A Wedding Tail

by Casey Griffin

  Zoe grimaced and shrugged. I guess we’ll wing it.

  Holly jabbed Zoe in the back with her gun as a reminder. “Run and I shoot. Yell and I shoot. Do anything I don’t tell you to do and I shoot. Got me? Now open the door.”

  As Zoe turned the handle and opened the door, fresh, clean air swept over them. She inhaled deeply until she felt her mind clear a little.

  Holly wasn’t going to shoot right then unless they forced her to. They were too close to the party. Everyone would hear. They still had time to figure something out, to come up with a plan. And Zoe was nothing if not a good planner.

  Holly marched them around the side of the building so they were completely blocked from the view of the house. Zoe could hear people cheering, the music blaring, but Levi still wasn’t singing. Was he searching for her?

  Zoe pretended to stumble in her heels. As she lurched forward, catching herself on the enclosure fence, she tore off the pink sash around her waist. She balled it up in her hand. When Holly shoved her forward again, Zoe tossed the fabric back so she wouldn’t see.

  But Piper saw. And while Zoe didn’t exactly have a surplus of outfit to leave behind as breadcrumbs, there was plenty to tear off a delicate bridal gown.

  As they hit the tree line, Piper began stumbling herself, blaming the cumbersome dress. Each time, she tossed a little something aside, too small for Holly to notice in the dark: a string of beads, a ribbon, a chunk of lace.

  It was so dark after the warm lights inside the doghouse. Hardly any of the moon’s glow reached them beneath the thick canopy above. Surely Holly would have a hard time hitting her targets when she could barely see, Zoe reasoned. But each time she gathered the courage to make her move, Holly would jab their backs with the cold barrel of the gun, reminding her that at such close range, she’d be able to hit them with her eyes closed.

  Eventually, the music faded to a dull beat in the distance, muffled by the thick trees, but they were still too far away from the other side of the property to hear street traffic. Where could they go? How could they get someone’s attention from out there?

  Zoe’s eyes had adjusted enough to see Piper’s expression. It didn’t look like she had any ideas either.

  Holly’s footsteps began to slow, and Zoe’s heart began to pick up speed again.

  “Stop here,” Holly said. She tossed Zoe a leash. “Tie Piper up to that tree over there.”

  Zoe stared at the lead in her hands and then at Piper. All thoughts fled her brain. There was no plan, no impromptu solution. This was one wedding catastrophe she could never have predicted.

  When she took too long to respond, she felt cool metal press against her neck. Enough said: do it or die.

  Piper slowly began backing up to the tree. Her eyes never left Zoe’s, as though she was waiting for a cue. But Zoe just stared back, her forehead creasing with the effort of focusing her frazzled mind.

  As she approached her friend, Zoe gripped the leash so tight it bit into her soft palms. Her breaths came faster, and her eyes prickled with tears.

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The good guys were supposed to win. Holly was supposed to lose. It was Piper’s wedding day, for God’s sake. Was Aiden going to lose his wife of only six hours?

  And what about Levi? Zoe had finally found the man she wanted to be with, who made her whole again. And that was it? Was she simply going to disappear into the woods, never to be seen again? Would he even know what happened to her?

  No. It wasn’t going to end like that. Zoe could handle anything, including The Holly Hart.

  Zoe closed her eyes and imagined every ounce of her energy building in her limbs, tensing her legs to spring, flexing her arms to attack.

  Just as she prepared to spin on Holly, there was a rustle of leaves and sticks behind them. They all spun toward the sound.

  “Who’s there?” Holly demanded.

  But when they saw no one out there in the dark, Zoe knew who had come to save her. Freddy.

  She could almost hear his innocent excitement. Hello! It’s just me. Is this hide and seek? I found you. I win!

  Holly was turned away, eyes searching. Zoe lunged for her. Grabbing Holly’s arm, she drove her knee up, forcing her elbow to bend back. There was a pop, a grinding of the joint that Zoe could feel echo all the way up her leg. Holly screamed and dropped the gun.

  Piper yelled out, “Help!” before dropping to the ground. She scrambled through the underbrush, her hands groping along the dirt for the weapon.

  Holly dove for Piper, hands outstretched for her neck. But before she could so much as touch her friend, Zoe took the leash in her hands and looped it around the reporter’s neck. She yanked on either side of the lead, cinching it tight.

  Choking noises sputtered from Holly’s mouth. Her hands flew to her neck, frantically clawing at the nylon cord. She jerked, struggling to get away, but Zoe held on.

  Piper groaned in frustration as she continued to search, crawling on the ground. She threw aside leaves and tossed dead branches in search of the gun. When her hunt brought her closer, Holly raised her foot and kicked out.

  It connected with Piper’s chest with a dull thump and an “oof” as Piper’s breath whooshed forcefully from her lungs. She tumbled back in a swish of leaves, coughing and wheezing as she clutched at her chest.

  Heaving tighter on the ends of the leash, Zoe felt it dig deeper against Holly’s soft neck until she imagined her head snapping right off. Holly resisted, her neck muscles straining as she pulled forward. Inch by inch she drew away from Zoe. Then her head came whipping back.

  Zoe heard a crack. A flash of light burst in front of her eyes. She could almost smell the pain stinging her nose.

  Hot liquid ran down her face and she tasted metal in her mouth. She stumbled back in surprise, holding her nose as she coughed and choked on her own blood.

  Holly wheeled around on her. Her fist drew back. Before it could connect with Zoe’s already-throbbing face, something flashed in the dim moonlight.

  A musical twang filled the woods, and Holly cried out, falling to the ground. Freddy hadn’t come alone. He’d brought Levi.

  Levi’s face twisted with fury as he came to Zoe’s rescue. He raised his guitar over his head in true rock-star fashion, ready to bring it down on Holly.

  Beneath the hollow vibrations humming from the guitar, Zoe heard a rustle. A click.

  Holly’s arm rose, a finger wrapped around the gun’s trigger. She aimed for Levi’s exposed chest.

  35

  A Live Dog Is Better Than a Dead Boyfriend

  As Holly pointed the gun at Levi, Zoe’s breath left her in a sob. Her eyes filled with tears, already grieving for what was about to happen. To have her heart made whole again, only to be ripped out once and for all. She couldn’t stand it. It wasn’t fair.

  Not willing to let Levi be taken from her, she reached out to him, as though she could hold him there, keep him in her life.

  A split-second later, the shot pierced the night air, echoing through the woods surrounding the rescue center. She could feel the sharp loss almost as though she’d taken the bullet herself. As though Holly had aimed for her newly repaired heart and blown it wide open.

  Zoe cried out with the pain and the loss. She wrapped her arms around Levi, holding him tight.

  Somehow, even after being shot, he found the energy to bring his guitar down on Holly. Again and again it twanged, and rung, and thumped until all he held was the neck, dripping with dark liquid that glinted in the dim moonlight. Panting, he tossed it aside and fell to his knees, Zoe along with him.

  That ache, it burned inside her. It was almost too much to bear, but she held onto it as she held Levi. She didn’t want to bottle anything up anymore. She didn’t want to hold back. Because without the fear and pain of losing him, she couldn’t give him her love. And she had so much to give him. And she wanted it all, every feeling, every last painful second she had with him.

  “Levi,” she sobbed. “Stay with
me. Don’t die.”

  “I won’t leave.” His voice broke, as though he could barely get the words out. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  She heard Piper’s screams fade as she headed back toward the center. “Help! We’re over here! We need a medic!”

  Levi seemed to be holding Zoe as much as she was holding him. Like he needed her as much as she needed him. She felt the damp soil seep through her dress, making her shiver.

  “I can’t lose you,” she said. “Not now. It’s just … too short.” She choked on her tears as another wave of grief ripped through her.

  She was shaking now, breathing in short gasps, unable to get enough oxygen between her sobs and that terrible heartbreak.

  “Don’t leave me,” she said.

  Levi laid a hand on her face, wet and hot with his own blood. Or maybe it was that her face felt so cold. He held her gaze, the moonlight reflecting in his blue eyes. His expression looked so pained that it hurt her to see him suffer.

  Between her quick breaths, he kissed her. “I will never leave you. I promise. Never.”

  Those words made it a little easier to breathe. The constriction in her chest eased. After all the excitement, Zoe could feel the energy trickle out of her body. She relaxed in Levi’s arms, feeling very tired all of a sudden.

  The sound of ripping fabric made her drooping eyes flutter open. Her blurry gaze landed on Piper. She was balling up a piece of her dress. No, her beautiful dress, Zoe thought. She laid it against Zoe’s chest and pressed firmly.

  Zoe screamed out as hot, white pain shot through her body, rippling down to her cold toes. She bit her lip to stop from screaming again.

  Her vision was no longer blurry. Sleep no longer called to her. How could she sleep when it felt like Piper was stabbing her through with a hot poker? The pain seemed to pulse with every beat of her heart. Which at least told her that she did, in fact, still have her heart.

  “Can you carry her?” Piper asked Levi.

  Instead of answering, Zoe felt his hold on her shift. Then the world spun as he stood up, or maybe that was just her head. Every step that Levi took felt like a fresh stab to her chest.

  Levi grunted and huffed as he headed back for the center, holding her protectively to his body as he picked his way through the rough terrain. She watched his face, focusing on the effort, the strain, the worry that creased it.

  It struck her as odd that he was carrying her when he was the one who was shot. And when the dim lights from her wedding decorations glowed up ahead, it was even stranger that everyone was calling her name and not his. Especially when he was covered in so much blood. It was smeared all over his shirt, his hands, his neck.

  The music had stopped, replaced by agitated chatter, cries of exclaim, tinny voices over two-way radios, and distant echoes of sirens.

  The light brightened and Levi set her down on a cold, hard surface. She blinked around the room and saw she was in Piper’s veterinary operating room.

  Piper set something over Zoe’s face. It hissed at her, blowing air.

  Annoyed, Zoe raised a hand, trying to swipe it away. A hand clamped over hers and held it still. Her head swiveled toward the person. It was Levi.

  There was a clink of metal on metal as Piper set tools down next to Zoe. She then hung a bag of liquid above her head and Zoe watched it swing back and forth, almost hypnotized.

  Her eyes began to droop until something pinched the skin in the crook of her arm. She hissed at the sharp pain. Levi held her hand tight, as though afraid she would fight back, but she no longer had the energy to react. Instead, she watched Piper fuss over her from the end of a really long tunnel.

  The pain had dulled. She wasn’t sure when. Or maybe she’d become used to it. In fact, she felt like she’d left her body entirely. The only thing that remained was the buzzing inside her head like a swarm of cicadas had gathered in there and the feeling of her hand in Levi’s.

  Only now did it occur to her that Levi hadn’t been shot. She had.

  But that didn’t seem like the most important thing right now. The only thing that seemed to matter was that Levi had kept his promise. He hadn’t left her. Only, as her eyes began to droop, she wasn’t so sure she could promise the same thing.

  36

  In Tune

  Slimy wetness rubbed Zoe’s cheek over and over again, working its way toward her nose. She groaned, swatting it away. But this only seemed to make it worse. It increased in both speed and enthusiasm.

  She brushed her hand in the general direction of her face, but her limbs didn’t seem to be working as well as they should be. She ended up slapping her face instead. Her nose throbbed as she hit it, taking her breath away.

  Slowly, she half-opened an eye to peek at her attacker. It was Freddy dancing on top of her blankets—although, they couldn’t be hers because she didn’t recognize them. His wiry goatee tickled her face as he persisted in kissing her.

  As she squirmed weakly away, pain shot down her chest and left arm. She froze, holding her breath, bracing against the pain. Her body may not have been cooperating, but she managed a very serious quirk of her eyebrow at the doxie.

  Freddy jerked like he’d been shot then flopped against her, exposing his belly in surrender.

  Sleepily, her eyes blinked one at a time while she took in her surroundings. A white ceiling and ugly green curtains stared back at her. Her nostrils stung, both from the scent of antiseptic and the dry air hissing into her nostrils. There was beeping and whirring and chiming and … snoring.

  Zoe raised her head, grimacing as fire spread through her chest like she’d inhaled hot ashes. She found the source of the snoring half way down her bed. It was Levi.

  He sat on a stiff, plastic chair, head resting on her raised bed. His arm stretched across her legs as though still holding on since … well, since the wedding. Whenever that was.

  She reached out a tentative hand and ran her fingers through his locks. She noticed he had none of his usual gel making it stick up. He inhaled deeply and his eyes fluttered open. They were bright and clean, not ringed in dark makeup.

  Those eyes met hers and he smiled sleepily, like they’d just woken up after a crazy night together. Well, they had, but not the kind of night Zoe would have preferred.

  Levi blinked, as though he suddenly realized where they were—which Zoe was only just staring to figure out.

  “You’re awake.” He reached for her face.

  She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of his touch, the gentleness welcome after so much pain. The pain …

  As she took a few deep breaths, her head began to clear and images accosted her. Memories, sights, sounds, smells, fear. She recalled the wedding, the body, the woods, Holly.

  Someone dropped something nearby and the bang made her wince. Her chest spasmed as though reliving the moment the bullet tore through her. Once she caught her breath, she raised the scratchy hospital blanket, tugging at the neckline of her gown to peek under it.

  She wasn’t sure what she’d expected to see. Blood and gore? A gaping hole in her chest, maybe? Instead, there was an oversized white bandage on the left side of her chest. A thick clear tube ran out from under it.

  “The doctor said you were very lucky,” Levi said, startling her. She still felt a little dopey. Maybe the IV dripping into her arm had something to do with that.

  “I should buy a lottery ticket.” Her voice croaked, and when she swallowed, her throat was dry.

  “It was just a small handgun, so it didn’t go all the way through,” he said, ignoring her joke. “It hit just below your collarbone. Any lower and it would have hit your lung.”

  Her eyelids fluttered for a moment, imagining the bullet was still in there, rubbing against her lungs with each breath. She’d had a lot of close calls in the last couple of weeks, but nothing could have been closer than that. A centimeter, maybe a millimeter, and she wouldn’t have been there.

  She dropped the blanket, unwilling to look at it anymore, to imagine
how close she’d been to not having, well … what did she have? Sure, she and Levi had only just begun, but she was acutely aware of the potential she would have missed out on, the hope of so much more.

  She’d practically put her life on hold for six years, like she’d been holding her breath. And now that she’d found Levi, had found that hope, she could finally move forward. She could finally breathe again. And she was more grateful than ever that she had the lungs to do it.

  “How do you feel?” Levi asked her as his thumb caressed the side of her face.

  “Like I’ve been shot.”

  “I can’t say I know how that feels.” He frowned, his hand cupping her face like he wanted to grab more of her but was afraid to hurt her. “But I almost did.” He shook his head, his face screwing up. “Why? Why did you do it?”

  She shrugged, but then grimaced as a fresh wave of pain spread through her. “What can I say?” she choked out. “I grab life by the balls.”

  Levi passed her a cord with a red button on the end. “Hit this. It will give you pain medication.”

  She jammed the button three times. Her IV machine whirred, and a few moments later, she felt a little woozy. It wasn’t enough to take the pain away, but it certainly sanded down the edge a little.

  “Well, it was definitely ballsy,” he said at last. “But I wish you wouldn’t have. It should be me lying there. It hurts to see you like this.”

  She gave him a wry look. “I’m so sorry for your pain.”

  He chuckled, but the humor in his expression didn’t last long before he turned grim again. “You saved my life. If it had been me, I might not have made it.”

  “That’s true. I know how you feel about pain.” She reached up and ran a thumb over his naked eyebrow. There was not a glimmer of metal anywhere on his face. “But I’m tough. I can handle it.”

  “I know you are.” Sighing, he turned his head to kiss her wrist, stubble tickling her sensitive skin. Those blue eyes held hers for a moment, as though waiting for something, searching.

  After a moment, he sighed. “You’re hiding from me again. You’ve got your mask on.”