AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Or you could just kill me and be done with it,” I offered, desperate to buy more time.
Where the hell are the cops?
Did Noah even make it there?
“Tempting, but, no, sorry. Eye for an eye, man. You took everything away from me, so you’regonnawatch as I take everything from you. Now, let's go.” He took his first steps, moving toward me.
I shook my head. “Then, you'll have to get through me to get to them,” I said, backing up to block the hallway entrance.
Seth pursed his lips and nodded. “Okay.”
He aimed low and fired.
A blinding pain seared through my thigh, spreading down my leg and up into my hip. I gasped against the urgent need to grant my leg the permission to buckle and give out from beneath me as I held tight to Noah's bat and my resolve, raising it up higher and swallowing the bile that threatened to corrode my throat.
“Who the hell brings a bat to a gunfight?” Seth asked, chuckling good-naturedly as he walked closer. “I mean, seriously, man, you could've been a little more prepared.”
“Or maybe it's just that I'm not a coward.” I tipped my head, staring into the frozen abyss of his eyes, coal black in the night. “Is that what you are, Seth? Are you such a pussy coward that you'd rather stand over there and shoot me than look me directly in the eyes when you take my life?'CauseIdunno, man. I think, personally, I'd rather wrap my hands around your goddamn neck and stare at you until you couldn't look back.”
It was a risk to talk to a man holding a gun that way, especially when that man had shown up at our door with nothing but murder on his mind. I knew I was playing with fire, but I had to buy time. That was all I was doing, just buying us some more time until the cops got here. Then, they'd haul him off to lock him awayfora long time, and we could finally be free to go on with our lives without wondering if the bogeyman was lurking around every corner.
Maybe we could get married.
Maybe we could have another kid.
Maybe, one day, we could even have enough money to buy a place in River Canyon's historic neighborhood. One of those pretty, old houses with a white picket fence and a big yard. Plenty of room for a dog, a swing set, and gardening.
Those were nice thoughts. But they were nothing but the pipe dreams of a man wishing desperately he had the time left to make them happen.
The dare was enough to make Seth's jaw clench as he took the remaining steps to close the distance between us. I swung hard but too low, catching him in the arm and setting my injured leg off-balance. It knocked him back a couple of steps as he hissed through the pain, but he didn’t waver.
“All right, asshole,” he said through gritted teeth as I tried to steady myself and hoist the bat up high again, “how’s this for being a coward?”
And before I could think, before I could react, before I could imagine another perfect scenario in a perfect life I'd never have, his cold, dead eyes met mine as he charged forward, pressed the open barrel of the gun to my abdomen, and fired.
The next few minutes felt surreal as the rain pummeled against the roof and the bat slipped from my hand to the floor.
I gasped for air and pressed my hands to my gut, aware that he had shot me. Aware that I was bleeding as gushing warmth seeped through my shirt and between my fingers. Aware that my breath was leaving my lungs now in short, shallow bursts … yet I felt nothing.
Seth stared into my eyes as I reached ahand out, grappling for his shirt. Trying to hold on until I couldn't stand any longer.
“Now, I'm justgonnawait right here,” he sneered, keeping his gaze pinned to mine as my knees buckled, “and I'mgonnastare into your fucking eyes until you're no longer looking back.”
Somewhere in the distance were sirens—a whole chorus of them—and I coughed, the taste of copper heavy in my mouth.
Then, I smiled.
Good job, buddy.
“The fuckareyou smiling about?” Seth growled, clenching my shirt in his tightened grasp.
“Be-because …” I wheezed, lying there on thefloorand wishing so badly I could trade places with the man looking down at me. “I won.”
He cocked his head, fury raging in his eyes. “How the fuck do you figure?”
I thought of Rain. I thought of Noah.
I thought of the short amount of time we had shared together. The happiness I had experienced. The freedom I’d had the chance to know. The love and the family.
