Page 161 of Say Yes to the Death

He lifted her up. How strong was this frat boy? Did they have special kidnapping workouts? Maybe a HIIT-style class where they dragged blow-up dolls filled with sand?

Her feet flailed. She couldn’t touch the ground. Panic flared inside her like a flame.

Her captor dragged her backward, away from the fray. She wiggled and thrashed, but her aimless kicks at his legs didn’t delay his progress. Static crackled in her ear. Could Sawyer see her?

A tree branch scratched at her cheek, and the light of the full moon dissipated. They were in the forest now. Crickets chirped on each side of her. The lawn was getting farther away. Help was all but gone.

Her heart beat so hard and fast that her smart watch vibrated on her wrist with a warning to breathe. Darkness started closing in on her vision. Her head was fuzzy. Nausea twisted her insides.

What was that sound? Was that a belt buckle coming undone? Was he going to tie her up with it, or was he preparing for something even worse?

Fuck it. There was no time for officially sanctioned self-defense. She wrenched her neck to one side and sunk her teeth into the man’s arm.

He cried out and dropped her like a sack of potatoes. She fell to the ground, knees nearly collapsing, and whirled to face him.

“You stupid bitch!” Stringy hair hung in his eyes as he clutched at his arm.

Claire cocked her arm back and smashed the heel of her hand into his greasy nose. He cried out and stumbled against a tree. She took a couple of steps back and then ran straight at him like a freight train. She swung her foot up and directly into his crotch like she was kicking a field goal.

The man crumpled to the leaf-scattered earth and moaned. She aimed another kick at his ribs for good measure.

“Claire?” Nicole called from far away.

Claire turned and ran toward the voice. Her hip stung like she had wandered over a yellow jacket’s nest. Something wet and red was dripping down her side, splattering into the grass. Great, now she owed Mindy a new dress.

Someone had jumped in front of that bullet for her. But who? She scanned the grass. Kyle and Luke were duking it out with two brothers. She breathed a sigh of relief and swiveled. Mindy stood over Gavin’s crumpled form, screaming. Nicole was talking to Wendy and gesturing at the kerfuffle with exaggerated hand movements. Several women from the event had crowded around and were frowning at the scene on the lawn.

Sawyer walked by, dragging an unconscious ESA brother in each hand. “Police are on their way,” he said calmly before depositing the bodies in a pile.

A cry rang out to her left, by the dock. A man in a suit fought an upside-down triangle shaped frat boy in a cutoff tank top. What the hell was a man in a suit doing here? This was a women’s networking event.

She squinted at the pair. Hang on, she knew that perfectly molded hair.

“Dad?” The word tumbled from her lips before she fully comprehended what she was seeing.

Jack met her eyes for a split second. His entire torso was drenched in blood. An unnatural pallor had spread across his face. Her stomach clenched like she had been walloped in the abdomen. So, he had listened to her.

He was losing steam, barely holding his hands up in defense as the triangle guy swung at him. Moonlight glinted on something in the grass. From here, it looked like Jack’s FBI badge. Apparently, cults weren’t afraid of the FBI. She took a step in his direction, heart in her throat.

Another cry came from her right. Luke clutched at his arm. Blood was spreading rapidly from a new wound. She gasped. The tall, hook-nosed man from the ballroom darted back and forth in front of him. A blood-stained knife was clutched in his hand.

Everything around her moved in slow motion. She tore her gaze from Luke to Jack. Back and forth. Her deadbeat dad and her newly reformed pathological liar of a boyfriend. They were both in danger. Jack dodged another punch, but he bent at the waist, wheezing with effort. Luke’s attacker raised the knife again. Luke raised a blood-drenched fist.

Claire let out a strangled cry and sprinted across the lawn. She jumped onto the back of the knife-wielding man and wrapped her arms around his neck. A seam ripped in the dress. His elbows flailed, and the tip of the knife jabbed into her forearm. Another day, another scar. It wasn’t even as deep as the self-inflicted one she had from her sword. What a pansy.

Luke ducked and swept the attacker’s legs, sending them both crashing to the ground. Claire gasped, the wind knocked out of her. She rolled to her side in time to see the mayor of West Haven pepper spray a frat boy. All around them, women from the meeting were descending on the brothers. There were cries of pain in every direction. If it wasn’t so terrifying, it would have been empowering as hell.

Nicole kicked a knife out of someone’s hand, and Kyle punched him in the face. Sawyer calmly passed out zip ties from his utility belt to secure the brothers. Even Wendy had just kneed someone in the balls.

Claire froze. Luke was safe, for the moment at least. But she had abandoned her father. Her gaze swung back to the lake. The man who was attacking her father was gone. A clothed mass drifted at the edge of the shore.

She sprinted back to the beach and staggered knee-deep into the water. Crimson trails of blood swirled into the lake from a bullet hole in Jack’s shoulder. He floated face down. She grabbed an arm of his navy suit and tugged him back to shore, flipping him onto his back. His eyes were closed. She shook him, but he didn’t stir.

What had she done?

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

To Do:

---