Chapter 32
Sterling
“Yeah,” I say answering my cell phone. I’m almost done with Meg’s truck. Holt is on his way to the garage, so that he can help me lift the gas tank into place. Carter is on the other end of the phone.
“Where is Meg right now,” he asks me quickly. I know that tone. That is Carter’s urgent tone. The one that he has when shit is going down and we need to move fast.
“At her office. Why,” I ask tersely. I’m back on edge, and pissed at myself that I let my guard down so quickly, when obviously I shouldn’t have. It was a rookie mistake on my part. I should have known better.
“I was checking into a Ashfield, and he isn’t working alone. The developer that was going to buy the land was pulling a lot of the strings. I followed his trail. I believe he is in town,” he shares.
“Shit,” I say. I’m standing up getting ready to head to her office when Holt walks in. He raises his eyebrow in question.
“Holt and I will head over there now,” I say to Carter and hang up. Not waiting for a response.
“We need to get to Meg’s office right away,” I share with him. On the way out I relay what Carter told me. We both hop in Holt’s SUV. On the way there, I try Meg’s cell. It rings and rings. No one answers.
“Call Doe’s and see if Piper will pick up,”I direct Holt, as I push down harder on the accelerator. Waiting to see if Holt gets through, I clench my teeth.
He looks at me and shakes his head. Trying again. I can tell it just continues to ring. This doesn’t bode well.
In 5 minutes I pull up behind the shop, right at the stairway to her office. I barely have the truck in park before I am barreling towards the stairs. J
“Hey, slow down. We can’t just barge in there if there is an issue,” Holt reminds me. Taking a deep breath, I nod. We quietly scale the staircase. Crouching down under the window. I hear a man’s voice.
“I don’t want to forget the moment that I got my retribution. This moment is what I have been waiting for for the last month,” I hear him say. Holt looks at me, and motions to the window. Peeking into it, I see a raving lunatic with a gun, but I don’t see Meg.
I know she is in there though, I see her bag on the desk behind him. Crouching back down I tell Holt.
“We have about 2.5 seconds to surprise him before he starts shooting at people,” Holt reminds me. Nodding, he and I move to the door. I hear a female voice.
“Look, you aren’t going to get your money back if you kill us,” I hear her say. It sounds like Piper. Shit. They are both up here.
Holt realizes it too, his face gets even more dangerous. As soon as the man starts to respond Holt nods. We pull the door open, and rush him. I hear the gun fall to the floor as I make impact.
Before he knows what hits him, he is on the ground. I let loose the frustration and fear that had a hold of me just moments before. My fists fly into his stomach, ribs, and face. It isn’t enough. I want blood like I never have before.
Suddenly Holt is behind me, pulling me off of him. The man is out cold. Blood pouring from his nose. He is still breathing, unfortunately. I look up and see Meg. She runs up to me. Pulling her in my arms, she sags in relief.
Holt has managed to zip tie his hands together. I hear him on the phone with the police chief, explaining what is going on and telling him to get down here. I breathe Meg in. She is here and safe.
“I knew you would come,” I hear her say.
It is muffled because her face is buried in my chest. She is still shaking, but she is coherent.
I’m rubbing her back and her hair, reassuring myself as much as her.
It will be awhile before I allow her out of my sight. All of a sudden she pulls away from me.
“Piper,” she states. I shake my head and point behind her. She turns around, and sees what I do. Holt sitting on the floor with Piper. Holding her.
Meg looks up at me and a ghost of a smile appears on her face. She buries her head against my chest again. A few seconds later Carter appears in the doorway.
“Thanks for the heads up man,” I say to him. He nods quickly and looks over at the developer laying on the floor. His eyes assess the scene quickly. I don’t even need to tell him how this went down, he already knows.
“Why don’t you all head out, I can wait here for the police chief,” He states dangerously. I already know he is hoping that Brookins will wake up and give him an excuse to beat him into even more of a bloody pulp. I nod.
“Can you give Meg and I a lift home,” I ask Holt who is helping Piper stand up. He nods in agreement.
“Sure, and then I’ll take Piper home,” Holt explains. Piper looks at him in shock but then shrugs her shoulders. Interesting.
I herd Meg up to the loft after she hugs Piper and gives Holt strict instructions to take care of her friend.
“How did you know I needed you,” Meg asks me simply. We settle onto the big leather couch. I pull her onto my lap.
“Carter was digging into Ashfield when he realized he wasn’t working alone. He called me right away,” I am rubbing the back of her neck and visually examining her.
“Did he hurt you,” I ask. If he did, I will go down to the county jail myself and make sure he understands never to do it again. She shakes her head no and grabs my hand. My knuckles are a little scraped up, but I have had much worse.
“Your hand, we should clean them up,” she says in a faraway voice. I shake my head and pull her face to mine. Kissing her briefly.
“No, we are going to sit here for a bit. I’m going to hold you,” I direct. She laughs quietly and buries her face in my neck. All of a sudden she pulls away and looks at me, a glint of mischief in her eyes.
“I’ll have to thank my truck for breaking down right in front of your shop. It knew exactly what I needed,” she shares with me and laughs a little. I nod in agreement.
“It knew exactly where you belonged, right here—with me,” I say.
The End.