman with him and was searching for his buddies when he saw a man across the way who looked familiar. Was that Grayson?
The one time he’d seen the man it had been dark, and he’d been focused on protecting Blakely. But he swore the man looked like Grayson.
Panic surged through Jump. Where was Blakely?
The chaos grew as a portion of one of the buildings toppled to the ground, causing smoke and dust to rise from the ashes. People ran around, screaming as fear took over.
He pulled out his phone and dialed T, hoping his friend answered. The line dropped, and he had to try calling again.
People were yelling and screaming for loved ones. The scene was chaos. The building with Blakely’s apartment had collapsed, and the attached walkway seemed to be pulling on the second building, threatening to take it down, too.
More screeching rang out and then part of the walkway on the second building collapsed, sending more people running. He hadn’t realized that so many people had shown up here to get a look at what was going on.
Where was Blakely? Maybe his buddies had taken her back to their cars. He’d cursed parking so far away earlier, but now he was glad they had to park far back from the burned buildings. At least they’d be able to escape this scene, if he ever found Blakely.
The building was coming down with Jump still in it. Blakely took a step toward the building but T’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.
“No.”
“But Jump.”
“He’ll be okay.”
“The building is falling down.”
T pulled her away from the falling building. “Trust me, Jump will be safe. He trains for stuff like this.”
“But—”
“T is right,” Bang said.
“Yeah, come on. Let’s get back,” Cy said as he moved to her other side and held onto her hand.
She glanced back as the building on the end where she’d lived started to crumble into dust. She hadn’t lived there long, but she felt this in the pit of her stomach.
Grayson was trying to destroy everything around her just because she’d dared to walk away from him. Maybe it was only the money he wanted. She could give it back. She didn’t need to keep the money. Before moving here, she’d had a job earning fairly good money. Right now she was only working part-time because she was thinking about going back to school. But she could get a better job. If he had the money, maybe he would leave her alone.
Worry grew as each minute passed and she didn’t see Jump. Where was he? If Grayson ended up killing Jump, she wouldmake sure he paid. She didn’t know how, but she would do something to get back at him.
They were by the cars when she finally spied Jump. He was safe. T had been right. Jump could get out of trouble without her help.
She waved, excitement filling her as Jump moved closer. His lips were down in a frown as he scanned the area. She wondered if something was wrong when he stopped moving and raised his hands.
Confusion over what he was doing filled her. But she had her answer why he had stopped all too soon. Grayson was running toward Jump, swinging a bat.
Blakely screamed as Grayson swung the bat at Jump’s head. Just then, Cy grabbed her from behind and pulled her away, moving her where she couldn’t see what was going on. The sound of the bat striking flesh was a sound she would never forget.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jump ducked just in time to miss being hit. Wind from the bat swung above him ruffled the hair on the back of his neck.
A second after he ducked, he heard the dull thud of the bat landing on flesh and bone. The crunching sound was enough to turn his stomach.
