I can’t believe my father would do something like that. Well, maybe I can believe it, but I still can’t wrap my head around it. “Why didn’t you just tell me in the first place?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just panicked. Please say you’ll forgive me? Tell me I didn’t screw us up too badly.”
I put my hands on both sides of his face. “You should’ve just told me. I would have stood by you and stood up to my father.”
He leans in closer and touches his lips to mine. His gentle kiss quickly catches fire and we pour everything we’ve been feeling for the last couple of days into it.
Jason must have seen us in the rearview mirror because I hear him say, “Thank fucking God.”
Chapter Sixteen
Madison
I’m so glad Shawn decided to go make up with Christen. Jason won’t tell me what happened between them, but I’m sure I’ll eventually find out. Nicole should be here soon and we are planning to pig out on pizza, ice cream, and chick flicks. I hear my phone beep, and when I check it, I see it’s Holly.
Holly: Hey, what’s up?
Me: Nothing, just waiting for Nicole to get here. How was your date?
Holly: It sucked. Can I come over, too?
Me: Yeah! We will be here!
I grab bowls and set out all of the things to make the sundaes. I ordered the pizzas about ten minutes ago, so they should be getting here any second. I text Carter to see how everything is going and he says they are on their way back now and they should be here in about forty-five minutes. When I hear a knock at the door, I grab the pizza money, and open the door.
“Hey, here is the—” When I look up, the rest of the sentence dies on my tongue. Chris. I try to throw the door closed but he catches it and throws it open, causing me to stumble and fall on the floor. I crawl backward as I watch him step in the house and shut the door behind him. I spot my phone on the table and scramble to try and grab it, but he beats me to it and throws it against the wall, shattering it.
“Not happy to see me?”
His voice makes my stomach turn, and all I want to do is run and hide somewhere.
“I told you I would never let you go. Those idiots put me under house arrest, but the cop was a friend of my dad’s and made the bracelet loose enough so I could take it off when it got uncomfortable. My dad is going to be pissed when he finds out I left and I took his favorite car, but we will be long gone by then.”
He steps toward me, but I get to my feet and move so the kitchen island is now in between us.
“You can run all you want, Madison, but you know I will always get you. You can’t escape me, and this time there is no one here to save you.”
“Yes there is. Nicole and Holly are both on their way over. They’ll see your car and they’ll call the cops.”
He starts to laugh. “Holly is in no condition to make a phone call right now, and when I texted Nicole from her phone she said she was still twenty minutes away. We will be long gone by then.”
My heart stops. What did he do to Holly? Where is Carter? I can’t do this alone.
“You know, you would think in this day and age she would be more careful about who she trusts. Especially with meeting people online, you never know who is going to show up at your door. Now stop prolonging the inevitable and just come with me. The three of us can start this new chapter together.” Oh my God. He’s the guy Holly has been talking to?
My heart speeds up, I can’t believe someone can be this deceitful and evil. He is my greatest fear—the thing that haunts me every time I close my eyes. I’m about to sink to the floor and give up when I see the look on Chris’s face. It’s the same look he had always given me when he hit me or degraded me.
I’m so sick of him thinking he can do whatever he wants to me. It’s like a switch inside of me flipped. I’m not going to let him take me even if it kills me. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” I back up and feel the pot that’s sitting on the counter poke me in my back. I reach behind me, grab it, and fling it at his head.
Not even waiting to see if it hit him, I run for the bedroom, shut the door, and lock it. I go to the nightstand and grab the gun that Carter had been teaching me how to shoot, trying to remember how he showed me to load it. Chris is now screaming and pounding on the door, and I have no doubt that he'll break it down any minute. I keep fumbling with the gun because my hands are shaking uncontrollably. I finally get the bullets in the gun and stand up as he makes it into the bedroom.
When he sees me standing there pointing the gun at him, he laughs. “That’s cute. You actually think you have it in you. Come on and just make this easier on everyone. If Nicole does get here, I’ll have to hurt her, and it will be your fault.”
That’s it. “You are not going to hurt anyone I love ever again.” I squeeze the trigger, letting the shot ring out. The bullet strikes him in the chest, but he continues to come toward me. So I squeeze it again, and again, and again until it only clicks and nothing more comes out. He falls forward and lands on me, knocking me to the ground. I scream and try to push him off of me. It takes me a few tries before I can scramble out from under him. I crawl backward until I’m leaning against the wall.
Then everything goes black.
Nicole
I’m running late to meet Mads, I swear I’ve gotten stuck behind every idiot driver possible. When I get to their street, I see a car I don’t recognize in the driveway. Did Mads invite someone else to come over, too? I walk up the steps and knock on the door. I wait a few minutes and then try the doorknob. It’s unlocked so I open it and slowly make my way into the house.
“Mads?” When I look around, everything seems normal. “Madison, where are you?” I trip over a random pot lying in the middle of the living room. She isn’t in the living room, maybe she is getting changed or in the bathroom. I walk toward the bedroom and that’s when I see Chris lying on the floor. He is covered in blood and isn’t moving. I’m frozen where I stand. There is no way with that amount of blood all over the place that he can possibly be alive.
“Madison?” I look around and that’s when I see her wedged between the bed and the nightstand. Shit. I rush over and notice her shirt is covered in blood. I am trying to check to see if she’s hurt, but it’s hard with her jammed in such a tight space. “Are you okay? What happened?” She doesn’t reply, though. She’s just looking blankly past me. I shake her a little to try and snap her out of it but it doesn’t work.
I have no idea what to do so I call 911, and then I call Jason.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?!” I can’t help but yell. I’m panicked now because I still can’t get through to Madison.
“Chill, babe, we hit traffic. We should be there in like twenty minutes. What’s up? Aren’t you guys watching movies and shit?”
“No, we aren’t. Who is driving?”
“Carter’s driving, why?” I was really hoping Shawn or someone else was so I could let them know what was going on.
I can hear Carter talking in the background asking J what’s going on. “I need you guys to come to Carter’s house as soon as you get back into town.”
“Nic, what is going on?” Jason hardly ever shows emotion, but I can tell that he’s starting to get worried. I can’t tell him all of this on the phone, though. He will definitely tell Carter and then they will be lucky to get here in one piece.
“Listen, I can’t say right now. Just come here, okay?”
“Alright, just tell me, is everybody okay?”
I look over at Madison. She is definitely not ‘okay’ but she is in one piece. “Yeah, just hurry up. I’ll see you when you get here.” I can hear the sirens approaching and know I need to hang up before J hears them. “I love you, see you soon.”
I hang up and go out to the front door to meet the cops. When I pass Chris’s body my stomach turns. I would be lying if I said that I’m upset, at least this nightmare is finally over.
I just hope Mads can work past everythin
g.
Chapter Seventeen
Shawn
“Jason, what’s going on? Why do we need to rush over to the house?” Carter’s voice is panicked. After the weird call J got from Nicole, we are all a little uneasy. Unfortunately, our group has had so much bad shit happen that a phone call like this sends everyone into a panic.
“Listen, Carter, I don’t know. Nicole said everyone was okay but to get there as soon as we can. We will be there in like five minutes, just calm down and don’t get us into an accident.” Jason is trying to stay cool but I can tell he’s uneasy about the situation.
I look over at Christen and she’s just staring out the window. I squeeze her hand and she looks over at me. “Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just worried.” She leans in close to my ear and whispers, “I texted Holly when we left over an hour ago and she hasn’t answered me. She had a date with the guy she met online tonight and she never takes this long to answer.”
Fuck. I hope whatever Nicole wants us to rush over for doesn’t involve Holly being hurt. I give Christen a look saying I know what she’s thinking and we sit in silence until we pull up to Carter’s block.
As soon as we turn the corner, we see multiple police cars and an ambulance. Everyone in the car shouts different variations of curse words and Carter speeds the rest of the way down the street. He throws the car in park and races up to the house. We all follow, and I notice an expensive sports car parked in the driveway. I’m trying not to assume the worst, but the only thing I can think of when I see the car is that Chris is here.
I walk in and hear Carter yelling Madison’s name. I see everyone crowded around her, she is sitting on the couch, covered in blood. Carter is sitting next to her and has her in his arms. I walk up next to Nicole to see what she knows. “What happened?”
“I walked in and found her and Chris in the bedroom. He had a bunch of bullet holes in his chest and she was crouched against the wall. She hasn’t spoken or moved since. One of the cops helped me move her in here so they could examine the bedroom.
A paramedic walks up to us. “If she can’t communicate to us whether she is hurt or not, we’re going to have to take her to the hospital for a full examination.”
I look back at Carter and Madison. He’s still holding her and is now whispering something in her ear. She isn’t responding, though, and the paramedic mumbles something about going to get the stretcher and then walks away.
“We need to call Holly and let her know what’s going on.” Nicole is crying and I can barely make out what she said.
At that moment Madison screams. “He has her!”
We all look over at her. “Who has her, babe? What are you talking about?” She doesn’t answer, she just stares straight ahead. “Maddy, you have to talk to me!”
She lays her head against him and starts crying hysterically. I see her whisper something in his ear and his face has a look of horror on it. Carter looks up at me and Jason. “That bastard took her! He told Maddy the three of them were going somewhere together! Shawn, you need to take Maddy, Nicole, and Christen and go to your house. I’m going to go let the cops know what’s going on, and then J and I are going to go look for her.”
He picks Mads up and carries her out to my truck. “Be careful, we’ll call you once we hear something.”
The car ride over to the apartment is almost completely quiet. Madison is curled up against Nicole in the backseat and Christen is crying silently in the front. I have absolutely no idea how to deal with any of this, so I just decide to be quiet and not make things worse by saying something stupid.
Once everyone gets into the apartment, I lock up and decide to make a pot of coffee. I have a feeling this is going to be a long night and we’ll all need some caffeine by the time it’s over. Mads goes to lie down in my room, I can tell she’s completely drained from everything that happened tonight.
I sit down next to Christen on the couch and put my arm around her. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. They’re going to find her and she’ll be fine.”
Everyone is sitting in the living room, clutching our phones and waiting for them to ring, when someone knocks at the door. We all jump at the sound, and I get up to answer it. When I open the door, two police officers are standing there. “Did you find her? Is she okay?”
“Are you Shawn Matthews?”
“Yes.”
They exchange a look, and the taller one reaches behind his back and pulls out a set of handcuffs. “Shawn Matthews, you are under arrest for the murder of Scott Jameson.” My jaw drops to the floor. Before I can say anything, the officer turns me around and starts to fasten the handcuffs on my wrists. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”
Nicole and Christen come running to the door with looks of horror on their faces.
“You can’t arrest him!” Christen shouts. “He was just protecting me, you don’t understand!”
“I’m sorry, miss, but I have to take him down to the station.” They start to lead me away from the door. I look back and Christen has collapsed onto the floor and Nicole is trying to get her back into the house. As they are loading me into the back of the car, the reality of the situation hits me like a freight train.
I’m being arrested for murder.
Chapter Eighteen
Christen
“Shit, shit, shit.” Nicole is pacing the floor, still trying to figure out what to do. She called Jason but he didn’t answer. All I can think about is this has to be some kind of sick joke. Everything that happened tonight is just too much. Holly is still missing, and now Shawn has been arrested. Nicole’s phone rings and she jumps. “Jason! Oh my God! Is she okay?” She turns toward me. “They found Holly, Chris.” I smile, at least one good thing happened. “J, listen the drama is not over for the night. Shawn got arrested…A couple of cops showed up here about twenty minutes ago…For murder…I don’t know, some kid named Scott…Okay.”
Nicole sits down and runs her fingers through her hair in frustration, then looks up at me. “Jason is on his way here now. Carter is going to the hospital with Holly. That psycho had her tied up in his trunk. The police were about to tow it, but thank God they searched it first. She was having a really serious asthma attack, though, so they gave her epinephrine and are taking her to the hospital to help manage it.”
“She’ll be okay, though, right?”
Nicole nods her head. “Jason said she should be okay, they just want to monitor her and make sure her asthma is under control. Christen, what happened tonight with Shawn and that kid?”
I tell Nicole everything from the moment I took a walk out to the gazebo, until Shawn showed up. I’m just finishing up the story when Jason walks in. Nicole runs up to him and throws her arms around him. When they walk back into the living room, he gives me a hug and then goes into the bedroom to check on Mads. After a few minutes, he comes back out and sits down.
“So, I called the station on my way over. They won’t set a bail until he is arraigned because of the severity of the crime. An arraignment can take up to forty-eight hours depending on the availability of the judge. The cop said he will get a phone call after he is processed and everything is settled, so I guess we will know more then.”
“This is all my fault.” Shawn’s whole life could be over because I didn’t have enough nerve to stand up to my parents and tell them to take the party and Scott and go to hell. Jason puts his arm around me, and the river of tears I’ve been holding back begins to flow.
* * *
It’s been almost two full days since everything happened and we are on our way to the courthouse for Shawn’s arraignment. He told us on the phone we didn’t need to be there, but there’s no way I’m staying home when I’m the one who put him there in the first place.
Nicole and Jason agreed to come with me to support him, and I think they know I need some support as well. Holly is getting released from the hospital today, thank God. Carter and Madison are probably picking her up now. Mads has been doing so much better, although she didn’t even talk to anyone but Carter until this morning. She gave me a hug and told me she would say a prayer everything goes well. Shawn is going to claim self-defense and we are hoping the district attorney will drop the charges.
We walk into the courtroom just as the hearing is about to start. The bailiff leads Shawn into the courtroom and my heart breaks at seeing how defeated he looks. When he looks up and sees us he just shakes his head.
Jason squeezes my hand. “Hey, he probably just didn’t want us to see him like this.”
“All rise. This court is now in session, the honorable Judge Peters presiding.”
The judge sits down and begins by advising Shawn of his right to trial, the right to counsel, and the right against self-incrimination. Shawn had Jason get money from his room to hire his attorney for the hearing. The judge goes over the charges against him and then asks how he’s going to plead.
Shawn looks up at the judge and says, “Not guilty by reason of self-defense.”
The judge then turns to the prosecution and asks them to present any evidence they have against him. Their evidence is solid, because of course he did it, but they now need to prove if he did it because he had to. “Your honor, Scott Jameson died due to brain swelling caused by blunt trauma to the head. Mr. Matthews has been involved in underground fighting and is well-versed in how to harm someone in a physical altercation.” The three of us collectively gasp. How do they know about that? “Due to this, we are claiming that he had the knowledge that the punches he was inflicting on Mr. Jameson were beyond the force needed to simply make him leave the premises.”
Fighting to Survive (Guarded Hearts Book 3) Page 9
