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“You can have anything,” I pleaded with him, holding my hands out, palm up. “Anything you want, just let her go, please. I’m the one you want, right? You want money?”
“Not from you. I don’t— he told me—” the wiry man shook his head, blinking like he was about to cry. Not from you? What did that mean exactly? Why stop us if he didn’t want my money?
Seconds seemed to pass like hours and the man’s face was a twisted mask of chaos. I could see his decision in the pained curve of his mouth and the twitch of his eyes. I wanted to vomit once I realized what was about to happen. The shot fired off and I was on top of Sadie without even thinking about it, cradling her in my arms and pressing her into the cold concrete of the garage. My arm howled with pain from where it was pinned beneath Sadie, but I didn’t think it was broken. I heard Nora scream and when I looked up, the man had taken off into the night. I jumped to look at Sadie, checking over every inch of her for injuries. She was panting, curled into her side and as I moved to stand, she grabbed my sleeve, looking me over quickly.
“You were going to take a bullet for me,” she cried, pulling me down so that our foreheads touched, and I felt her breath over my cheeks. “Connor, you could have died. And your arm is it—”
“I wasn’t going to let him hurt you—I couldn’t,” I whispered, cutting off her concern and holding her close to me.
Nora was suddenly next to us, yelling incomprehensibly while she cried, and the sound of police sirens echoed through the cavernous space of the garage. People had begun to spill out from the train station, curious about what was going on and what had happened. I stood with Sadie in my arms and Nora wrapped her arms around both of us, crying about what could have happened and how she should have helped more. She let us go when cops came to take our statement, and Sadie wouldn’t leave my side the entire time. After all, was said and done, we curled together in the back of Nora’s car and headed home, shaken from the whole ordeal. My father had been the target of many attacks, though I had never been so close to any of them. I had looked down the barrel of a gun today and hadn’t thought twice about letting it end my life. It was odd to think about, scary even, but it made sense. I had known that I loved Sadie, but this cemented that fact in my mind. Nora looked back at us in the rearview mirror at every turn and I gave her as many reassuring smiles as I could manage in the space of a half-hour.
Sadie stared out of the car window, silent and as still as death. Worry was building in my belly for her, and I held onto her, holding her hand as we stepped out of the car and up to the apartment. Nora left us slowly, watching from the open door of the car, and Sadie kept staring around us, trembling as if she were looking for hidden foes. As soon as we were up to the apartment and inside of the door, Sadie brushed me off and headed toward the bathroom, mumbling something about needing a hot shower after the day. She had already let her family know what happened in a series of frantic texts, and I hoped it wouldn't sour their opinion of me in their minds. I couldn’t blame them if it did, though. They were still at the farm with their new baby, even though the flooded road had dried overnight, and I could imagine the smiles falling from their faces when Sadie let them know. I stood in the entryway and let out a breath, clueless about what I should do to help her. Though I cared about Sadie, I was still new to this whole relationship thing and I was unsure of what to do after you and your significant other had just been accosted by a random, unstable nutjob.
I pulled off my shoes and socks and then tossed my clothes in the hamper in my room, sitting on the bed and thinking of how glad I was to be home. My hands trembled as I ran them through my hair and my phone buzzed in my pocket. I knew that our ordeal had been mentioned on the news, and I was sure that either Jack or my father were trying to get in touch with me. I turned my phone off and fell back onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling with bleary eyes.
