Page 47 of Two For One

I grabbed my broom as I picked up the photo, and a sense of dread hit me. It was a photo of me in front of the county fair that was fifteen minutes from here. I quickly picked up the glass with the broom and I vacuumed afterward making sure I had picked everything up. The last thing I needed was one of the cats getting glass in their paws.

Maleficent meowed again, pushing against my legs. “Girl, what has gotten into you?” I said, picking her up. She immediately jumped out of my arms, meowing as she pushed against my legs again like she wanted me to go somewhere.

“Ok, you’re right. I should go to the club,” I said, putting the vacuum back. “Or maybe I should just stay here?”

Maleficent meowed again.

“What if Judd isn’t there?” I walked into my room, changing quickly, feeling like a weight was sitting on my chest. “Maybe I should pass by where the photo was taken?”

A knock on my door had me running to it, opening it without asking who was there.

A man dressed all in black with a mask covering his face stood in front of three more men dressed exactly like him. I realized my mistake too late. I shoved the door too slowly which he forcefully pushed open, throwing me off balance and I fell. He reached for me as I crawled backwards, getting up quickly, running to the kitchen and grabbing my knife block, throwing knives blindly at them.

One of them grunted, and I hoped I had hit them. I threw the block at them next, grabbing my phone off the counter as I ran towards my room, not quite making it when I was yanked back by my hair. Turning around, I used the small steak knife I had in my hand and jammed it into his side.

“Fucking bitch,” he growled, pulling my hair again like the little bitch he was.

“Fight like a man, motherfucker,” I cried out, grabbing his nuts and squeezing them as hard as I could.

He howled, letting me go as another man grabbed me, that’s when I heard the first muffled shot. I thrashed against the man harder, not ready to die. This wasn’t how I was going to die and if I did, I swear to the goddess I would come back and make these men’s lives miserable for the rest of their lives.

I threw my head back hitting his nose, the satisfying crunch was short lived. As soon as he dropped me my vision blurred. Fuck, how do they make that look so easy in the movies? I got up, grabbing my heavier jars from my workstation, and began to throw them at him. I reached for my medium-sized caldron and threw it at his head.

He collapsed on the floor as I grabbed two more jars, suddenly realizing two men were fighting. I immediately recognized Ezra with his eye swollen shut, along with a bleeding lip and a gash on the side of his head. He fought the last man standing quickly, stabbing him a few times, letting him fall on the floor and rushing to me immediately.

I ran to him as my body shook. He pulled me towards him, engulfing me in his big arms and I sagged in relief. I was safe.

Ezra held me tighter before his hold on me loosened quickly. I pulled back to thank him when he fell down like a pile of bricks.

“Ezra,” I yelled, falling to my knees.

He was pale, his breaths coming in short and quick. That's when I noticed I was covered in blood that had soaked through his shirt and pants. I pulled up his shirt, a bullet wound was oozing quickly. I grabbed a kitchen towel, trying to ignore the men on my floor because if I didn’t, I feared I might have a mental breakdown.

“Holy shit, Ezra,” I said, putting pressure on his wound with the towel

He needed a hospital, but I stopped myself because how would this look to the cops. It was a fucking miracle my neighbor hadn’t come over here. I needed O. Looking through Ezra’s pockets I located his phone, finding O as his only contact. I dialed, keeping pressure on his wound.

“Where the fuck have you been?” O snapped. “You should have checked in an hour ago, I⁠—”

“Oliver,” I said, my voice cracking.

“What happened?” he snapped.

“He’s hurt, I don’t know what happened, but he’s bleeding and⁠—”

“How bad?” he asked, as I heard him slam a door shut.

“He’s shot and it looked like they beat him,” I cried.

“Fuck, are you at your apartment?” he said as another door slammed shut.

“Yes, but O, he saved me,” I said taking a deep breath. “There’s five men here, dead or knocked out.”

“Chridhe, I need you to find a gun and make sure they are dead. Just⁠—”

“Oh… I…. can’t,” I cried.

“Ok. I’m on my way, but grab a gun. I’ll be there soon.” He hung up, leaving me in silence that felt so loud I thought I might pass out.