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"Yeah. So, you see? You can let me go." I retain a little bit of yearning when she doesn't answer immediately, hoping she's thinking about it.
But that hope is stamped out when she laughs. “After you’ve seen my face? That's like rule number one at my job. Witnesses don’t get to live.”
Oh my God. She really is going to kill me.
"But I won’t tell anyone," I assure her. "You and Billy can ride out into the sunset, and no one will know I even saw you."
"I doubt Billy will want to ride off in the sunset with me after what I did," she says, casually, but I can detect the hurt in her voice. "He chose you over me, you know? We were drinking and talking, one of those hypotheticals where you ask someone, 'if you had to shoot one person, me or your ex, who would you shoot'. And you know his answer?" She laughs. "He got super serious, stared me dead in the eyes, and said 'Don't hurt Mia. I'm serious Tea.' " She cackles too loud and grating to be true humor. "Like really? That wasn't even the question, but he still chose you. While he was in bed with me! Can you believe it?"
And that's why you want to kill me? Over a stupid drinking game?I want to scream, but I don't. This woman is seriously unhinged but I have to figure out a way to get to her. "He didn't mean it. Trust me. He doesn't love me."
"You don't know that," she responds sharply. "I don't know that either, but unfortunately for you, I don't like to share."
"But I'm telling you the truth!" I say, desperately. "After he left, Billy and I barely talked. And even before that, I've never seen him talk about me or anyone else the way he speaks about you."
This causes her to pause, just briefly. "Really?"
"Yes," I answer. "You should’ve seen him when he told us your name. His eyes went all misty and his face got flushed just by saying it. We thought he was psychotic because he was clearly in love with a dangerous woman."
She’s silent for a few seconds, and I can feel the gun less prominently against my back. I wonder if I could manage to get away or twist the gun out of her grasp, but I immediately abandon the idea.
"He came to rescue you," she speaks almost as if to herself. "The minute he thought you were in danger he came right over. That was the final test to see how he felt."
"Because we're friends. That's what friends do." I feel like ripping my hair out. “And even though he knew there was a chance you might kill me, he still didn’t call the cops on you. Doesn’t that mean something?”
She hesitates and I can feel that I'm getting through to her.
I turn around slowly, and she doesn't stop me. I stare her in her grey eyes, like a wolf in the night.
"Please don’t do this," I tell her. "He won't forgive you for this."
I think maybe she won't shoot.
But then a branch snaps in the distance and someone is running for us.
The person distracts us, and we both swing toward the sound, in unison.
Luke.
Tea points the gun at him.
My eyes widen in horror.
"Mia, Get down!" He yells, as Tea shoots. He swerves expertly, and the bullet rackets past him, into the air. I start running to him, probably having an out of body experience. This is not happening. I can’t lose him.
"Luke, Stop!" I know my body is now in the path of the gun, but I don't care. I need to get him away.
I scream the minute I hear the shot but it’s not from pain.
It’s from shock, as a hand wraps around my wrist and yanks me down to the ground. I hear a bitten-out swear word, as a heavy body covers me, for a second. As quickly as we’re down, Luke rolls off me, with the groan of a linebacker. In this case, a hockey champion. He gets right back up, now even more determined than before.
"No," I whisper, feeling an existential dread envelop me. It's all happening at top speed, but my mind plays it out in slow motion. Luke barrels toward the woman, with a gun focused on him. He may have 100 pounds on her but he's not going to beat a gun.
She shoots again, and again. I think each shot hits him, but he doesn't stop.
He plows into the woman, taking her to the ground, but Tea has a surprising amount of strength. She wraps her hand around his throat and gets him in a chokehold which he manages to pull out of. She weaves around him, climbing on top of him and I can see she's trying to get the gun in position to shoot his head.
Suddenly, furious anger fills me
