Chapter 30
Jordan
Iwas driving home from work the next day and nerves danced in my belly. My plan was to go home and change, then meet Ricochet in town. I’d texted him that morning to see if we could talk.
He was in church right now, but once he was done we were going to get dinner and talk about what happened yesterday.
I was so nervous to see him after I’d ditched him.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell him, I just knew I had to do something.
After thinking about the situation all day, I realized Dad was right.
Ricochet hadn’t gone looking for that fight.
He’d been about to leave with me when Trent started spewing more hateful things.
I needed to apologize to him for reacting the way I had.
Frowning, I turned onto my road and saw the abandoned car that Gwen had noticed a few times.
I slowed down, searching the area. No one was around it.
I considered hiking down into a nearby wash to see if it really was kids messing around, but it was getting dark.
The javelina loved to come out right at sundown and the last thing I wanted was to be caught down in the wash by the rat-pig looking creatures.
They were extremely territorial and every Arizona native knew not to mess with them.
We had a family of them who’d lived near our house growing up. More than once Noah and I had been chased inside, screaming our heads off, by the animals. Mom wouldn’t allow Dad to ‘take care’ of them, so eventually Dad had called The Wildlife Sanctuary to come relocate them.
Deciding to keep driving, I made my way home. As I pulled into my driveway, I glanced over at Gwen’s house. In the dying light I could see her front door was wide open.
“That’s weird.” I left my purse in the car, slipping my phone into my back pocket and locking the car behind me as I made my way over to my friend’s house.
I’d only made it a few steps inside when I heard a crashing sound in the kitchen followed by a sob. Running toward the sound, I skidded to a halt, my heart in my throat when I found Sean and Grace huddled up together in the dining room. My eyes widened, mouth opening in shock.
They were under the table, arms wrapped around each other, and Grace was crying silently. Sean had his arms over her like he was trying to hide her. Huge fat tears dripped down her face. I ran over and landed on my knees next to the table. “What’s the matter?”
“He’s here,” Sean whispered, casting a fearful look at the door to the kitchen.
There was only one person it could be. I nodded.
“Okay. Sean, listen to me.” I pulled my phone out and handed it to him.
It didn’t have a password on the lock screen, so I knew he wouldn’t have any issues using it.
“Take your sister. Go hide upstairs in your closet,” I whispered. “Call your Uncle Gage.”
He nodded, swallowing hard as he clutched the phone to his chest. “Mom is-”
“I know, Sweetie. I’m going to help her, okay? But I need you to hide. Stay with your sister. And call your uncle.”
“Okay.”
I helped them out from under the table. As much as I wanted to hug them close, the sounds coming from the kitchen were unbearable to hear.
I waited until they rushed up the stairs, looked around and cursed.
There wasn’t anything in here I could use as a weapon.
I ran to the front hall and yanked open the closet door. Nothing.
Damn.
I weighed my options. I could take the time to run to my house and grab the shotgun my dad insisted I keep there, or I could charge into that kitchen empty handed. The scream made my mind up for me.
The door slammed open before I realized my feet had begun to move. Trent was standing over Gwen’s prone body, about to kick her.
“You fucking asshole!” I bellowed as I launched myself at him.
He was off balance since his leg was cocked back and we both went tumbling into the oven. His head hit the glass door hard enough that the sound made bile rise in my throat.
I pulled myself up onto my knees, breathing hard from the adrenaline, and then scrambled over to Gwen. “Oh God,” I whispered, my hand shaking as I touched her bruised and battered face.
Her eyes fluttered open. “The kids?” she croaked.
“They’re okay. They’re-” I yelped as I was yanked backward by the hair.
Trent had it wrapped up in his fist as he glared down at me, blood dripping down the side of his face. “You stupid bitch. I’m going to fucking kill you for that.”
I squeaked in pain as he yanked my hair again to emphasize his words. The way his eyes were glinting with madness, I believed him. He had every intention of killing me to get to Gwen. I wasn’t going to allow either thing to happen. The only one losing here tonight was going to be him.
My hand clenched into a fist, which I then used to punch him straight in the junk. Since I was kneeling and he was standing over me, it was the perfect shot. Satisfaction at the keening cry he released made me smile.
As soon as he let go of my hair to cup his balls, I was on my feet. My eyes were locked on the counter. His hand latched around my ankle right as I reached the knife block.
He pulled me back, making me lose my footing and my chin smacked the edge of the counter. He was saying something, but the sound was distorted as my ears rang from the blow.
My vision was swimming as I fought not to black out. I couldn’t. He’d kill us. I wasn’t sure what Trent’s fucking problem was but his eyes were bloodshot and his pupils were so large they’d nearly taken over the section of color. He had to be high. That made him incredibly dangerous.
I scrambled backward on my hands and feet, the knife in my hand clanking against the tile.
Watching him as he stalked toward me, I tried to still my frantic mind and make a plan.
I was trying to lead him away from the corner that Gwen was lying in.
She wasn’t moving anymore. Fear clawed at my throat.
For her. For myself. For the kids. If I failed them, Ricochet was going to lose his whole family.
As if I needed one more thing to be scared of.
Shoving all the thoughts away, I decided to go on the offensive.
Getting to my knees I slashed outward with the knife, catching his forearm and making him stumble back.
He barely seemed to notice that I’d just cut him.
I held the knife out, pointing towards him.
“Don’t come any closer,” I warned him. Blood dripped from the blade to the floor, staining the air with a metallic copper smell.
He paused, eyeing the knife, then giving me a deranged smile. Like he wasn’t scared of anything.
Meanwhile, the knife was shaking in front of me because I had everything to lose and I was terrified.
No one was going to get to us in time. I was our last hope.
Me. The girl who’d never even been in a fight before.
Dad and Noah had taught me to throw a punch.
To shoot a gun. To swing a bat. I had none of those right now.
All I had was the third smallest knife in Gwen’s butcher block.
The blade was barely longer than my middle finger. It would have to do.
While Trent was debating on how to disarm me, I got to my feet. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears. My entire focus was on the man in front of me. At least, until he turned toward the door and disgust washed over his face.
“What do you think you’re going to do with that? Huh?” he taunted.
I wasn’t sure if I had a concussion, but his voice was a little distorted. The blow to the head was making it hard to hone in on everything all at once. I turned my head and gasped.
Sean was standing in the doorway that separated the dining room and the kitchen. And he was pointing a pistol at Trent.
“Get out of our house,” Sean growled. The gun shook in his hand, belying his brave words. He was as terrified as I was.
The gun looked so big in his grasp. I knew it was Gwen’s. We’d compared weapons the night my dad had brought over Trusty. Yes, I’d named my shotgun. I wasn’t sure how he’d gotten it from the safe I knew she kept it in, but there wasn’t time to worry about that now.
“Trent,” I called out, trying to get the psychopath standing between us to focus on me. “You don’t want to do this.”
“Sure I do,” he replied as though he’d just asked to take his son to a basketball game. He was answering me, but his eyes were fixed on Sean.
“He’s your son, Trent. Don’t do this. Don’t make him do this.” I risked a glance at Sean. His face was pale and his lower lip trembled. “Sean, go back upstairs.” Anything to get him away from his father.
“You don’t think I have one of those?” Trent asked, reaching behind him.
I saw the flash of metal at the small of his back and cursed. Lunging forward, I crashed into Trent a second time. All I could do was hope that Sean didn’t accidentally shoot me in all the commotion. I couldn’t let Trent get his hands on the gun he had hidden in the waistband of his jeans.
Trent wasn’t as easy to take down this time, he outweighed me by forty pounds, at least. Still, I darted in low and took him down at the knees.
He landed on top of me, making me grunt out a pained breath.
He grabbed the wrist of my hand that held the knife, and squeezed until I thought he’d grind my bones into powder.
I cried out in pain, trying to bring my knee up to hit him anywhere I could.
He was too heavy and too much of his body was lying across mine.
He jerked the knife from my numb fingers and my eyes widened at the intent I read in his gaze.
He brought the blade toward me and I did the only thing I could think of.
I reached up and grasped his face in my hands.
My thumbs dug into his eye sockets and the feeling of the soft tissue giving in to the pressure nearly made me gag.
His scream was loud and abrupt, but it did the trick. He dropped the knife and jerked away from me. Trent backed away, rubbing at his eyes, but then his lids opened and he glared at me.
Damn. I hadn’t blinded him. I’d needed more force, but being pinned under him hadn’t allowed for it. I scooted away just as he started toward me.
The noise made us all freeze. My ears rang as the gunshot sounded in the small space.
I gasped and looked over at Sean. He’d pointed the gun up and toward the far wall of the kitchen when he’d squeezed the trigger.
Then he lowered it and pointed it straight at Trent’s chest. “I’ll do it,” he said, voice firm now.
I was terrified to move and startle him.
He was only eight years old. He shouldn’t have to live with the horror of killing his father, but I couldn’t get to him.
It became clear that someone was going to die tonight.
I couldn’t prevent that. Hopelessness settled in my chest. I didn’t know what to do anymore.