Text tio-4

by Cambria Hebert

  “You better put those teeth away unless you want to start a fire,” he murmured, pulling away.

  “Maybe I do,” I purred.

  He groaned. “Don’t tempt me. I don’t want to hurt you. Your ribs are probably feeling what we just did. You breathing okay?”

  How could I breathe when he left me breathless?

  “I’m fine.”

  “It’s probably time for your pain meds.”

  “Probably,” I agreed, making no move to get out of bed.

  “We’re supposed to stay at my place tonight,” he reminded me.

  “I don’t wanna get up.”

  “I have to work in the morning. My uniform is at my house.”

  The thought of seeing him in his uniform gave me a little motivation to get moving. “Fine,” I sighed and sat up. My ribs protested and I bit back a wince.

  Nathan made a knowing sound and placed Lucy in my lap. “Stay there,” he instructed.

  Lucy rolled onto her back, showing me her rounded belly, and I began scratching her as she wiggled all around.

  After Nathan made a quick stop in the bathroom, I heard him out in the kitchen, and a few minutes later, he came back with a glass of water and my pills. He was also carrying a plate full of pie.

  I grinned and took my pill as he shoveled the pie into his mouth. “We’re almost out of pie,” he said around a huge bite.

  “Heaven forbid.” I gasped and set the water on the nightstand. “I guess I’ll have to go to the store tomorrow and stock up on pie supplies.”

  He paused. “What do you do all day long anyway?”

  I snorted. “I’m a writer. I write.”

  “I don’t like the idea of you being home all day alone all the time.”

  “I’m not alone. I have Lucy now.”

  He grunted and stuck the fork with a bite of cinnamon-covered apple in my face. I took it and chewed while Lucy climbed up my chest, licking at my lips, trying to get a taste.

  “I should go feed her,” I said, getting up and opening the closet doors.

  “We’ll head to my place after.”

  I pulled on a pair of pink sweatpants with the word Aeropostle down the leg, a white T-shirt, and a grey hoodie. In the bathroom, I ran a brush through my tangled hair and pulled it up into a messy knot on the top of my head. I couldn’t help but notice the way certain parts of my body tingled and how I felt slightly stretched and swollen in my panties.

  Just thinking about that made me want him all over again.

  Nathan came in the bathroom behind me, his jeans pulled on but still unbuttoned. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and his dog tags dangled between his pecs. I turned from the counter and ran my hands up his sides and looped them around his neck. He gave me a quick kiss, then pulled away.

  “Are you trying to seduce me?”

  “Is it working?”

  “Hell yeah, it is.”

  I grinned.

  Lucy began barking from on top of the bed.

  “Easy there, Killer,” Nathan called, and I smacked him in the stomach and went to gather her up.

  In the kitchen, I put out plastic bowls of food and fresh water and called Lucy to come eat.

  She was standing at the sliders, staring out into the darkness. All the little hair on her back was raised into a line.

  “Lucy?” I called, motioning to her food. “Come on, girl.”

  She growled, not pulling her attention away from the darkness. A little tingle of fear traveled down my neck. I peered out where she was watching and, of course, saw nothing but darkness.

  Lucy growled again and then started barking her head off. For such a little puppy, her growl was surprisingly aggressive.

  This creepy feeling of dread washed over me and images of being attacked and thrown into the hole assaulted me. I did my best to push them away, not wanting to scare myself more. Suddenly, Lucy fell quiet. I breathed a sigh of relief and squatted down beside her food again and called her over.

  But she still wasn’t paying attention to me. She was still staring out into the darkness. The house creaked a little with a gust of wind, and I laughed lightly. “It’s just the wind, you silly girl.”

  Lucy cocked her head to the side like she was listening, all her attention still on the darkness. I sighed and stood up, stepping toward the puppy. She let out a low growl and then started barking some more.

  “Lucy, no,” I admonished, reaching down to pick her up.

  I hated to tell her no, but she was creeping me out.

  Just as I wrapped my arms around her and straightened, something struck the thick glass of the door and it splintered loudly. I shrieked and spun, watching as a huge crack climbed its way up the window.

  I stumbled backward, opening my mouth to yell for Nathan, when the sound of a shot outside reverberated through the night. The bullet slammed into the already fractured glass and it shattered. I felt the heat of it as it whizzed past my cheek and pain bit into my thigh.

  Something heavy and hard hit me from behind, tackling me to the ground and smothering me into the tile. Beneath me, Lucy barked and whined as shards of thick glass rained around the room.

  The sound of crushing glass and the bullet slamming into a nearby wall echoed through the room, and I cringed.

  “Stay down,” Nathan murmured in my ear, using his body like a shield to protect me.

  “He’s out there,” I said as my hands began to tremble. Lucy whined and licked my cheek.

  “Good,” Nathan growled as his muscles locked and rage simmered beneath his surface. He wrapped his arms around my middle and then half-crawled behind the set of cabinets lining the wall. I sucked in short gasps of breath, my ribs screaming in pain, and my palm where my stitches were throbbed.

  Something else hurt too… but my mind was swimming. It was trying to formulate a plan, trying to come up with some sort of way to fight back. It was really hard to think when adrenaline pumped through your limbs at an overwhelming rate.

  All I could think was, He’s going to throw you back into the hole.

  Nathan rolled off me and crouched low, helping me sit up. Lucy was trying to rush off (likely scared to death), and I was gripping her tiny body, trying to keep her still.

  “Shh,” I told her and went to stroke her white fur.

  But it wasn’t white anymore.

  It was red.

  I let out a sharp cry and Nathan looked down, a string of curse words flinging from his mouth. “My puppy,” I cried, running my hands over her, trying to figure out where she was injured. Rage like no other consumed me.

  It was one thing to come after me, but it was something else entirely to come after a defenseless baby animal. The anger shoved away the fear, and determination flooded my brain.

  “Lucy,” I murmured, my voice breaking.

  Nathan had stilled and was looking down.

  “What!” I cried. Frantically searching her. “Where is it?” I demanded.

  “It’s not her,” he said, his voice flat.

  “What?” I said, looking up. His eyes were glassy and far away. His skin had paled as he stared down… I followed his gaze…

  The blood was mine.

  There was a huge chunk of glass sticking out of the top of my thigh. Blood seeped through the fabric of my sweats and was oozing out around the glass where it punctured deeply into my skin.

  All I could think was thank God it wasn’t Lucy or Nathan.

  As blood continued to pump out of the wound, sliding toward the floor, Nathan stared at it, paralyzed.

  “Nathan,” I said, but he didn’t seem to hear me.

  “I’m gonna get the medic, Prior,” he said, his voice far away. “I’m not going to let you die.”

  Oh God. He was having some sort of flashback from the night his unit was attacked.

  “Nathan!” I cried, taking his face between my hands and forcing his gaze away from my blood loss. “Nathan! It’s Honor. I’m fine. It’s just a cut. I’m going to be okay.”

 
Nathan’s eyes remained glassy and then he blinked. “Honor,” he whispered.

  I nodded. “It’s me. I’m okay.”

  He swallowed and glanced back down at my leg.

  “Don’t look,” I urged, pulling his face back up to mine.

  “I… I’m sorry,” he murmured.

  My heart cracked. “Don’t be sorry,” I said, squeezing his face. “Everything’s fine.”

  “Don’t die,” he said, his whispered words breaking.

  “Look at me,” I demanded, swallowing past the enormous lump that lodged in my throat. “I am not going to die. No one is dying tonight.”

  Something in him seemed to hear me because a change came over him. He gave a brisk nod and clarity resurfaced in his eyes. He pulled out his cell from the pocket of his jeans and handed it to me. “Get the cops here. Now.”

  While I dialed, he reached up into a nearby drawer and pulled out a bunch of kitchen towels. Leaving the glass lodged in my leg, he used one of the towels and tied it just above the wound as tight as he could.

  I gritted my teeth while I hurriedly gave the operator the information and my address.

  Another bullet slammed into what was left of the glass, and I screamed. Nathan gave a shout and dove on top of me again, hunching himself around me as even more glass blasted into the room.

  I felt his body jerk, and I yelled his name.

  The operator on the line was saying, “Miss! Miss!” but I couldn’t reply, not yet. When no other shots were fired, Nathan pulled back and I saw the dozens of little cuts from his shoulders all the way to his wrists, and I wanted to scream.

  “C’mon,” he said, not even acknowledging the injuries as he pulled me up and once again shielded me as we ran from the room. In the living room, I assured the operator that we were alive and asked her to hurry.

  “The police are on their way, ma’am,” she said. “Stay on the line.”

  Like I had time to talk. I set the phone down on the coffee table, leaving the line open, and then placed Lucy on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. I grabbed my purse and dumped everything out, reaching for the gun and flipping off the safety.

  The sound of more glass shattering had my muscles stiffening. This time it wasn’t coming from the kitchen; it was coming from downstairs, in my office. The sliding glass doors.

  He was coming inside.

  Nathan rushed over to where his jacket hung on the railing and pulled a pistol out of his pocket and a knife out of his boot.

  Then he tossed me the keys to his Jeep. “Take Lucy and get outside. Get into the Jeep and start it up.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll be right behind you,” he said, a determined look on his face.

  He was going to face Lex. He wanted me to go outside while he went and risked his life.

  Not gonna happen.

  “Nathan,” I said, trying to reason with him. The sound of crunching glass broke off my words, and I knew Lex was in the house. I could hear him knocking things over downstairs in my office as he ripped apart my home.

  “Now,” Nathan ordered and grabbed me.

  Lucy pawed at my ankle, and I picked her up, cradling her close. I rushed toward the stairs with Nathan leading the way and hobbled down the steps, feeling the sticky ooze of blood all the way down to my ankle.

  Just as we reached the landing, a shadow appeared on the wall at the bottom of the lower level of the stairs and Nathan reacted instantly, catapulting over the railing and launching himself down the stairwell at our attacker.

  “Go!” he roared as I heard the men grunt as their bodies tangled and slid down the stairs.

  I wrapped my hand around the handle of the front door. The sound of fists hitting flesh had me spinning around to watch Nathan go at it with Lex, who was dressed in dark clothing with a black cap on his head.

  They were so close together, banging into walls, rolling over the ground, that I could barely make out who was who.

  And then a gun went off.

  32

  Nathan

  I felt the bullet plow into my skin. I felt the first fiery pain cut into my flesh. And then I shut it down.

  No bullet was going to stop me handing this bastard his ass.

  I stumbled backward when he plowed into my middle, jamming his fingers in the bullet hole. I bit back a cry and knocked away his hands as I slammed into the wall. He took off through the office door and I pushed up and went after him.

  I heard Honor calling my name, but I kept running.

  I wanted this guy out of our lives.

  Seeing blood rush out of her leg like that almost sent me over the edge. Like a time machine, it transported me back… back to that night when men I loved died. When I was forced to shoot and kill to protect myself. I tried to protect Prior that night.

  I failed.

  I wasn’t going to fail again.

  I rushed over the glass, feeling it cut into the bare soles of my feet, but I kept running. It was dark out in the yard, but my eyes adjusted quickly and I saw Lex leaping over the fence, and I leveled my gun at him and shot off a couple rounds.

  Weapons were my job. I didn’t miss my target.

  He let out a stark cry and toppled off the fence and hit the ground with a hard thud. With my weapon still drawn, I made my way over to his side, where he was squirming around like a damned pansy.

  I kicked him.

  I never said I was a nice guy.

  He coughed and wheezed; blood spurted out of his mouth and spotted his chin.

  There was something about that chin that didn’t seem right…

  I kicked the gun out of his hands, and he reached for it, but I stepped on his fingers and bent down. He was still writhing. My bullet hit him in the chest, and I could tell from the sound of his breathing that his lungs were filling with blood.

  I should have felt some remorse.

  I didn’t.

  I would likely be haunted with more nightmares, more sleepless nights, but in that moment, I didn’t care. I didn’t feel a thing. The bullet in my side didn’t register. The glass in my feet didn’t hurt. I didn’t think about the cuts on my arms as I reached down and yanked away the hat pulled low over his face.

  It wasn’t Lex. It was someone I’d never seen before.

  I stared down at the man, who began to laugh.

  “Sucker,” he wheezed.

  I slammed the butt of the pistol into his temple and cut off his laugh. My heart hammered as I spun around, fear and worry for Honor filling my veins with ice.

  I listened through the darkness for the sound of the Jeep’s engine. For proof that she listened and made it to the car.

  There was no sound of a rumbling engine.

  There was no sound at all.

  The night was unnaturally quiet.

  “Honor!” I roared, increasing my speed and pressing a hand to the wound in my side. Fuck, bullet wounds hurt.

  From somewhere in the house, I heard the sound of Lucy’s bark.

  And then a gun went off.

  33

  Honor

  Nathan was shot.

  I saw the blood gushing out of his side and running down his bare skin to pool at the waistband of his jeans.

  Where the hell were the cops?

  “Nathan!” I shouted when he pushed off the wall and ran after Lex. He was an idiot! He was shot!

  If he died, I was going to make the paramedics revive him so I could kill him all over again. Forgetting all about my orders from Nathan, I rushed back up the stairs and shut Lucy in the bathroom. She whined as I moved back down the hall, but I didn’t know what else to do with her. At least in there she would be safe.

  I gripped the gun as I rush-limped down the stairs. I wasn’t about to let Nathan fight my battles for me. He already took some glass to his arm and back and a bullet. But this was my battle. That man out there was my kidnapper. I wasn’t going to let him control me. I wasn’t going to let him make me cower in fear.

&nb
sp; When my foot hit the very last step, a dark figure stepped around the corner. I gasped.

  It was Lex.

  I’d know that handsome yet sadistic face anywhere.

  I glanced behind him into my destroyed office and looked for Nathan. Where was he? Did he pass out? Was he dead?

  “He’s not too bright, is he?” Lex said. Just the sound of his voice made my insides curdle like spoiled milk.

  “What did you do to him!” I demanded.

  Lex smiled. “Not a thing. I’m saving all my punishment for you.”

  I looked at my kidnapper again. He wasn’t wearing all black like the man Nathan was fighting. Lex was dressed in jeans, running shoes, and a black NorthFace jacket. He wasn’t wearing a hat at all.

  He looked like he came from the grocery store or something.

  My eyes widened when I realized what happened. He tricked us.

  “How did you find someone sick enough to help you?” I asked, glancing behind him once more. Where was Nathan?

  “I’m offended you think I’m sick,” he mocked.

  “Even if you kill me, you won’t get away with this. The police have Mary’s locket. They already know what you did to me.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Yes. I saw the news. Not to worry,” he said, taking a step forward as I took one back. “By the time the cops get here, you’ll be dead and I’ll be long gone.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” I said, remembering the gun clutched in my hand.

  “Who says I need a reason? Maybe I just do it because I like it.”

  For some reason, I glanced down. His crotch was hard. Talk about a guy with sick fantasies. I swung up the gun and aimed it at his head. He lashed out, smacking the glass in my leg and making me cry out and stumble.

  Lex took advantage of my momentary rush of pain and slapped my wrist and yanked the gun out of my hand. I kicked him and then scrambled up the steps away from him.

  (Yes, I am aware I now joined the ranks of stupid idiots who run UP the stairs when a killer is after them.)

  He grabbed my ankle and my chin slammed into the step. I felt my lip split open, and the pungent taste of blood flooded my mouth. I groaned, rolling onto my back and kicking with my free leg. My foot connected with his face. He let go, and I scrambled across the landing and up the second set of stairs.