Prologue
Kasey Hunter drove into the parking lot of Marshall’s Hardware Store, parked, and checked the time on his phone. Damn, first day of his new job, and he was late. Time got away from him after the last school bell rang, and he’d walked Stacy to her car. Being with her always made him lose track of time.
His mom’s disappointed voice rang in his head. “Being late isn’t starting on the right foot.” With any luck, she wouldn’t find out, but the odds were against him. His mother knew everyone in town and trying to hide anything from her proved impossible for him and his brothers.
His friend Mike Marshall got Kasey the job at his dad’s store. He’d be working his first shift with Mike and Mr. Marshall today.
He hustled inside. Seeing no one, he strode down the center of the showroom floor, between the displays filled with everything from plungers to lawnmowers, glancing both right and left down every aisle—still seeing no one.
At the end of the aisle, he stepped behind the counter and paced down the dark hallway leading to a bathroom, a cleaning closet, and a huge warehouse-storage room with tables, benches, a refrigerator, and shelves filled with surplus hardware items. As he entered the room, he spotted Mike sitting on a bench between two shelves in front of the black, freestanding safe against the back wall.
He peered around the corner of the shelf.
An average-height guy with dirty blonde hair wearing a green jacket and jeans stood next to the bench. “Open the safe.” He gestured toward the safe with something shiny.
It took a second for Kasey to make out what it was.
A gun!
He froze.
“I don’t have the combination.” Mike was tall and close to three hundred pounds. Right now, though, he appeared small and weak sitting on the low bench.
Where is Mr. Marshall?
Kasey took a step back to call for help.
Suddenly, the hand with the weapon slammed into Mike’s face. Mike groaned and slumped to the ground.
Kasey’s gut twisted. He couldn’t leave Mike alone with this guy. He acted like he hadn’t seen or heard a thing and called, “Mike,” before he stepped around the corner of the shelving.”
The attacker spun toward Kasey and pointed the gun at him. “Who the fuck are you?”
A chill ran up Kasey’s spine.
Mike’s head shot up, terror in his eyes.
“Nobody.” Kasey held up his hands, uncertain what lengths the guy would go to to get what he wanted. Maybe I should’ve gone for help.
“You’re somebody. We’re all somebody.” The man’s bloodshot eyes had deep blue circles underneath.
Mike grabbed the bench with one hand, his other on his bleeding head, and got to his feet. “He’s a new employee. This is his first day.”
“Is that true?” Gun guy directed the question at Kasey.
He nodded.
“Hell of a first day.” The robber smirked then frowned at Mike. “I’m going to ask you again, real nice. Unlock the safe.”
“I can’t.” Blood from Mike’s head oozed through his fingers. “My dad is the only one who has the combination.”
The robber motioned with the gun for Kasey to stand beside Mike. “Both of you sit.”
They sat. Kasey’s senses swiftly sprang to high alert, and he noticed things that never normally caught his attention. Black and gray scuff marks on the white floor, ticking from the wall clock, a hum from the icebox in the corner, and Mike’s heavy breaths.
“I’m sure Mike can open the register for you.” Kasey hoped to keep the guy talking instead of hitting or shooting people.
“I can,” Mike offered eagerly.
“How much is in the register?”
“A hundred bucks plus any cash sales from the day,” Mike said.
“I need more.” Gun guy walked behind them.
Kasey turned his head and watched the guy pace back and forth, tenseness in his steps. “It’ll be a hundred more than you have now,”
The guy rushed over and seized him around the neck. “Know what?” The stench of his breath nauseated Kasey. His attacker squeezed tight, cutting off Kasey’s air. He couldn’t breathe. Panicked, he clawed at the arm, struggling to get free.
“You’ve got—”
The pressure abruptly eased as gun guy grunted. Rowdy scuffling caused more grunts. It sounded like a wrestling match.
Kasey took a deep inhale.
Boom!
A gun went off.
Kasey ducked and raised his arms to cover his head.
A sting radiated from his calf.
He turned to see gun guy fighting two cops in black. More officers swarmed in from all directions.
Once they subdued gun guy, Mr. Marshall rushed over. He sat on the bench between Kasey and Mike and put his arms around them. “Oh, boys, I’m so sorry. Are you all right?”
An officer approached. “What happened?”
“When Mike got here, I left to eat. When I returned and opened the back door, I heard the robber and called 911. They told me to wait until the cops got here.” Mr. Marshall squeezed Kasey’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry you walked in on this. Nothing like this has ever...”
All at once weak, Kasey stopped listening. The sting in his calf turned to burning. He hissed.
“What’s wrong?” the same cop questioned.
“I think the bullet nicked my leg.”
The cop examined him. “You’re bleeding like hell.”
Kasey could’ve told him that.
With his dad’s arm around him, Mike sat motionless staring straight ahead at the safe.
“You okay, Mike?” Kasey asked.
His friend didn’t move or make a sound. The cops escorted gun guy out of the room in a flurry of shuffling and scuttling.
“You okay, man?” he questioned again, louder this time.
Mr. Marshall patted Mike’s shoulder. “Everything’s all right, son.”
Paramedics entered, and the cop motioned them over.
At seeing them, Mike finally blinked and looked at Kasey. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” He knew what a sensitive guy Mike was and downplayed the bullet wound. And he knew he’d done the right thing in not leaving Mike alone and going for help. Because if Mike had gotten badly hurt, Kasey would never have forgiven himself.
Mr. Marshall squinted at the blood on the floor from Kasey’s injury. He helped Mike up and led him around so he didn’t see the blood. They crossed the room, and before they exited, Mr. Marshall looked at Kasey. “I’ll call your folks and tell them to meet us at the hospital.”
“Thank you.” Streaks of firing pain shot up from his calf.
Hanover, a paramedic who bowled with Kasey’s parents, hunched in front of him. “Damn, stay still. You’re in a puddle of blood.” Hanover shouted instructions, and another paramedic appeared with a gurney. They maneuvered Kasey until he was face down on the gurney. With his every move, every breath, he wanted to groan in pain but didn’t want to look like a wimp. Cold sweat chilled his skin.
“I have to cut your jeans,” Hanover said.
Damn. The jeans were brand new.
In the next second, the fabric ripped. Thankfully he didn’t jostle Kasey’s leg at all. “How are you not howling? The whole damn bullet is in there.”
“Explains why it feels like a branding iron has been stabbed into my calf.” Kasey buried his head in the pillow, praying to pass out.
~
Once the paramedicsstarted an IV, Kasey got immediate relief and breathed easy. At the hospital, he was transferred from the gurney to a bed then immediately wheeled to the x-ray and CT labs. When he made it to a curtained ER room, his parents were there, along with Coach Banks, and his best friends, Dre and Zack.
He focused his attention on his friends. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Mike called me,” Zack replied.
A young doctor came in wearing black scrubs and bright blue rimmed glasses. “I’m Dr. Derek.” He studied the tablet in his hand. “Kasey, have you always been an athletic guy?”
“Yes,” everyone in the room answered.
The doctor looked up and smiled. “You must be. The bullet is completely embedded, but your superhuman developed calf muscles prevented it from penetrating deep enough to hit bone or your arteries. Is his athleticism from you, Dad?”
Kasey’s father shook his head. “His mom’s the jock.”
“My mistake.” Dr. Derek bowed toward Kasey’s mother. “Respect.”
Mom grinned.
“So, no surgery,” the doctor said.”
“What a relief.” Dad sighed.
“I’m sure Kasey appreciates you all being here, but you’ll have to leave while we remove the bullet and stitch him up.”
His friends and Coach Banks nodded at Kasey as they left the room.
“I’m staying.” Mom sat in the only chair. Dad waited by the opening in the curtain.
“Mrs. Hunter,” Dr. Derek began. “I understand you’d like to stay. The truth is we don’t have the room. I’ll need at least three nurses in here while I remove the bullet.”
“I’ll stay out of the way.”
Dr. Derek went over to her and spoke to her privately.
She frowned. “We’ll be in the waiting room, honey.”
Dad opened the curtain for her to leave and followed her out.
“What did you say to her?” Kasey asked.
“I told her you didn’t need your mother ogling your ass.”
Kasey laughed. “You did not.”
“No. I didn’t. I told her I suspected you were being brave in front of them, but I needed you to be able to tell me if something hurts. Which is true. If you feel anything, don’t play the tough guy. Tell me because you shouldn’t experience any pain with what I’m going to do. Not today, at least. It might hurt like a bitch tomorrow.”
Twice while the doctor worked on him, Kasey jumped and hissed from a spike of pain. Each time, Dr. Derek quickly said, “I got you, Kasey,” and the pain instantly went away.
When the doctor finished, a nurse brought in two police officers who wanted to hear Kasey’s account of the robbery. The doctor raised his brows. “You up to it?”
“Sure.”
The nurses left and one returned with his mother and father. Dr. Derek remained by the bed. Kasey described what transpired. He wondered how Mike was handling it all.
The police listened intently. When they left, they insisted if Kasey needed anything to give them a call and requested to see his parents outside the room. After they left, the doctor said, “What you went through was traumatic, Kasey. I’d like you to speak to Dr. Youst. She’s a therapist.”
He’d just given an account of everything and didn’t want to relive it again. “I’m okay.”
“Let me rephrase. Dr. Youst is on her way. We request all our shooting victims talk to a trauma specialist.”
“I can still go home tonight, right?”
“Like I told you earlier, we’ll monitor you for a few hours. If your vitals stay normal, you can go home.”
“Okay.”
“You want your parents here when you talk to her?”
“I don’t care.” He wanted to get it over with and go home. “They heard the account I gave the cops.”
A beautiful woman in a white lab coat entered the curtain and looked at Dr. Derek then peeked at Kasey. “How are we doing in here?”
Dr. Derek bumped Kasey’s shoulder. “Kasey Hunter, this is Dr. Youst. The prettiest doctor in Texas.”
Her blue eyes sparkled. “Dr. Derek has a crush on me.”
“Guilty.” Dr. Derek winked at her. “Who can blame me?”
“I’m sure you’re tired of people questioning you, Kasey, I’m here in case you’d like to talk about anything. I spoke to Mike Marshall, and he said you walked in on him being held at gunpoint.”
“That’s about it.” Kasey’s shoulders relaxed for the first time since he walked into the store.
“Mike told me you were very brave.”
“Not really. I just couldn’t leave Mike after the guy pistol-whipped him.”
“You want to tell me how it felt or what you’re feeling now?”
“I’m okay.”
She held quiet. Dr. Derek patiently waited as well.
Kasey wasn’t sure what to say, so he didn’t say anything.
Sure, he’d been frightened. At one point, he’d wondered if they’d make it out of the store alive.
~
Later, Kasey was inhis room playing video game, his injured leg propped on pillows. Zack was on the other twin bed and Dre sat in a beanbag chair. He was grateful for these guys. They saw each other through everything life served them. They hadn’t asked anything about what happened. The best thing about his friends...they knew he’d talk when he needed to. It was good to think of things other than the shooting.
His four brothers had nagged him for information until his friends showed up, and he’d escaped with them to his room. Reporters in front of the house waited for an exclusive, any morsel of scandal to exploit. Kasey had hobbled into the house on crutches while they’d shouted questions from the drive. He’d ignored them.
At a knock on the door, Kasey called, “What?”
It had to be one of his brothers. He knew it wasn’t his mom or dad, they’d gone bowling. They hadn’t wanted to, but he’d begged them to go, telling them he needed everyone to go about life normally. They were worried about him, he saw it in their eyes, but they went.
The door opened. Ethan walked inside. “I’m on TV. Do you want to watch me? They keep playing my interview.”
“Interview?” Anger flashed through Kasey. “You weren’t supposed to talk to anyone.”
“They cornered me when I brought the garbage to the front.”
Kasey rolled his eyes. “Since when do you bring the garbage to the curb?”
“Since you got shot.”
A frustrated hum vibrated through him. “You were supposed to say ‘no comment’.”
“I did. Then one of the reporters wanted to know if we owned guns.”
“What did you say?”
“That we have hunting rifles, not handguns like the one you were shot with.”
Kasey threw one of his pillows at Ethan, wishing it was something that’d do the dumbass harm. “Get out!”
He and his friends continued to play video games well into the night. It was like so many other weekend nights they spent together—talking, laughing, and eating junk food.
Around three, the scene from earlier played in his mind. He closed his eyes. His breath caught, and his throat tightened. Maybe he should’ve talked more with Dr. Youst.
He opened his eyes and tried to concentrate on the video game.
The memory kept attacking him. The gun. The robber’s bloodshot eyes. Mike falling to the ground, his head bleeding. The tick of the clock. The guy’s arm around his neck.
He set the controller down and wrapped his arms around his torso. He had to find a way to stop the memory.
“Kasey?” Dre said. “You okay, man?”
“What happened keeps running through my mind.” His words were fast, too fast. His mind had shifted to super speed. “When I saw what was happening, I couldn’t leave Mike alone, so I stepped forward. That’s when the guy, I don’t even know his name. Do you know his name?”
They shook their heads.
“That’s when he turned the gun on me. He ordered me and Mike to sit and stood behind us.” He cleared his throat, fighting it from closing. His eyes stung with tears. “I was okay until he began choking me. Even now I...”
No words could describe the terror in his mind. He bowed his head and rocked back and forth.
A hand clasped his bicep before Dre whispered, “Feel whatever you need to, man. Talk or don’t, it’s up to you.”
“We’re here.” Zack gripped his other shoulder.
“I can’t think of anything else.” He hadn’t cried in years, but he felt the sting of tears in his eyes.
“Come on, we’ll take you to the hospital.” Zack offered.
“No. I have an appointment at eight with Dr. Youst at her office. If I leave now to go to the hospital my mom will freak.”
“Your mom will understand.” Dre’s voice was calm, it always was.
“No.” His voice came out too loud. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine,” he choked. Why couldn’t he hold himself together?
“I know, man,” Dre spoke quietly. “What can we do to get you to eight?”
“I don’t know.” Tears blurred his vision. His body trembled. “I feel like I’m falling apart.”
His friends each wrapped their arm firmly around his shoulders. “Go ahead,” Dre murmured. “We’ll hold you together.”
Kasey fell apart.
“To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.” ― Jane Austen, ”Pride and Prejudice”