23. Ember #2
Before he could answer, there was a man’s shout, a crash, and a woman’s ear-piercing shriek.
We all turned toward the sound, which was coming from just outside the main party room.
A second later, a drenched, ragged-looking man in old jeans and a leather vest came sprinting through Oren Blanchard’s fancy party, tackling men in tuxes and women in glittering jewels left and right.
Spider was here. And he was coming straight for me.
It all happened very quickly. First, I turned and saw the man sprinting in my direction.
Then, I did what I always do in a stressful situation, and I froze.
Time slowed as his brown eyes lifted to meet mine.
His arms pumped as he sprinted through the mansion, black boots leaving mud smudges with every step, his leather vest flapping at his hips.
He vaulted up, dirty boot landing on a pristine white chair, and windmilled through the air before landing on a coffee table and darting for the open doors.
Where I stood. Alone. Oren had ducked for cover at some point, so it was just me standing between the criminal and freedom.
Spider—it had to be him—gave me an awful smile and sped up.
Jack yelled my name. “Get out of the way!” He screamed from somewhere inside, the words nearly swallowed by the next peal of thunder.
But something inside me had changed these last few weeks.
Maybe it had started the moment I’d decided to claim my share of my father’s will.
When I’d stopped letting life take me along its current, and I’d decided to act.
Maybe it started when I saw Jack lounging on that armchair in his grandmother’s parlor, looking like a king holding court.
Or when I’d held Darby as she cried and felt like I’d made a difference in her life.
Maybe it happened when I’d stood in front of Jack and his brothers and told them what I knew, or when I’d gone with them to confront Cash.
I didn’t want to be a passenger in my own life anymore. I didn’t want to accept scraps and tell myself it was good enough. I didn’t want to chip away at a good, safe career in my good, safe apartment while other people took risks that paid off.
The change felt like a dry twig snapping in the middle of my chest. Crack. A tiny rupture. A gargantuan change.
For once, I didn’t think. I just braced myself, my heels digging in against the stone patio, my knees going soft.
“Out of the way, girlie,” Spider shouted in a raspy voice as he closed the distance between us, then juked left and reached out to push me out of the way.
Acting without thought, I reached out and grabbed his arm, yanking to spin him like he was a human discus. He shouted, but I’d caught him by surprise. He stumbled, head bearing toward the big planters at the side of the patio, but leaned into the turn and did a full three-sixty.
And he brought me along with him.
I stumbled as he dragged me, screaming as I spun in a circle. He snarled, trying to yank his arm away and only succeeding in pulling me back to my feet and launching me forward like we were doing some twisted ballroom dance.
Distantly, I heard shouts. Jack screamed my name again.
I couldn’t focus on it, because I was being tossed around like a ragdoll, and I didn’t want to let go of the bastard who’d vandalized my husband’s cameras and thrown a brick through our window.
He didn’t get to do that to Jack. To us.
He yanked his arm again, and this time I was ready.
I used the tug to leap up like a monkey, landing on his back and clinging to him as hard as I could.
He smelled like unwashed hair and cigarettes. I gagged.
“Off!” he yelled, twisting back and forth for a beat before catching sight of the rest of his pursuers. He took one look at the room we’d exited, then grabbed my legs to hold me piggy-back style and started sprinting toward the big lawn and the forest beyond.
“Hey!” I screamed, bonking him on the head with my fist like I was playing some weird version of Whack-a-Mole.
“Stop that!” Spider tried to throw me sideways, but I clung on and he just stumbled.
“Drop her!” Jack boomed behind us. He didn’t sound far, and I chanced a look backward to see Jack closing in on us.
“I’m fuckin’ trying!” the man screamed, throwing me to the other side. He put more oomph in it, but that was a mistake. I kept my legs wrapped around his waist like a vise and didn’t let go until sharp fingernails dug into my arm to try to pry it off.
I screamed, flailed, and somehow managed to connect my elbow with the side of his head.
He went down hard. We landed at the same time as a teeth-rattling peal of thunder.
The rain grew heavier, soaking me as I rolled in the grass and tried to catch the breath that the fall had knocked out of me.
I leaned my cheek on the wet grass and smelled its fresh, earthy scent, my gaze slowly focusing on the dark lump of human lying immobile at my side.
Jack was there a second later, his warm palm on my back, on my cheek, on my head, his eyes wide in the darkness. The light from the house illuminated the side of his face, carving out his beautiful features in light and shadow.
“Ember,” he said. “Are you hurt? What were you thinking? Don’t move. I need to check you for injuries.”
“I’m fine,” I said, lying on the wet ground, feeling the rain soak me. My poor dress! I’d ruined the most beautiful item of clothing I owned. Sadie would never forgive me. There was more lightning. A long rumble of thunder rolled in the distance, sounding slightly further away than the last one.
“You were supposed to get out of the way,” Jack clipped, his hands sliding over my body in an efficient manner, evidently looking for broken bones.
I rolled up to a seated position and looked at the guy who’d gone down beside me. Suddenly, I was nauseous. “Um. Jack?”
“I told you not to move,” he growled, checking my neck before tilting my head up so he could look in my eyes. He had to get close, because it was dark this far from the house. I could feel his breath on my cheeks. “Pupils are the same size. What were you thinking, Ember?”
“I wasn’t,” I answered, gaze sliding back to the man. “Thinking, that is.” I gulped and asked the question that had been clanging around my brain since we’d hit the ground: “Is he dead?”