28. Judd
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
judd
I feel lighter on the drive back from my parents. Having one thing go right when everything else has gone terribly wrong in the past few days gives me a shimmer of hope that things are turning around.
I pull into the parking garage, but instead of turning left towards my section, I make a right. I don’t know when Amelia is coming home, so I’ve been driving past her spot every time I return, just to check. Making a left, I’m halfway to her spot when I see her vehicle with the hatch open. My heart increases at the chance of finally being able to see her.
But what I see when I get closer makes my blood turn cold. Even with my window closed, the scream I hear coming from Amelia’s throat will be one that forever haunts me. Slamming on my brakes, I throw open the door and leap out of my Jeep, barely getting the vehicle in park before exiting.
“Amelia!” I yell, making the short distance from my car to where she’s fallen back onto the ground. Her chest is rapidly rising and falling as she tries to suck in as much air as possible.
The man, whose hands were around Amelia’s throat just moments ago, is scrambling to get to his feet. There’s no way I’m letting that asshole get away. I charge past Amelia and slam into his back, knocking him back to the ground. He struggles to turn over, but I place my knee into the middle of his back and wrench one of his arms behind him, then the other. He struggles to get free, but it’s useless. He’s about as tall as me, but I easily have a good thirty pounds on him.
“Let me go,” he bites out, still trying to jerk from my grip.
“Not a chance, asshole,” I growl back. “Amelia, talk to me. Are you okay?” She’s not where I left her, but I can hear a whine and her crying.
“J-j-Judd, he, he stabbed Bruno.”
Fuck.
“Mills, listen to me. Call 911 and try to put pressure on Bruno’s wounds to help stop the bleeding.”
I hear her say something to Bruno, then her face appears. Her lip is split and bleeding. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and there’s a giant bruise forming on one side of her face.
I’m going to fucking kill this guy.
My knee presses down onto his back, causing him to scream.
“You’re going to break my back!”
“I’d break every bone in your fucking body if I could, you piece of shit.”
“Judd, I don’t have my phone,” she says frantically.
“In my car, center console, passcode is 1-0-3-0.”
She dashes off to my car as I hear another vehicle approach, followed by voices, then footsteps. Two guys I’ve made small talk with in passing off and on since moving here come over.
“Holy shit, what happened?” John asks.
“I don’t know the whole story, but I found this guy choking my girlfriend when I was driving by.” I nod over to where Amelia appeared from. “He stabbed her dog.”
Eric looks to the spot I nodded at and peels his sweater off, heading towards Bruno. I can hear him talking in soft, low tones to him.
Amelia rushes back over with the phone to her ear, talking rapidly to the dispatcher. She rattles off the address and tells them we’re in the parking garage. I can see the tremor starting in her hands and moving throughout her body. Likely from the adrenaline crash.
I look up at Jake. “Got anything in your car that we can use to tie this asshole up?”
He nods and runs back to his car, returning a few seconds later with paracord.
“Perfect.”
We work together, tying the man’s hands and securing them to his feet, making it impossible to escape.
“Watch him. Just to make sure he doesn’t go anywhere, will you? I need to check on my girl.”
Jake gives me a nod and stands over the man, arms crossed.
I move around the back of Amelia’s car and see her and Eric crouched next to Bruno a few feet away in an empty parking spot.
“He needs a vet now. He’s losing a lot of blood,” Eric tells Amelia. She’s on her knees, leaning over Bruno’s head, petting him and whispering to him.
“There’s one a few blocks away, right?” I ask, crouching down next to them.
Amelia looks up at me and nods. “That’s his regular vet.”
“Let’s go, we’ll take my car. Mills sit in the back. I’ll lay Bruno’s bed in the back next to you and you can keep pressure on his wounds.”
Amelia should see a doctor too, but we need to get Bruno help first.
Running back to my Jeep, I pull it forward next to where Bruno is. We make quick work of setting Amelia in the back and Eric, and I maneuver Bruno into the back next to her, trying not to hurt him more.
Sirens sound off in the distance, and I look at Eric and John. “Tell the cops we had to take Bruno to the vet.” I grab a paper and pen out of my console and quickly write down my number, handing it to Eric. “Give them my number and tell them to call me.” Eric nods and I get back into the driver’s seat, looking in my rearview at Amelia, who is pale even in the dim light. “Hang on, Shortcake. We’ll be there soon,” I tell her, taking off out of the garage and going as fast as I can the few blocks to the vet’s office.
Praying the whole way there, Bruno makes it.