And now this is happening.
He’d told his brother that Dawn couldn’t swim. He’d told Jason how afraid she’d been and how Tucker had wanted to erase that fear.
“Don’t go into the water!” He lifted his hand toward her and realized that his knuckles were bloody from punching Jason. “Dawn, please…stop.”
She lifted her hands, as if she’d ward him off. “Don’t hurt me.” Her voice was a weak rasp and it utterly broke his heart. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized just how completely truly she owned his heart.
But when he felt it shatter, he knew.
“I wouldn’t.” He took another step toward her. The dock swayed beneath his feet. “Not ever.”
She shook her head.
She doesn’t believe me. He could see it. He risked a glance over his shoulder but saw that Jason was still sprawled on the ground. Quickly, he turned his attention back to her. “I don’t know what’s happening here.”
Her laughter was bitter, terrified, and it hurt him. “Your brother…is going to kill me.”
No. It wouldn’t happen.
Tucker took another step toward her. “We’re going to get in my car and we’re going to get the hell out of here.” He kept his palm open to her. He needed her to trust him. To take his hand. “Come on, baby. I swear, I won’t let him hurt you.” I won’t ever let anyone hurt you again.
She was shaking, but…
“He said you were…coming to kill me.”
Tucker shook his head. “No.”
“Did you…kill the others?”
What others? Nausea rose in his stomach. Wasn’t this what he’d feared? Oh, shit. Shit. He should have stopped this. Should have paid more attention to his brother.
He’s too much like our father.
That was the problem. They were both too much like dear old dad.
She put her hand to her shoulder, to the wound that was still bleeding. She was covered in blood, they were near the edge of the water, and he knew there were plenty of gators out there. He could hear their cries. “Let’s get out of here.” He took another step toward her. He was just going to have to grab her and pull her to his car. He wanted her away from that death-soaked place. Right the hell then—
He lunged for her. But Dawn jumped back and fell into the water. She sank like a stone and his heart stopped. In the next second, he was diving off that dock after her. No way was he going to lose Dawn. Not her. Not her. The words were a mantra in his head. He swam until he touched her, until his hand wrapped around her body, and then he kicked them up to the surface. He felt something brush against his body but he didn’t stop. The gators were there, he knew the blood and thrashing would just be drawing them in closer, and Tucker knew that he was getting Dawn out of that water.
He pushed her toward the dock and helped to heave her body up onto the old wood. Water streamed down her body as she crawled across the rotting dock, and Tucker hauled himself right up after her. He reached for Dawn.
Jason’s laughter froze him.
“That was impressive,” his brother said. “Very hero-like, the way you dived in after her.”
Tucker was on his knees. Dawn was about two feet away from him, and Jason…he had a gun pressed to her head.
“This isn’t how I planned things.” Jason’s left hand swiped at the blood that fell from his busted lip while his right held that gun against her temple. “But it can still work.”
Tucker didn’t look at Dawn’s face right then. He couldn’t.
“You knew it would happen,” Jason said. “Only a matter of time, for us both. The urge was always there. The violence—it’s a rush, isn’t it?”
His hands fisted at his sides. “Let her go.”
“You won’t believe what I’ve learned. I want to show it to you. Share it with you. But this one…” He jabbed the gun into Dawn’s temple. Dawn didn’t make a sound. “She’s messing things up. You think I didn’t see it? Even years ago, you watched her too much. But you didn’t touch her. Hands off, right, bro? You broke that rule this time, and everything changed.” His shoulders slumped. “So maybe it’s your fault this is happening to her.”
“Jason…”
“It’s your fault she’s dying.”
Tucker reached his right hand beneath the leg of his wet jeans. He grabbed for the knife he kept there, but he made sure not to let his brother see the weapon.
“She has to die. I mean, if I let her go…she’ll run to the cops. She’ll tell them what happened. They’ll lock me up. You don’t want that to happen, do you?” Jason demanded, a desperate edge creeping into the words. “You don’t want me in a cell? A cage?” His voice roughened even more. “We’ve both been in a cage before. We swore neither of us would go back.”
Yes, they had sworn that.
“Choose.” Jason stared straight at him, his eyes glittering. “Choose right now and let her know it. Tell her the truth that we’ve always both known. Blood is thicker than anything else. Blood binds.”
Tucker rose to his feet, making sure to keep the knife behind him and out of his brother’s sight. “Blood comes first.” Those were the words their father had battered into their minds.
Jason nodded and he lifted the gun away from Dawn’s head.
“Tucker?” she rasped his name. “Please, don’t…”
“You do the honors,” Jason said. He offered the gun to Tucker. The guy was smiling at him, as if this was some kind of game.
It wasn’t a game.
Dawn tried to crawl away.
Jason yanked her back. He locked one hand around her throat. The other still held the gun, but now the barrel was pointed down at the dock.
“She’s more of a fighter than I thought,” Jason murmured. “Sometimes, they don’t fight at all. They just beg.”
My brother is a monster. And Tucker had let this happen.
Dawn was clawing at Jason’s hand, but his brother didn’t even seem to feel the pain. He just stared straight at Tucker, that stupid smile on his face as he choked Dawn.
With his right hand, Tucker reached for the gun. But at the same time, his left hand came up in a rush—and he drove that knife straight at his brother’s chest.
Jason let out a bellow as he staggered back. He freed Dawn and she scrambled away.
Tucker snatched the gun from Jason. Then Tucker twisted that weapon around in a fast, practiced movement, aiming it at Jason even as his brother yanked the knife out of his chest.
“Don’t!” Tucker snarled when Jason took a lunging step toward him. Dawn had run down the dock, heading back toward the old cabin. “This is ending, right here. You aren’t hurting anyone else.” Dear God, Jason…how many people have you already hurt? He was afraid to find out that truth.
“You stabbed me.” His blood was dripping on the dock. “To save her, you stabbed me.” Fury burned in this words. Disbelief.
“I will kill you in order to save her.” Just so there was no confusion. But it doesn’t have to be this way. He moved his body, making sure to block the exit off that old dock, stopping any attempt Jason could make to charge after Dawn. “Jason, drop the knife.” Jason still gripped it tightly. “Drop the knife and put your hands up.”
Jason didn’t drop the knife. “What are you going to do? Call the cops? Play the hero?”
His phone was in the car. “Yeah, I’ll be calling the cops.”
“I said no cage!” That rage was getting hotter. “You know that! You know I can’t handle that!” And Jason laughed. A wild sound. “Just as I know you won’t kill me. You can’t. That knife barely even went into me. You weren’t trying. Just for show…”
He was coming forward.
Tucker couldn’t hear the thud of Dawn’s footsteps any longer. Where was she? “Don’t take another step.”
But Jason did. “I’m going to slice her all over. I’m going to make her beg.”
Tucker’s rage burned, too. “You aren’t touching her.”
“You
’re going to help me. You’re going to be at my side, the way you always are. You understand me. You want the same things I want.”
Jason was a foot away from him.
Tucker shook his head. “I want Dawn.” He eased out a low breath. “Drop that knife, now.” But he knew Jason wasn’t going to do it. “Don’t—” he began, but it was too late. Jason had surged forward. He didn’t swing at Tucker with his knife. Tucker wasn’t his goal. He slammed his body into Tucker’s, shoving him out of the way.
Because Jason wants Dawn.
But Tucker wasn’t letting that happen. He caught his brother, held tight when Jason fought and then…
He fired.
The blast of that gun seemed deafening. For a moment after that terrible thunder, there was no sound at all. Even the insects had stopped chirping, as if they were afraid. Jason was staring at him, his face easy to see under the bright, full moon.
Shock.
Betrayal.
Then Jason was plunging that knife at Tucker, slicing down his arm, slicing his hand and trying to make Tucker drop the gun.
He didn’t drop it. Tucker fired again.
Jason staggered back.
“You won’t touch her again.”
Tucker fired once more. His brother was on the edge of the dock, he staggered back—
And fell into the water, sinking deep with a splash.
Don’t miss
BEFORE THE DAWN by Cynthia Eden,
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Copyright © 2017 by Cindy Roussos
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