50. Clara
CLARA
The world drifts in and out, all around me.
I think I hear voices, but they’re muddy and far away.
Darkness. Pain. A relentless pounding behind my eyes. I try to move, but my body feels heavy, disconnected, like I’m trapped beneath a frozen lake. Every thought slips through my fingers before I can grab hold of it.
I fight my way toward consciousness, clawing through the thick fog clouding my mind. Something is wrong. Terribly wrong. The air smells stale. Sweat. Smoke. Something metallic. Fear coils in my stomach and my eyes snap open. I scream, but it dies in my throat.
For a moment, I think I’m hallucinating when I see Cain sitting on top of me.
His weight pins my hips to the mattress and his face hovers inches over mine.
Sweat-beaded, pale, hollow. Wrong. His pupils are huge, nearly swallowing the icy gray of his eyes.
Sweat glistens across his bare chest, his jaw twitching, grinding from side to side.
And in his hand is a knife, the blade catching the dim light of the lamp on the nightstand. My entire body goes rigid.
“No…” The word barely escapes me.
A slow, wicked grin spreads across his face. “There she is.”
My heart slams against my ribs. I squeeze my eyes shut tight. I have to be dreaming. This has to be another nightmare. Wake me, Cole. Please.
When I open my eyes, he’s still there, and a sob bubbles up the back of my throat.
“You really thought I’d let you go?” he asks.
The knife drifts lazily through the air before landing at my chest and I suck in a tremoring breath as he drags the blade down my skin hard enough to make me wince, hard enough to draw blood, down, between my breasts, further down.
My stomach drops when I realize I’m naked from the waist up, my dress torn open, revealing my upper body.
Cain’s movements are erratic. Unpredictable. His eyes can’t seem to focus, and I know he’s high, strung out on something. And somehow, that terrifies me even more. Because sober Cain is cruel enough. High Cain is chaos.
“You took my daughter.” His voice is soft. Dangerously, menacingly soft.
“She’s my daughter,” I whisper, my voice trembling.
His smile widens and I hate that he hears my fear. “Not if you’re dead.”
The knife suddenly plunges into the mattress right beside my head and I flinch so hard my entire body jerks. A sob escapes before I can stop it and Cain laughs. A high-pitched sound that makes my blood run cold.
“You’re always cryin’.”
My pulse pounds so hard I can barely hear his taunting words, and I try so hard to think.
Where are Tommy and Billie? The memory crashes into me hard and fast. We came here to get the last of our things. To leave. But then there was knock on the door. He knew where we were. He’d been following us. For how long, I don’t know. I should have known. It was my job to know.
An image flashes through me. Tommy. He tried to get in between us. Cain shoved him. The crack of his head hitting the side table causes my spine to stiffen. The blood. His small body not moving.
My vision blurs. “Oh god…”
Cain watches me, enjoying every second.
“He shouldn’t have tried playing the hero,” he says, like he can hear my thoughts. “It was only a matter of time before that boy learned his lesson.”
My lungs seize and the room tilts as a strangled sound escapes me. I can’t stop the tears. Tommy. My sweet, brave boy. Please, no. Not my Tommy.
Cain studies my face, satisfaction flickering across his own. And suddenly I know. This is it. Cole and everyone else are at the rodeo in Sunshine. No one knows where I am.
I stare at the ceiling unable to look at him, tears sliding into my hair.
“I’m tired of fighting, Clara,” Cain grits out.
The knife rises again and my breath catches in the back of my throat.
“It’s over now.”
The room feels smaller, the walls closing in.
The air seems to disappear. I think about Tommy, and how I let my boy down.
I think about Billie, and how I won’t be able to save my sweet girl.
I think about Cole. His smile, the dimples, the way his eyes crease at the corners when he laughs.
The way he holds me at night, so tight yet so easy. I wish we’d had more time.
Cain shifts above me, the knife in his hand tightening, trembling.
I close my eyes, waiting. Not ready, but unable to avoid the inevitable.
But then a floorboard creaks somewhere in the house.
Cain goes still.
So do I, unable to even chance a breath.
The eerie quiet that follows is loud, almost deafening before suddenly the door flies open, slamming so hard against the wall the house shakes.
A gunshot explodes through the silence, the sound causing my bones to rattle, followed by a ringing so sharp it makes me wince.
Cain jerks violently, his eyes widening as shock freezes his features. For one impossible second, he stays exactly where he is, his throat blown apart, blood spraying out of it. Then the knife slips from his hand, and his body collapses sideways off the bed, smoke lingering thick in the air.
I can’t move. Can’t breathe. Can’t understand what the fuck just happened.
But then I see him. Standing at the foot of the bed, gun still cocked, chest heaving. Cole.
Relief hits me so hard it hurts and a scream tears from my throat.
“Baby!” Cole’s voice breaks as he rushes toward me.
Sobbing, I try but fail to get Cain’s lifeless body off mine, kicking and pushing and shoving at him desperately.
Effortlessly, Cole pushes him off and collects me in his arms, pulling me hard against his chest and holding me so tight I can barely breathe.
“Tommy!” I choke out. “He’s—” I can’t say the word.
“Hey, shhh.” Cole pulls back enough to look me in the eyes. “Tommy’s okay. He and Billie are safe. They’re locked in my truck, out on the road. You’re okay, darlin’. Everyone is okay. Look at me.” He cups my cheeks, forcing my eyes to his which is when I see the uncharacteristic gleam of his tears.
“Fuck, baby,” he whispers, his voice cracking. “I was so fuckin’ scared.” Leaning in, he rests his forehead against mine, his body racking with a sob he tries so hard to contain.
“Cole?”
I stiffen at the sound of the deep voice booming through the house.
“It’s okay.” Cole placates me, smoothing his hand over my cheek. “It’s just Austin.”
Holding my hands up to shield my naked breasts, I search for something, anything to cover myself since my dress is in pieces. Without hesitating, Cole stands and hastily unfastens the buttons on his shirt, removing it before draping it around me.
“We’re back here,” he calls over his shoulder as he finishes buttoning me up.
Seconds later, Austin appears in the open doorway, his face expressionless as he looks from Cole, to me, to Cain’s body lying on the floor.
“You okay, Miss?” he asks me, having the decency to turn away.
“Yes.” I manage a nod although I’m far from okay. I know my face is a mess, I’m sure my nose is broken, there’s so much blood, but I’m alive. And my babies are safe.
“I need to see them,” I tell Cole softly.
He nods, and suddenly he’s lifting me off the bed.
And I don’t know if I could walk if I tried, so I let him, holding onto him so tight, glancing over his shoulder and taking one last look at Cain lying there on the floor, his eyes still open wide like he’s watching me as Cole carries me out of the bedroom, away from the nightmare that has ruled my life for far too long.