Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
I woke up early the next day after dreaming about going to Logan’s funeral. Mr. X had killed him while I was safe and hidden away at the cabin. Ian was the one who’d invited me to it and even though Mr. X was still searching for me, I risked going. As Logan’s casket was being lowered into the ground, I spotted Mr. X standing with the crowd of mourners, whose faces I could not see. He was watching me with an evil, proud smirk. Dream Me is dumb, I thought as I climbed out of bed and put on some clothes to run in.
After I was dressed, I made my way through the quiet cabin and went down to the basement to run on the treadmill that was among the few pieces of exercise equipment down there. The basement wasn’t much. It had bare concrete walls and concrete flooring. The small personal gym had a treadmill, an exercise bike, and an elliptical. On one wall there were a few shelves of board games and up against another there was a folded-up ping-pong table, but I had no clue where the paddles and balls to it were.
Running felt good. It helped ease some of the stress that was building due to not hearing from both Logan and Ian. I hated not knowing what was going on. I hated not knowing if everyone we knew was all right or not. I constantly felt like I was fighting with myself on what to do. Keep us safe and stay out of what might be happening back in Arizona, or wherever Mr. X was wreaking havoc, or give in and join the fight. A few weeks ago, I would have never considered putting myself at risk to help hunt down Mr. X, but I was getting tired of this type of life. Was it greedy to want more? I was happy. We were safe. That should have been enough, but what kind of life were we living if it was always overshadowed with fear?
Living in fear isn’t living. Knox had taught me that.
Maybe I was just feeling cooped-up and needed to get out.
Hoping that was it, after breakfast I grabbed a box of bullets from the safe and one of my rifles from where I kept it loaded and ready to use by the front door. Now that I knew the guys knew how to shoot, I’d put guns in almost every room of the cabin. There was a pistol in each of the bedrooms, a rifle over the fireplace, and the one I was holding. Knox had his pistol, too, but I didn’t know where he kept it.
“I’m going to go shooting,” I announced to Colt and Creed. Knox and Keelan were working out in the basement again. “Anyone want to come with me?”
“I’ll come,” Colt said.
“You two go. I’m going to go get a workout in with Knox and Keelan,” Creed said.
While Colt went to put on warmer clothes, I found some empty cans to use for target practice. I put the cans and box of bullets in a plastic grocery bag to make them easier to carry. When I was done, Colt was ready and the two of us headed out. We went back to that clearing with the knocked-over tree. It had snowed out and everything was covered with fresh powder. Snow crunched under our boots as we walked until the cabin was long out of sight.
Like we had done before, Colt and I took turns shooting. Colt had really good aim and we quickly started competing to see who could hit the most cans.
“Want to add stakes?” I asked as I stared down the scope on top of the rifle.
He chuckled. “The last time I made bets with you, you cheated.”
I grinned an evil little grin. “If you win, I’ll get down on my knees and make it up to you.”
“And if you win?”
“You’ll get down on your knees for me,” I said and pulled the trigger. Through the scope, I saw my can go flying. Lowering the rifle so it pointed to the ground, I turned to face Colt.
He was smiling while staring at the cans. “So I’ll win either way.”
My evil grin turned into a naughty one. “So will I.”
Our little competition had almost been a tie, but in the end, Colt had beaten me and I wasn’t mad about it. I knelt in the snow in front of him and licked, sucked, and made myself gag on him until he was spilling down my throat.
Before I could think to stand up, he pushed me down on the cold snow and warmed me up by burying his head between my legs. By the time I came, the back of my clothes were wet from the snow. I didn’t care. It was worth it.
As we were cleaning up the cans and spent rifle shells by putting them all in the bag I’d brought, we heard the distinct growl of a bear nearby. I picked up my rifle and spun around as I searched for the source. I spotted a black bear walking toward us about thirty yards away.
I didn’t want to shoot it, but I didn’t want it to come any closer. Pointing the barrel of my rifle toward the sky, I fired off a round. The loud noise spooked the bear and it took off in another direction.
Colt came to stand next to me with the cans in his hands. “That could have been bad.”
I scoffed in disbelief. “Yeah.”
“I thought bears hibernated in the winter?”
“Me, too. Let’s get moving,” I said as I grabbed the bag I had dropped.
We finished collecting everything we had brought and began heading back, holding hands. I carried the rifle in my free hand. In his, Colt carried the grocery bag of cans, the box that still had a few bullets inside, and all the shells the rifle had ejected each time we’d fired a round.
“I’m counting that as the date you owed me,” he said to me.
It took me a moment to understand what he was talking about. Then I remembered it was from a bet we’d placed while running the track at school. “I’ll count the snow as the ice cream you promised to take me to get.”
“Or we can eat some ice cream when we get back to the cabin.”
“That’s right! I forgot we picked some up yester?—”
My words were cut off by the distant echo of gunshots.
Colt and I froze. Then another shot went off and it sounded like they were coming from the cabin. We both took off running. I clutched my rifle in both of my hands. There were four rounds loaded in it and I didn’t want to risk dropping it.
We ran as fast as we could, but we were a good distance away from the cabin. As we were about to come out of a cluster of trees into a large, snowy clearing, we both spotted Knox running and about sixty feet behind him was Sheriff McAllister.
The sheriff stopped running and aimed his gun at the sky before pulling the trigger. Colt and I stopped in our tracks. I quickly brought my rifle up and aimed it at the sheriff. Staring at them through the scope, I saw Knox stop running and slowly turn to face the sheriff.
Sheriff McAllister had his pistol aimed at Knox, which made my heart try to lodge itself in my throat.
“Where is she?” I barely heard the sheriff yell.
Knox didn’t answer and that seemed to piss the sheriff off. I read what the sheriff intended to do, and I saw him curl his finger over the trigger of his gun. I could not hesitate this time.
Don’t miss, I told myself as I aimed for the sheriff’s neck and pulled the trigger.
The sheriff’s hand went to his throat before he fell back into the snow. Knox turned in our direction as I lowered the barrel of the rifle. When I started to walk toward them, so did Colt. As we made our way over, I pulled back the bolt on the rifle to allow another bullet to enter the chamber before sliding the bolt forward and locking it back into place.
I eyed Knox from head to toe, making sure he wasn’t hurt. He looked fine. “Was there anyone else with him?” I asked in a voice that sounded cold and detached even to my own ears.
“He came with two others,” Knox said as he stared at me. “They’re dead.”
“Are Keelan and Creed okay?” Colt asked.
Knox nodded.
That satisfied me enough to walk away and head over to the sheriff. He was still alive, bleeding out into the snow, struggling to breathe. His eyes locked on me as I approached.
“Please,” he gasped out as he put a trembling hand into his pants pocket. He pulled out a cell phone and held it out to me. “Save—” He coughed. Blood and saliva shot out of his mouth and rolled down his cheek. “Save Cassy.”
I debated whether or not I wanted to tell him that she was more than likely dead. But if I did, this moment would haunt me even more than it already would. I took the phone from him. “I’ll try,” I forced myself to say. It was all the kindness I could offer him in his last moments. It was probably more than he would have offered me.
I held my tears back until I saw the life leave his eyes—the life I’d taken.
Cheese and fucking rice!
I walked away on unsteady legs, and I gasped in cold air.
“Shiloh?” Knox said at the same time Colt said, “Babe?”
I just kept walking aimlessly, tears rolling down my cheeks. My knees buckled, I stumbled, and I was going down.
Arms caught me from behind before I hit the ground. “You did what you had to.” Knox’s deep voice filled my ear and tried to soothe me. He held me tight as I cried. “It’s all right. You had to.”
I knew that and I wouldn’t take it back even if I could, but that didn’t mean it felt any less terrible. A soul-broken sob barreled out of me. Colt took my rifle from my hand and set it on the ground before putting himself in front of me and wrapping his arms around me and Knox. They held me until I stopped crying.
While the three of us walked back to the cabin, Knox told us what had happened. He, Creed, and Keelan had just finished up their workout in the basement and as they’d headed toward the front of the cabin, Creed had thrown snowballs at Knox and Keelan, which had started a battle. To avoid getting hit, Creed had run inside the cabin. Knox said it had been a cowardly move, but it had saved them.
Just as Creed had gone inside, an Arizona police car had driven up to the cabin. Sheriff McAllister and two others had gotten out of the car. None of them had worn a uniform; they’d been in civilian clothes, and they’d been armed. One of the sheriff’s friends had asked Knox and Keelan where I was, or more specifically, “Where’s the girl?”
Keelan and Knox had said I wasn’t there. The two friends had looked to the sheriff, who had then nodded at them, and they’d pulled their pistols from their side holsters. They’d pointed their guns at Knox and Keelan and demanded again to know where I was.
Then a shot had sounded in the distance. It was the shot I’d fired to spook the bear.
“I guess we have our answer,” the sheriff had said. “I’ll let you take care of things here.” The sheriff had then started walking in my and Colt’s direction while the other two had held Keelan and Knox at gunpoint.
Knox said he’d known that they were going to shoot them. He had seen it in their eyes when they’d glanced at each other.
Before they’d been able to shoot, a shot had rung out behind Knox and Keelan. One of the men had fallen dead. Knox and Keelan had run in opposite directions to get away. The guy who’d still been alive had shot at Keelan while backing away toward the police car. Keelan had gotten nicked in the thigh before he’d been able to hide behind his Jeep. While the guy had been focused shooting at Keelan, Creed had ripped open the front door of the cabin and shot him with the rifle I had taught him how to shoot.
After making sure Keelan was all right and hearing where Colt and I were from Creed, Knox had taken off to try to get to us before the sheriff. Because the sheriff hadn’t known exactly where I’d been, Knox had been able to get ahead of the sheriff, but not by enough.
When we made it back to the cabin, Creed was sitting on the front porch looking as torn-up as I felt. Keelan was sitting with him, a kitchen towel tied around his thigh.
I eyed the two dead bodies and recognized them as the two police officers who had pulled me and Logan over when we’d been on our way to my school. They had done it to intimidate me for the sheriff, but as soon as they had seen Logan’s badge, they had balked.
I rushed the rest of the way to my guys. “Are you all right?” I asked Keelan.
He nodded and glanced at Creed, who was frowning at the ground. “What happened to the sheriff?”
“Shiloh killed him,” Knox said with a low voice.
I knelt in front of Creed and cupped his cheeks. “I’m so sorry you had to do that.”
His eyes drifted to me slowly. “I had to.” His voice came out empty yet angry.
“It still feels terrible,” I said.
He nodded and pulled me closer.
I straddled his lap and hugged his neck as his arms wrapped around my ribs tightly. “I’m sorry,” I whispered over and over to him.