“What do you mean,why?” She snaps, “It’s me! I’m the one who has always been there for you! I’m the one you drank with when that bitch of a wife left you! Every day, I was there. I saw you fall apart, but it wasmewho put you back together! Don’t you see that!? Don’t you see what I’ve done for you!?”
“I valued your friendship,” I tell her gently, “but that’s all it was.”
Her face twists in grief, “Because of her.”
I curse when she points her gun back at my woman.
“Darcy,” another step forward.
“No!” she screams. “She’s tricked you! She’s stolen you from me!”
In four steps, Darcy is at Juni’s side, her hair in her fist and the gun pointed at her throat.
“Okay,” panic is closing up my throat. In her twisted mind, she believes I am hers, so I need to feed it. Convince her that it’s real. I’ll do whatever I need to get her away from Juniper. “Us, yeah? That’s what you want?”
She curls her lip and yanks Juni’s hair harder, earning a pained whimper from her. I have to force myself to stay still, root myself to the spot, even though every muscle in me is primed to leap for Juni.
“It’s mine,” she sneers, “not hers. She doesn’t love you like I love you.”
Swallowing thickly, I nod, “I understand. Why don’t you come with me?”
“No,” Darcy snaps. “She has to go.”
“Where should she go?”
“She needs to die, Silas.”
My heart drops into my stomach. “No. You need to let her go.”
Darcy shakes her head and presses the gun up and under Juni’s jaw. A tear slides down her cheek as she squeezes her eyes shut.
“I can’t do that,” Darcy says.
“You can,” I risk a step closer and lower my gun, placing it down on the counter. “You can come with me right now. We can go home.”
“Home?” Darcy pauses.
“That’s right,” I offer her my hand, “Back to the ranch.”
My eyes flick to Juni, just for a moment. The tears are killing me, the way her body trembles, the fear; it has a very dark part of me rising.
“Come to me, Darcy,” I focus back on her.
The gun comes away from Juni’s neck, and Darcy appears to relax, just a touch. I don’t dare feel relief yet, not until I have that gun away from her.
I curl my finger, beckoning her, “Come on. Let’s go home.”
She stands up, the gun dangling from her hand, and takes a step toward me.
“That’s it,” I coax her. “Give me your gun.”
She lifts her hand, moving to pass the gun over to me, her face softer now. My hand wraps around thebarrel as she releases her grip, and I disarm it, throwing it down onto the couch and out of reach.
“I didn’t want to do this,” she breathes.
“It’s okay,” the words burn as they leave my throat.
“I just love you so much, Silas. I’ve waited for you for so long.”
