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All this, and in the end, I hadn’t even killed Joey. He took his own life. The unjustness of it all causes a surge of anger to billow through me. That anger gives me a last boost of energy and I use it. I reach up and grab Danny’s hand, trying to get him to point the gun in another direction. The bang of the gun going off is ignored, both of us too absorbed in the struggle for control to worry about where the bullet had gone.
“Was that a gunshot?”
“Dollface?”
The sound of familiar voices entering the apartment startles both me and Danny. We pause for half of a second. I recover quicker. With a roar of fury and determination, I throw my hips upward, causing him to become unstable. At the same time, I jerk his hand up as the gun goes off again. Danny’s head snaps backward as the rest of his body freezes. My breath catches in my throat as his body tumbles forward onto me, the gun tumbling from his hands. I gasp at the weight crushing my tender ribs.
“Oh, fuck…”
I look up just as Jason and Trip hurry into the room. Their eyes sweep over the scene, their mouths dropping open in surprise. The sight of them spurs an eruption of emotions. Rather than sort through them, I simply start to cry.
Thirty-One
Trip and Jason move quickly. Danny’s body is pushed off me and I’m lifted up into Jason’s arms. The pain from the movement nearly knocks me out. Thankfully, he doesn’t take me far. He carefully sits me on the edge of the bed and takes a step back.
“Stay here,” he orders before leaving the room.
“What happened? Are you ok? Fuck, of course you’re not ok,” Trip hisses as he bends down in front of me. “Fuck. What can I do to help?” He looks over his shoulder and calls out, “Where’s the first aid kit!”
“I got it!” Jason hurries back into the room with the red and white box in tow. Trip stands and moves out of the way for Jason. Immediately, Jason crouches down and opens the box of supplies.
“I’m going to call the cops and the ambulance,” Trip announces, stepping back toward the door.
“No! No! Please don’t,” I beg between sobs. “Don’t call the cops.”
Jason’s attention latches to my face, “What? Why not? Dollie, you’re a mess and there’s dead guy on the ground—”
“He’s not dead,” Trip corrects grimly. “I can see his chest rising and falling.”
A small ribbon of relief weaves up my spine. He’s not dead! He’s not dead… Oh no, he’snotdead. He’ll never stop coming after me. What am I going to do? No, I have to escape him. I have to, I have to run or hide, or something. Panic scatters all rational thought.
“Why is this guy’s dick out?” Trip asks slowly. Jason freezes as I try, and fail miserably, to focus on the situation at hand.
Jason looks over his shoulder at Danny then back at me, his face hardening. “Did he… Bri, did herapeyou?” His face scrunches up in fury.
“He tried.” A hard sob bursts out of my mouth even as I shake my head.
“Hey, hey, you need to breathe, dollie. You’re hyperventilating,” Jason hushes. The fury on his face melts away to be replaced with concern. “I think we need to get this blood off you. I don’t know what’s yours and what’s his, and I can’t treat you until I do. Trip, go ahead and make the call.”
“No, Trip, please!” I beg.
Trip hesitates, looking from me to Jason and then to the body on the ground.
“What happened to the door?” Grant’s voice has us all flinching in surprise. “Hello?”
“In the bedroom!” Trip calls out but he doesn’t need to. Grant runs around the corner and down the hall toward us.
“Dollface, I’m sorry, there was an accident on the way back, and then I got a flat tire that I had to change—” He stops just inside of the room, his eyes widening while his jaw goes slack and falls open.
Seeing him brings on a new wave of tears. My heart shudders painfully in my chest as I glare at him through my tears.
“You left me here! You left me here and he almost… almost…” I can’t get the words out before it becomes too hard to speak.
“You didwhat?” Jason looks over at his friend.
“I-I handcuffed her to the bed,” he whispers as he takes a step further into the room. His eyes sweep over the scene, lingering a moment on Danny, before he gives me his complete attention. The blood visibly drains from his face as he reaches out and catches the doorframe. “I didn’t mean… I never meant to be gone this long.”
I can’t look at him any longer. In fact, I can’t look at any of them. My hands come up and cover my face as I continue to cry. The pain is getting worse now that the shock is wearing off.
