Chapter 9 #2
“Okay.” I’m not too eager to stay in the kitchen, either. I’d much rather be with Alec. Not that I really think anything sinister is going on, but there’s just something about being in the kitchen with all the places for someone to hide…
Angel takes my hand. “Kyle, are you coming with us?” she asks. “Or are you staying in here?”
Kyle has his own phone out, and he’s shining the flashlight at the two simmering pots of soup. “I’ll stay here,” he replies. “I don’t want to let the soup sit or it’ll get ruined. I can just watch some videos while we wait for the power to come back on.”
“Alright.” Angel heads towards the kitchen doors, tugging me along with her. “Once we get out there, I’ll call Haley. Make sure she’s okay.”
We’re nearly to the doors when a deafening boom erupts.
Bright light flashes all around the edges of the doors.
Everything in the kitchen rattles.
From the dining room, someone shrieks.
The scent of chemicals burning sears my nose.
My heart leaps to my throat. My lungs seize.
Panic claws at my chest.
No. It’s supposed to be safe here.
Then.
This is my fault.
“What the fuck!” Kyle shouts. “What the fuck?”
Angel lunges for the door, but I lock my hand around hers and yank her back. “No,” I hiss. “Don’t go out there.”
But where do we go? What do we do?
In the seconds it takes me to decide, another scream comes from the dining room.
Something shatters.
My legs almost collapse under me.
No. It’s supposed to be safe.
“Haley,” Angel whimpers. “I need—”
Hearing her daughter’s name is all it takes to break my paralysis.
Whatever’s happening, I can’t let Haley lose her mother. I can’t.
Moving on sheer instinct, I drag Angel towards the back of the kitchen. “Turn off your flashlights,” I say. With my ears still ringing from the explosion, my voice sounds funny, like it’s coming through layers of cotton. “Hide.”
My first thought is the storage closet, but we’re not even halfway there when another boom shakes the building.
Angel cries out.
Kyle lets out a fear-filled moan.
Terror is beating at me in breath-stealing blows. My heart feels like it’s about to burst from my chest.
Rather than run the last fifteen feet to the closet, I dive behind the dishwasher, dragging Angel along with me.
Her flashlight is still on, so I yank the phone from her hand and turn it off before shoving it back at her.
I don’t know where Kyle is—if he’s still standing by the stove or if he found his own hiding spot—but his flashlight is off, too.
So it’s just the three of us in here. In the pitch dark.
I hope.
Oh, I hope we’re the only ones in here.
Out in the dining room, most of the noise has subsided. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse. Is the danger over? Or is everyone—
No.
No.
Alec has to be okay. And Frank. And Wendy. They have to be.
I wrap my arms around Angel, feeling her shaking against me. She’s crying softly, trying to stifle it. She whispers, “I just want to go home to my baby.”
A dagger stabs into my heart and twists.
Marissa’s death was bad enough. What if I’m responsible for Angel’s, too?
Who else’s fault could it be? Why else would this be happening if not because of me?
Why did I insist on working? Why was I so selfish?
I don’t even realize I’m crying until I taste the salt on my lips.
In my head, a litany repeats.
My fault. My fault. My fault.
I want to call Alec. Text him. Ask if he’s okay. But if he’s in danger, I can’t take the chance of distracting him.
Should I go out there? Find a heavy pan to use as a weapon and try to help? Or would I be nothing more than a liability?
What can I do?
Then a brush of cool metal on my collarbone reminds me.
The necklace. The one Alec gave me before bringing me to work for the first time.
“It has a tracker embedded inside it,” he explained as he handed me the heart-shaped pendant.
“So if you’re ever in trouble—not that I think you will be, but just in case—we can find you anywhere.
” He placed it in my hand and flipped the heart over to show me a tiny depression in the back.
“And if you press this spot hard, it’ll trigger an alert.
Everyone at GMG will get it and know you need help. ”
I need to trigger it. Let his team know we’re in trouble.
It takes me several tries to find the little depression in the dark. Especially when my hands are shaking and damp with perspiration. But finally, the little button clicks.
Please. Please work.
“Hazel,” Angel whispers, “what’s going on out there? I don’t hear anything.”
Pitching my voice low, I reply, “I don’t know. I signaled for help. We just need—”
One of the kitchen doors opens with a soft swoosh. A beam of light sweeps around the kitchen, reflecting off the steel appliances.
Angel makes a low, keening sound in the back of her throat.
My heart stutters.
If he finds us, I’ll fight back. Do whatever it takes to give Angel a chance to escape.
I should have told her that. But it’s too late now. Not when the flashlight is coming closer…
“Hazel? Are you in here?”
A fresh flood of tears coats my cheeks.
Alec.
“Haze, are you in here? It’s okay. You’re safe.”
I open my mouth to respond, but all that comes out is a croak.
Angel blurts, “Alec? Is it you? We’re here!”
Footsteps hurry towards us. The beam of the flashlight moves closer.
And then.
Alec.
My protector. My savior.
Crouched in front of us, his features nearly hidden in shadow, but still achingly familiar.
“Haze,” he says. His hand comes to my cheek. “Are you hurt? Can you talk to me?”
“I… I’m… We’re… okay,” I stammer.
“What happened?” Angel asks.
Alec turns his attention to Angel. “Are you hurt?”
She shakes her head. “No. I’m fine. But—” Her voice cracks. “What happened?”
“Come on,” Alec says. He extends one hand to Angel and the other to me, then effortlessly pulls both of us to our feet. “We can go into the dining room now. It’s safe.”
From across the kitchen, Kyle calls out, “Is it safe?”
“Yeah.” Alec wraps his arm around me and pulls me to his side. “It’s safe. The police should be here any second. We got the guy. He’s not going anywhere.”
“The guy?” I whisper. “Who?”
Warm lips press to my forehead. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“What about Frank? Wendy?”
As we push through the double doors, Alec replies, “Frank’s fine.”
“Wendy—”
But as soon as we walk into the dining room, the rest of my words dry up.
It’s a mess.
Both windows are broken. Motes of light filter through swirls of dissipating smoke. Chairs are flipped over and one table lies on its side. Shards of glass are scattered all across the floor. The large mirror behind the bar is splintered into hundreds of cobwebs.
Over in one corner, a man is tied to a chair. Frank stands off to his side, scowling as he points a rifle at him. Wendy is sitting in a chair near the bar with a reddening towel pressed to her arm.
“Wendy!” It bursts out of me before I can stop it.
She turns to me. “Oh, Hazel. Are you okay, honey?”
“You’re hurt. Oh, Wendy. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just a little glass.”
A cacophony of sirens approaches with lights flashing. Red illuminates the room, flooding it with an eerie, malevolent glow.
Alec leads me to a chair and guides me into it. Now that I can see him more clearly, the worry in his eyes is evident. He crouches in front of me and cups my face with his hands. “I know I asked you before, but are you hurt?”
I shake my head. “What happened?” With a quick glance at the man tied up in the corner, I add quietly, “He was here for me. Wasn’t he?”
Alec’s lips thin. “I don’t know yet. But I’ll find out.”
“Alec.”
He sighs. “I haven’t been able to look outside yet.
And I don’t know if he had an accomplice.
But I believe he cut the power. Right after the power went out, two rocks came through the windows, followed by two flash bangs.
So everyone was disoriented. I think he figured that would give him the advantage. But he didn’t count on me being here.”
“Alec took him out like a scene in some action movie,” Frank adds. “It was almost completely dark, smoke all over, we’re panicked, and then Alec just comes flying out of nowhere and takes this bastard down. It was really something.”
Alec was fighting with that man?
Panic surges through me. “Alec. Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” I start patting him all over, searching for blood, for broken bones, for any sign of injury. Pressure builds behind my eyes along with a fresh round of tears. “Oh, Alec. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
The front door to the bar opens, and a crowd of police officers comes rushing in, their guns raised and voices shouting.
For a second, everything shifts.
I’m not at Blissful Brews anymore.
I’m in Marissa’s apartment. Sitting on the couch with her lifeless body only feet away from me. Jason flashes me a look of betrayal as the police come swarming inside. Then he lunges at them with his bloody knife outstretched. He shouts, “You won’t take her away from me! I won’t let you!”
They warned him to stop. To drop the knife.
He didn’t.
And less than thirty seconds later, he was dead, too.
My fault. My fault. My fault.
“Hazel, sweetheart,” Alec croons. He pulls me into his arms. “Hey. Come back to me. It’s okay.”
“Hands in the air!” one of the officers shouts. “Everyone. Hands in the air. And step away from each other!”
I would. But I can’t make myself move.
Alec jerks his head towards him. “I’m not leaving Hazel,” he snaps. “Arrest me if you want.”
“Hands in the air!” the same officer snaps. Then in a more conciliatory tone, he adds, “Emerson. Come on. You know how it’s done.”
The tension thickens. Alec’s arms go rigid around me. In almost a growl, he continues, “She needs me. I’m not leaving. Period.”
There’s a long moment when I’m not sure which way things will go.
Then the officer—Dwight? Dwayne? Dylan?—backs down. “Fine,” he concedes. “Just don’t move. Okay?”
“Fine,” Alec grits out. Then he turns his attention back to me. His gaze is dark with regret. “Haze. You’re okay. You’re safe. I promise.”
I force myself to nod at him. Then I bury my face in his neck. He strokes my back and kisses my hair, telling me I’m safe over and over again. The desperate way he says it sounds like it’s as much for me as it is for him.
I know I’m safe. For now.
But what about the next time?
And who else will be hurt because of me?