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“How long?”
From under the car, he called out, “’Bout five minutes.”
“Okay.”
Big Bob got into his car and drove off, perhaps annoyed that we were getting on without his commentary.
I stood there staring at Carter’s legs peeking out like he was the Wicked Witch of the East, smashed by one wayward house flying through a cyclone. They’re good legs, I thought in my dazedness. Strong. Can legs alone keep you safe? Because it felt like his might be able to manage the task.
Jo-Beth and Henry were straggling somewhere behind me. I heard her fussing with his clothing – something had come unbuttoned. We’d all gotten awfully close in such a short period of time. My friend, who hadn’t even slept with Carter, was fixing up his son’s top. How had that happened? How had life zoomed by without ever announcing its intentions? Is this what adulthood was, things just happening all at once without the courtesy of so much as an Evite?
I would miss Rough and Ready. I would miss Henry. Most of all, I would miss Carter. Even just then, as we were racing away from danger — only to presumably separate once we made our way to a bigger city — I felt a tangible loss at what was certain to be gone by morning.
And then I had another stark feeling:
Thin metal against my neck.
I screamed.
CHAPTER 27
Carter
IT WAS A dull, raspy cry, one I could barely make out from beneath the car.
I turned my head to the side, away from the car’s low hanging parts, to the concrete wall of the garage.
There, alongside Phoebe’s sweet little sneakers, was a pair of tennis shoes, their tops covered by the blooming hem of black yoga pants.
Meghan.
I pushed myself out from under the car, banging my head as I went but not caring about anything so mild as a bruised skull.
As I emerged I rolled onto my stomach and darted to my feet, and was met with a horrific sight.
Meghan had a knife at Phoebe’s throat. Phoebe was trying to push away, but though Meghan was small, she was strong.
Not far behind them and a little to the left, Jo-Beth was holding Henry’s hand. Both of them stared, transfixed in horror.
Even through the sweat and haze of the moment, I saw Jo-Beth mouthing something. What was she saying? My vision was narrowing as Phoebe’s screams filled my ears.
Car.
That’s what she was saying — car.
Jo-Beth held Henry’s hand up meaningfully, then gestured with her head to the car, which was directly behind me. She and my boy were out of Meghan’s sight line.
Ah. Got it. If I could keep Meghan distracted, turn her around somehow, Jo-Beth and Henry could get in Phoebe’s car. Even if I died in the process, at least Jo-Beth would be able to drive off with my son. It wasn’t a good solution, but it was the best I had.
“What are you doing, Meghan?” If I could just keep her talking, maybe walk forward and maneuver her one-eighty degrees, Henry stood a chance.
Phoebe’s face was white and the knife was pressing against her neck. God, what had I wrought?
“You locked me up,” Meghan spat, “for years. Years! I missed a whole world.”
“You tried to kill me and my son,” I replied, walking forward.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jo-Beth lift Henry into her arms and prepare to make a run for it.
“Only kind of,” Meghan said. “Now, enough of this nonsense. Take me back, Carter. You’re the one man who gets me.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You love me,” she said simply. “Even if you don’t think you do. I’m your kind of crazy, sweet cheeks.”
I shook my head, my chest rising and falling fast. “That’s not true. And I know it’s not because I’m in love with someone else.”
Meghan pressed the knife closer to Phoebe’s throat. “Surely you don’t mean—”
“Phoebe,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.
If this was the last thing I ever did before Meghan murdered me, then so be it.
I stormed up to Meghan and Phoebe, shouting as I walked, “Phoebe, I love you. I’m sorry it has to be like this, but I love you.”
Meghan’s mouth tightened into a hard line. “You don’t know what you love. You love bitches, assholes. Scum. You love me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Stop right there!” she shouted. “Don’t take another move, or I kill her!”
I looked in Phoebe’s eyes, and knew Meghan wasn’t joking. Phoebe couldn’t stand much longer. Between the fire and this, she was on her last legs.
I stepped to Meghan’s side, as if circling her. She pivoted, forcing Phoebe to move with her, using the woman I loved as a shield. I circled another ninety degrees, and now my back was to the wall.
Over Meghan’s shoulder, I saw Jo-Beth, with Henry in her arms, run to Phoebe’s car. Good. Now all I had to do was tear Phoebe from Meghan’s grasp and we could get the hell out of Dodge.
