AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She screamed as loudly as she could, expelling all the fear and those tormenting memories that haunted her nightmares. Now, she was living it once again, and there was nothing she could do.
Brad started to laugh. She twisted as much as she could, throwing her full force into her movement, and her elbow contacted something.
Then his weight was gone.
Roxie squeezed her eyes shut and breathed. The eye of the storm, not the end of it. Just a calm in the center while every terrifying thing in her mind swirled around her about to strike.
She rolled to her back, feeling bare skin against the grass where her shirt had ridden up at the small of her back. Pain lanced through every muscle, every limb, everywhere. She coughed. Her whole body spasmed, trying to take in enough air. She gasped, then held her breath at the top. Tried to slow her heart rate, control her breathing.
Help is coming.
She had to believe it. Before with Mark, she’d had no hope. Now, she had all the hope available to her from God. Coworkers who cared about her. A friend who loved her and who she prayed was all right even now. She had a man who probably felt about her the way she felt about him.
Liam.
She wanted to see him. To hang on to him with every bit of strength she had left so she could soak up some of his. And he would let her rely on him. She would be safe, allowing him to fight for her, in a way she had never been safe. Not once in her life.
Brad tossed the stun gun on the grass, too far away for her to reach. He pulled a pistol from the back of his waistband. “I was going to get you into the house, take my time, and carve you up. Nice and slow.” He spat on the grass. “You’re not even worth it.”
Roxie didn’t move. She just lay there on the grass, staring up at him. Would her next breath be her last?
“You can die here in the dirt for all I care.” He aimed the pistol at her.
Roxie squeezed her eyes shut.
A gunshot cracked through the quiet of the night. She flinched, bracing for the pain that never came. Something landed on her foot, bending it to the side. She looked and saw Brad lying in the dirt, dead eyes staring at her. Mark’s eyes.
She scrambled back on her elbows. Freeing herself from the weight of him.
Sound and sight washed around her, the world swirling with movement. People. Flashlights. The smell of gunpowder and sweat.
She tried to move but found herself flat on her back again. Staring up at the full moon. Trying to get air.
Someone pressed cold fingers to her neck. “Roxie!”
Liam’s face floated into view. White spots sparked at the edges of her vision like fireworks going off.
She tried to breathe. “Liam.” Barely any sound came out of her mouth.
A dog licked her face. He shoved it away. “Not now, puppy.”
“Breathe, Roxie. You need to breathe.” He turned to look at someone else. “Medic!”
Was he hurt? They needed help! Her thoughts swam around her like the ocean at night. “God.”
Someone touched the sides of her face. Kissed her forehead. Her cheeks. Her lips. “I love you.” She savored the warmth of the words whispered in her ear.
And then everything went black.
THIRTY-NINE
Conrad lay on the hospital bed. Liam eased the door all the way open but didn’t go in. He’d showered and put on fresh clothes, hit a drive-through for a coffee and a breakfast burrito, and then come right back to the hospital.
Conrad’s wife sat at the foot of the bed, and his girls were lying down on either side while he read them a story.
Liam listened for a moment. The girls were drifting off to sleep, the only reason why they hadn’t spotted their favorite uncle at the door. He smiled, loving the way their eyelashes fluttered.
Conrad looked from his wife to Liam and lifted his chin.
