by JL Long
“She’s a good woman, just gotta sort her shit out.”
“She needs to hurry up on that shit.”
I let out a laugh and turn back to the room. A few more people have arrived, and my body tightens with the thoughts that have been present in my mind since Selena told me she was going through with the anniversary party. I let out a deep breath and scan the room for Lena, spotting her at the door welcoming our guests. Suppose I should get my ass over there and help her out. One foot moves to do just that when Benny clasps a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. I turn back to him.
“I see that tension in your body, brother.”
“Just waiting for that ball to drop.”
“We are closing in on her.”
“Won’t be soon enough.”
“Know that, but you gotta keep it together.”
I nod, and he releases his hold on me. I move to Lena and put a fake ass smile on my face. This is her night; she doesn’t need to see my worries.
Do you dare meet me?
Do you dare take the risk?
Are you scared I’ll have your life soon enough?
If you are foolish enough, come to the place you love the most.
Copperfield Lane.
The note slips from my fingers and falls to the ground.
She’s begging me to come to her—to end this once and for all.
I shake my head in frustration. I should have seen this coming. The day before my anniversary. It all makes sense now. She wasn’t giving up, she was biding her time.
I’ll give her what she wants…or so she thinks. I am going to take back my life. I am going to rewrite the ending to our story. She will not decide my fate. I’ve worked too goddamn hard for her to take everything from me.
As the adrenaline begins swirling its way through my body, I spin around, ready to sneak out of the shop, when I nearly run into Carolina standing in front of me.
“What are you doing?”
In my haste, I’m surprised I can come up with a sufficient lie. “I wanted to make sure Law cleaned out the refrigerator today to make room for the food.”
She narrows her eyes.
"If I hadn't been standing at the doorway the whole time, I might believe you. So, babe, tell me what you're really doing."
Crap.
This might not be the right moment to think about this, but she just solidified that she is going to be a great mom. She already has the no bullshit voice down pat.
“I have something I need to do,” I tell her. The less she knows, the better. If she knows more, she’ll tell Lawson, and then my plan will go up in smoke. I can’t have that.
“Lena—” she starts, but I don’t let her finish.
“Don’t, Carolina. I have to do this, okay?”
“No, whatever it is you think you have to do, you don’t. Not alone.”
“No one can come with me.”
“Selena, you aren’t going alone…wherever the fuck that may be.”
I give in a little to ease her curiosity. “I’m going to fix everything.”
She purses her lips, contemplating my words. “How are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Let me come with you.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“So, whatever you are going to do is dangerous then?”
Shit. She’s setting me up.
"Can you do me a favor?" I ask her, deviating her from trying to talk me out of this.
“Depends.”
“If something were to happen, tell Lawson I didn’t get rid of the note. He’ll know what I am talking about. Tell him I love him, and that I tried.”
“Selena.”
Instead of trying to move around and go out through the front of the building, I turn and push out the emergency exit in the breakroom.
I know she’ll run back to tell Lawson. This only means I have a set amount of time to get to Copperfield Lane and finish this.
Then it dawns on me. I have no keys.
I can’t go back in the shop. I know for certain Lawson didn’t leave the keys in his truck. I look to my left and see Benny’s truck parked in his usual spot next to the dumpster. I run as stealthy as I can in my heels, and thank the gods above when it’s unlocked all the while hoping he left his keys. Hopping up into the truck, my hand slides over the ignition. No keys.
Shit!
It takes two point three seconds for my head to lower and my eyes to begin to close when they fall on something shiny in the cup holder.
My hand latches onto them like a snake claiming its prey. In quick succession, I put the correct key in the ignition and turn the engine over.
Thank God for small towns and the comfort of leaving your keys laying in your vehicle.
I throw the truck into reverse and get the hell out of dodge.
“She what?”
Benny spins around to face me. He was the first person I saw, so it was him or waste my time finding someone else.
I slap his chest with impatience and grit out, “She left. She left to do something stupid! Get your shit, we have to go.”
“First off, babe, you aren’t going anywhere. Second off, where’s Law?”
“I don’t know, but we have to go before she gets too much of a head start on us.”
“What vehicle did she take?” he asks, like it really goddamn matters.
I throw my hands up in even more frustration. “I don’t know, Ben!” I say louder than I should. A few people turn around to look at us. Shit. I lower my voice again. “She ran out the breakroom exit. I came and got you after that.”
“Fuck.”
He swivels his head from side to side and starts moving, whipping out his cell phone in the process. Screw this. I am not letting Selena get herself into a situation she can’t get herself out of. I run back to the breakroom. Before I hit the door, I see a piece of paper laying on the floor. I stop for a split second and snatch it up. I watch those damn crime shows. Everything is a clue. As I slam the door open, I read the words.
Well, son of a shit.
This is bad.
This is really fucking bad.
My hormones are kicking in, and I am going to freak out in a matter of seconds.
I rush back inside to the main lobby area and spin around, looking for the biggest badasses in the room.
“Oh my God,” I whisper to myself. There are too many people in this damn place. I can’t find anyone.
My anxiety is beginning to crush me. “Benny!” I yell. I yell it so loud, everyone shuts their mouths and turn around to face me. “Lawson! She’s going home!”
Out of goddamn nowhere, they are both right beside me. I start to make my way to the front door.
"Carolina," Benny growls. He's going to try to stop me from going. And he probably should. I need to think about my baby, but I can't stay here and give myself a heart attack and add even more stress to this baby not knowing what is happening to my best friend.
Twisting my head in his direction, my voice barely a whisper, I say, “Don’t stop me. Please, Benny, don’t stop me. She’s best friend.” My eyes close, and my head turns back to the door. “She’s my family. I’m going.” At this point, he can’t tell me what I’m going to do anyway.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” is muttered in unison.
Whatever.
I push the door open and walk out, Lawson and Benny following me.
“My truck,” Ben says as he rounds the corner of the shop at a slight jog heading to the back. “Fuck!” he yells, then stops dead in his tracks. “My fucking truck is gone!” I take notice of Lena’s dad standing behind me, and my heart begins to race at the look set on Darin’s face. It’s focused and etched with vengeance.
My ears pick up on the bustling of people coming out of the shop to investigate. A man I don’t recognize hollers to Lawson. “Mine’s parked on the street! Let’s go!”
The four of us start running toward the man’s truck, and I turn my head just
enough to see men darting off to their own vehicles. Women staying in front of the shop.
Once we are loaded up, Benny brings out his phone again.
“You there? You got the shit I need?”
He pauses for a moment.
“Yeah, we got a whole town following behind us. Keep it discrete.”
My eyes widen. What the hell is he talking about?
Benny taps the man driving on the shoulder. “You got a qualm about firearms?”
The man shakes his head and removes one hand from the stirring wheel to open the console between him and Lawson in the front. He pulls out a gun.
Jesus.
Where am I?
Who carries guns in their trucks these days?
“Answers that question. I got a guy who is meeting us at the end of your lane, Law. I’m guessing here, but I’m sure your wife took my truck, which has all my fucking weapons in it.” Again, where the fuck am I and who the fuck is Benny? “He’s going to strap us with what we need. I wasn’t expecting a whole fucking army to follow us in, so we will have to handle that as well when we stop. But we are going in quiet. If Aria sees or hears us, it could spook her, and God knows what she’ll do. You good with that?”
“Do I have a choice?” Lawson asks.
“No,” Benny replies, then turns to me. “You are stupid for being in this truck.”
Whoa.
He did not just call me stupid.
“And you’re stupid if you think I’m gonna sit back and let my best friend get herself killed.”
“We’ll talk about this later.”
No, we gosh darn won’t, but I don’t tell him that. I turn my head to look out the window, praying we get to Selena in time.
Every fairytale has an ending, and I suppose this could be mine. I was stupid to think I could do this alone. Not because I couldn’t protect myself, but because I think if I was pushed to the point I am currently teetering on, I would blaze past it and do something I severely regret.
Like taking this blade across Aria’s neck and not thinking twice about it.
I have her within arm’s length. I can call the police. I can call Lawson.
“You’ve taught me one thing,” my voice rings through the room even though it’s barely above a whisper. Aria’s body ever so slowly turns toward me. There is no denying she is beautiful. Her petite frame, the way she carries herself as the girl next door type. Whether her hair is short or dark or light, it doesn’t matter, nothing would change the fact that she is gorgeous. I swallow the jealous feeling spinning out of control and proceed, “You’ve taught me that no matter what happens, I will still have something you never do.”
Her eyes widen.
“I have a family. I have love.” I take two steps forward, my hand drifting out, a finger swiping across a picture frame on the mantel in our living room. “I have so much of that, you could never even penetrate it, even if you do take me from this world.”
“It will be mine.”
“But it’ll never be what I have now.”
She waves off my comment like she doesn’t believe my words. “Doesn’t matter.”
I take another step forward. “Why him? Why Lawson?”
She keeps her mouth shut.
I tilt my head to the side, pushing back the voice in my head that tells me I should just incapacitate her and call for help. “Don’t want to share why you want to take my husband from me?”
“Why should I?”
“I think you owe me that, don’t you?”
“No. I think we should end this and see who really deserves Lawson. I promise it won’t be you.”
I shake my head. “I can’t help but wonder. Did he not like you in school? Did he turn you down?” This time when her eyes widen, the shock colors her pale white face. “Oh, you didn’t think I would do my own research on you?
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” she mutters.
“So, what was it? Were you too much of a bitch for his taste or was he completely out of your league?”
I know my words are provoking her. That’s exactly what I want. I want her to make the first move.
She falls right into my trap.
Fast as lightning, she closes the gap between us, her hand reaching out and wrapping around my neck. She applies pressure, but not enough to completely close off my windpipe. I don’t fight. I stand stalk still with my weapon in the palm of my hand. Stupid mistake on her part for not seeing this.
I will wait.
I will bide my time until she thinks she fully has the upper hand.
“Need you to pick up the speed, Mack.”
“Going as fast as I can, Law.”
I sit fucking idle in this truck while my wife is God knows where having God knows what done to her. I can't even think about what could be happening to her without it making me sick to my stomach.
Mack slows the truck when the lane to our house comes into view. There’s an SUV parked at the edge with the man Benny called in standing outside it. When the truck stops just enough, I open the door and hop out. Benny’s man is the first to speak.
“Perimeter is secure. Three men, one in the back, one in the front, one at the west side of the house. Two women in the house.”
“Right. Where are the weapons?” Benny asks the man.
The man points to the back of the SUV. As we begin walking to the back, he presses a button for the lid to open. My eyes widen. It’s like a whole goddamn arsenal of weapons.
Benny steps forward and starts strapping himself with the guns laid before us. I begin to do the same.
“We approach from the side,” Benny directs.
I know I should listen to him, but fuck this shit. I’m not waiting around for something to happen to Selena.
“Fuck that, Benny. She wants me, she can have me. I’m not pussyfooting around this shit anymore.”
“We have to do this right or shit will go way the fuck sideways.”
I know he’s right. But fuck!
“Fine. Let’s get this shit over with.”
“Right. Like I was saying, we go in from the side. This will be a soft approach. Once inside, we will assess the situation.”
The other man gives an affirmative, and I do the same.
We turn and start to move from around the truck and then come face to face with the entire male population of Oak Town.
Jesus.
If it were another time, I might feel a little more pride for my town, but in this moment, I can’t.
Ben takes the lead. “Split up. Half of you go to the west, the other half to the east. Do not approach Aria unless she comes out of the house. If she has Selena, do not try to be a hero. Be fucking smart. Nobody comes out of this harmed.”
We get a collective, “Got it,” and then proceed.
When we start to approach the house, I move in front of Benny and takeover. My foot lands the wooden porch at the back of the house when I feel a hand hit my shoulder. My head turns slightly to see Ben there. “You good?”
“Will be in about five minutes.”
“Don’t lose it in there.”
Shrugging off his hand, I ignore his comment and move in, looking through the window.
Pitch black.
I can’t see a damn thing other than the reflection gleaming off the glass of the picture frame on the wall.
Pulling my keys out, I turn the knob to find it unlocked.
Fuck.
This door is never unlocked.
Then I hear it.
A shrilling scream.
So blood-curdling, I slam the door open as fast I can to get into the house.
It’s hard to describe the exact instance you know you have to take the moment of opportunity. The adrenaline coursing through your veins, heat rushing to the forefront of your skin, the way your hands become damp with sweat—they’re all clues. Your fight or flight senses kicking in.
Aria spins us around, slamming me into the wall. Her hand never leaves my neck, the pressure of
her fingers becoming harder than before.
Inching my fingers up the handle of the knife to where the blade is showing and not hiding in my palm, I prepare to make my move.
Slowly, my hand raises, but not enough to bring awareness to her. Aria is intent on staring into my eyes, as if she’s trying to tell me something. I don’t care to stand here and figure this out. I take my shot. The knife blade slices into the skin at her stomach. I watch as her eyes widen, the shock evident through this action. Her hand grips tighter at this point. She doesn’t want to be defeated. This doesn’t falter me any. My hand is still wrapped around the knife handle as I push the blade in farther, twisting as I do. My other hand reaches up to hers, and using the only defense I have, I allow my nails to dig into the skin at her wrist. I don’t stop my actions until she moves back a step and her grip loosens. I pull the knife out of her gut, and she immediately clutches the wound.
“You will not get what is mine,” I seethe through gritted teeth.
The evil voice in my head is telling me to do what she did to me—mar her skin with the same scars.
She moves back, and I mimic her steps.
“Do you think this will stop me?”
“It doesn’t matter. I will fight until I die to keep my family.”
I take my final step toward her. With every fiber of my being, I throw a punch that knocks her to the ground. I straddle her and raise the knife, prepared to end this for good. The decency in me screaming I should put the weapon down and call for help.
Aria screams, bucks her body upwards, and tries to twist underneath me to knock me off her. Her efforts are useless.
A trickle of air whips across my neck, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end.
“Selena!” Lawson yells as he comes barreling into the room.
I swing my head in the direction of his voice. Our eyes catch, but mine don’t stay. I return my focus to Aria.
My hand rises higher, preparing to launch the knife into Aria’s chest.
"Selena! Put the knife down," Lawson roars as he comes sliding next to us. I don't listen to him. He clasps his hand around my wrist and jerks it toward him, but not close enough to penetrate the knife through his skin. "Don't do this. Don't let her get to you like this." As his last word is uttered, a rush of men storm into my house. My hand doesn't deter from its approach. "Selena, for fuck’s sake, move away,” Lawson bites out next to me, his hand wrapping around my arm. I stand my ground over Aria as sirens blare in the distance.
