Chapter Fifty-One #2
Sadly for us both, Toby doesn’t seem to like the new position, and he swings the gun toward Rayne wildly. With a vicious growl, he snaps sharply, “No. Get the fuck back and stay exactly where you were.”
My stomach sinks to the depths of the ocean, and my jaw clenches when Rayne doesn’t move, determined to keep himself between me and the gun. It only pisses Toby off further, so with as careful of a whisper as I can manage, I squeeze Rayne’s hand once and say, “Rayne, get back.”
His jaw tightens in a way that looks painful. He looks back at me, and I peer back at him, swallowing hard at the bone-deep fear I see swimming in those pretty blue eyes of his. I nod discreetly, and he looks away, right before he steps aside and moves back to his original spot on the sidewalk.
The moment Rayne moves, the gun is pointed right back at me, and my heart hiccups a beat. Toby smiles, that weird empty smile. “There. That’s better. Isn’t it better, Madison?”
With his focus now trained on me, I slowly slide my hand out of Rayne’s, his fingers flexing around mine too late in an attempt to keep me where I am.
I mean, it looks like it’s just me Toby is here for, and I’ll be damned if I allow anyone to get hurt who doesn’t deserve it.
This is my problem, so I’ll deal with it. If I can, that is.
The tremble in Toby’s hand makes my decision questionable at best, but I square my shoulders and force my voice into sounding steady as I say, “Toby, you’re scaring people. Is that what you want?”
He laughs.
It’s only once, a short laugh that sends shivers down my spine, and my stomach churns with a sickness I can’t escape.
“You think this is funny?” I ask, eyebrows pinching in both disgust and fear.
Toby shakes his head, the gun waving in his hand, and I think my heart stalls for a long, painful moment when he almost drops it.
“This isn’t funny at all, Madison. Which makes it funny, don’t you think?” he drawls, raising his eyebrows as though he expects an answer.
Shaking my head, I tell him honestly, “There’s nothing funny about this, Toby. Nothing. In fact, I’d consider this deeply embarrassing for you.”
Rayne makes the smallest sound at the back of his throat, almost like he’s fighting the urge to shake me and drag me away.
I see his whole body twitch, like he’s suppressing his need to step back in front of me, and I take the tiniest step closer to Toby to distract him.
I can’t bear to think what could happen if Rayne captures his attention again.
Especially when Toby’s face twists, an ugly expression crossing his features. “I loved you, Madison.”
“You cheated on me,” I remind him, shaking my head at the level of delusion this man is experiencing. “You cheated, and you’ve been stalking me ever since. That’s not love. Or if it is, it’s not a love I want to be a part of.”
“I made mistakes!” he shouts suddenly, and I actively have to fight against recoiling from the snarl on his face.
“It was a lapse in judgment, and it won’t happen again.
I’ve been trying to tell you that, but you just wouldn’t stop and talk to me.
That’s all I wanted, Madison. I wanted a chance to say my piece, to apologize and make things right.
I never meant to stalk you, but you just didn’t give me a choice. ”
“You’re saying this is my fault?” I cautiously ask, carefully and vaguely gesturing to the gun he’s still pointing at me. “Toby, look at yourself. You’re standing outside my apartment with a firearm pointed at me and several witnesses around us. What about this says love?”
Toby huffs, looking down at the concrete right before he looks up again, a strange look on his face. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d answered me. If you actually replied to a single message. You wouldn’t listen, so I’m making you listen.”
Nodding slowly, I take another step closer, adding distance between Rayne and me in what I hope is an attempt to keep him safe.
I eye the gun once before my gaze collides with Toby’s, and I mutter, “Fine. I’m here, and I’m listening.
So talk, Toby. But put the gun down while you do it, and I’ll hear you out until sunrise. ”
“It’s a bit late for that now, don’t you think?” he snaps, his breathing sharpening. He’s growing agitated, unstable, and my heart starts galloping faster beneath my rib cage.
Thankfully, I notice people stopping farther down the sidewalk. I see several pedestrians with their phones pressed against their ears, some holding them out to record the entire situation. Good. That’s good. That means he won’t get away with whatever the hell happens tonight.
“They poisoned you against me,” he says, voice rising as he aggressively swings the gun toward me, my heart lodging itself in my throat. “You loved me before they sunk their claws into you.”
I shake myself, honesty pouring out of my mouth before I can think better of it.
“I loved the idea of us, Toby. When I look back on the entire relationship, I realize I was never really in love with you, but the notion of the happily ever after I thought I was going to get with you. And then you cheated on me with some chick in my guest room bed.”
“It was once, Madison. Once! And I tried to apologize,” he argues loudly.
Taking a deep breath to control the anger that sparks to life inside me, I lash out before my brain can catch up with my stupidity, the fear thrumming through my veins making me reckless.
“You forgot your fly was down when you tried apologizing straight after I caught you. Your dick was still wet and hanging out of the hole of your zipper.”
Rayne makes another sound, almost like he’s choking unexpectedly, and I visibly wince.
Wrong time, Maddie, you stupid bitch. Don’t antagonize the bastard with the gun.
A point proven when Toby suddenly looks like he’s one wrong word or action away from snapping. He stuffs his free hand into his pocket as he suddenly declares, “I bought you a ring.”
My stomach drops once more, swooping with a violent dip. “What?”
Toby shakes his head roughly, his words coming out in a wild string of nonsense. “You think those bastards know you like I do? You think they’d go to the same lengths I would go for you? They wouldn’t, Madison. They fucking wouldn’t.”
Then suddenly he throws something at me. I flinch on instinct, stepping sideways at the same time pain slices across my cheekbone. Almost instantly, I feel a trickle of warmth bloom against my skin right before a wet drop slides down my cheek.
“Fuck,” Rayne hisses quietly, making a move as though he’s about to step toward me, but Toby points the gun at him once more.
“Don’t,” he snarls, and Rayne halts his movements entirely, glaring nastily at Toby.
Swallowing hard, I peer down at the ground at what cut me, only to find a ring box. I stare at it through the sting of my cheek as blood drips from my jaw and lands on the ground beside the navy-blue box.
“Pick it up,” Toby demands harshly, and I bend shakily before reaching for the box. “Open it.”
I don’t want to, but I do as I’m told, opening the box to reveal a diamond ring. A severe coldness trickles through my body, and my head snaps up to look at Toby just in time to watch his entire face crumple.
“I had a single lapse in judgment,” he says, his tone changing to an almost pleading sound that does nothing but piss me off all over again. “But I get it. I know now, Madison. I know what I want, who I want.”
Toby’s eyes grow glassy, and I swallow hard just as movement from behind him snags my attention for a split second. That second is all I need for my whole body to tense, tightening like it never has before when I spy Baxter walking as silent as the dead, sneaking closer to Toby.
My pulse starts hammering violently, and I tear my eyes away from him so I don’t give him away. Instead, I take another careful step toward Toby, distracting him. I’ll keep him talking. Softening my voice, I ask, “You brought a gun to propose to me?”
His eyes turn glassy, and he gives me an apologetic smile that seems watery around the edges. He doesn’t acknowledge the question, instead uttering, “I’ve changed, Madison. I swear I’ve changed. I’ll do better. Just… give me a second chance. Please.”
Slowly, I shake my head, holding my hands out to him. The box is still clutched against my right palm, but I ignore it, carefully saying, “I’m willing to talk to you, Toby. That’s all this was supposed to be. I’m hearing you out.”
Toby frowns. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this.”
I nod. “Then how about you lower the gun, huh? You’re putting a lot of people on edge right now, and I know you don’t want to hurt someone. Think about your mother, Toby. What will she do if you do something stupid, hm?”
The look that crosses his eyes is a mixture of fear, anger, and something volatile that scares me. He shakes his head once before he says, “I can’t.”
“Why not?” I push, careful to keep my tone neutral.
A load of good that does, because Toby suddenly stabs his gun toward me and yells, “Because they’ll take you away from me! I’m not fucking stupid, Madison. I know this thing is the only thing keeping you here with me.”
My heart is pounding so hard I can barely hear myself think, my ears still ringing loud enough that they do their best to drown everything around me out. My eyes dart to where I saw Baxter last, and I find him closer now. He takes another step, and another.
And then I hear the horrifying sound of Bax’s boot gently scuffing the road, and I damn near have fucking heart failure.
“Toby,” I mutter quickly, drawing Toby’s attention back to me just as it was almost diverted. Trying to soften my voice to avoid revealing my panic, I tell him, “You need help.”
Something in his face cracks like a broken porcelain bowl, and his words strike something in me that feels a whole lot like pity. “I just want you to choose me.”
Then everything happens at once.
Bax lunges from behind Toby suddenly, barreling into his back with all the force of an oncoming Mack truck.
Toby shouts haggardly, voice echoing down the entire block.
Rayne grabs me around the waist roughly.
A gunshot explodes through the street.
People scream.
The world suddenly tilts sideways as Rayne yanks me onto the sidewalk just as a burning pain stabs sharply through my upper arm. Time stands still for what feels like an eternity, and for a horrifying second I think…
No.
No, no, no.
I vaguely catch the sight of Bax shoving himself on top of Toby, pounding his fist into his face only once before Toby falls unconscious against the pavement. Some people scatter from the scene, others are still recording, and some are screaming into their phones.
“Maddie!”
That’s… Rayne? That’s Rayne’s voice. I think? It sounds close, panicked, and I blink hard. The world swims around me, my arm burns, and I feel the sticky wet heat of blood as it slides down my skin.
Oh. Okay, cool. I’m alive. That’s good. That’s really good.
“I’m not dead,” I whisper, head rolling on the concrete as I fight against the fog that has suddenly filled my mind.
Thankfully, the world around me comes into focus after that revelation, and I blink up at a terrified Rayne as he stares down at me like he’s a mere second away from cardiac arrest. I stare up at him for a long moment before looking him over slowly, only to stop on the blood pooling against the material of his gray hoodie.
“You got shot,” I gasp, the sound coming out a little weakly as my head begins to grow fuzzy once more.
“It’s a graze, mayhem. Nothing more,” he says quickly, breathing hard. “Stay with me, though, okay? Stay awake for me, Maddie.”
That stupid fucking curiosity gets the better of me once more, because I suddenly look down at my own arm and find a bullet-sized wound embedded into my upper arm. I look at Rayne’s arm, kind of like a matching wound, and I grow a little dizzy.
It’s the only thing I can attribute to the production of the next words that spill out of my mouth. “Huh. Look at that. We match now. Twins.”
Rayne actually laughs. It’s a horrified, shaky laugh, but I’m calling it a solid fucking win. Especially when he leans down and kisses me harshly against my forehead, right before the dizziness gets the better of me and all lights go out in Maddie Town.