Page 57 of Finding Limits

I shake my head and focus on finding my next breath, “Well, I’m just putting it out there, Hunter’s a pretty solid name.” He smiles nervously and as much as I appreciate his attempts to distract me, they are ineffective. I know how Solomon works, he always gets his way and if help doesn’t hurry up and get here, I’ll never see Mitch again. I can’t even think about the child I have growing inside me right now, if I do I know I’ll lose my head completely.

The door swings open and Solomon trudges inside, taking the rope that binds me and slicing a knife through it. He snatches his hand around my wrist and starts to drag me outside, and all I hear is Hunter yelling at him to leave me alone.

I keep my eyes firmly closed, too scared to face up to what will happen next, and that's when I hear the sound of hooves thundering into the ground. I wonder at first if it's my heart beating out of my chest from fear, but when Solomon stops dead and turns around I allow myself to open my eyes and see Mitch galloping toward us.

“Get your fuckin’ hands off her!” He dismounts the horse and comes toward us, but Solomon doesn’t listen. Instead, he forces my body in front of him, then takes the knife he’s holding in his other hand and presses the blade tight to my throat.

“She’s mine,” he tells Mitch with his hands trembling, and I see the fear in Mitch's eyes as he takes a step back and holds up his hands, defensively.

“Put the knife down so we can talk.” His glance keeps shifting between the blade and my eyes and when I swallow, I feel it cut into my throat.

“You don’t wanna hurt her, Solomon.” Mitch shakes his head.

“But I will if I have to. She belongs to me and no one else. Do you think it’s a coincidence that I came here looking for the boy and found her in the same town? That’s God’s work.” He laughs hysterically.

“You're scarin’ her, look,” Mitch gestures his head toward me, trying to play on Solomon’s empathy. But he won’t find any, I learned that very fast when I was down in that bunker at his mercy.

“Solomon, I’m gonna ask you politely one more time to put that knife down.”

“And if I don’t?” Solomon challenges him.

“Well, then things are gonna get real messy.” I’ve never seen Mitch look more threatening.

“I won’t let you have her. I told you, she’s mine.”

“Everleigh, darlin’,” Mitch is focused on me now, acting like Solomon isn’t even there. “Don’t be scared, this man ain’t gonna hurt you,” he promises.

“How can you be so sure?” Solomon’s hand tenses.

“Because if God truly wanted ya to have her, He wouldn't have told you to kill her. You're not livin’ in your village, anymore. You can’t manipulate people with your lies and your deceit. If it was God’s voice you were hearin’, He wouldn’t be tellin’ ya to slit the throat of this sweet, innocent girl.” I feel Solomon loosen his grip on me.

“Don’t hide behind the façade anymore, Solomon, it’s time to stand up and be a man. You want her, I want her. You're in the real world, now, and there's only one way for two men to settle a disagreement.” Mitch slowly starts to unbutton his cuffs and rolls the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows.

“You want me to fight you?” Solomon laughs as if the concept confuses him.

“What's the matter? Ain’t ya ever had to fight for somethin’ before?” Mitch appears to be waiting patiently while Solomon thinks it over, but I see the fear glistening in his eyes as he stares t into mine.

“Come on, Solomon, ya got me on age, and you're a big guy. If I were you, I’d be likin’ my chances.” Mitch cracks his knuckles and I feel the blade move a little further away from my skin.

“You wanna watch me kill him, little dove?” he whispers into my ear before he kisses my cheek, and I watch Mitch’s jaw tense with fury.

I hear the sound of a baby crying but I can’t turn my head. I'm too afraid.

“Don’t go anywhere. I have plans for us.” He shoves me to the side, and I breathe a long sigh of relief until he lunges forward and tries to stab Mitch with the knife.

“No!” I scream as Mitch manages to dodge him, getting a good hit on his face in the process. It still doesn’t change the fact that Solomon is armed and Mitch isn’t. I can hear a whole lot of commotion up ahead and when I look up and see men on horses in the distance, I pray that they hurry.

Solomon shows he has no fighting skills by constantly hacking the knife in Mitch's direction and when Mitch manages to get a hold of his wrist, he twists it back around his body at an angle so awkward, that Solomon falls to his knees and drops it from his hand. I watch as Mitch kicks him in his back sending the top half of his body, and his face, into the dirt. Then picking up the knife in one hand, he lifts Solomon’s head up by his hair and draws him back up onto his knees. Now, Mitch is the one with the blade in his hand and he’s holding it against Solomon’s throat.

“You won’t let him kill me.” He looks up at me as if I’m the one who can save him. “You’re good, Everleigh, and I was good to you, remember?”

“Look away, sweetheart,” Mitch tells me in that soft voice that always soothes me.

“Everleigh, God will never forgive you if you let him kill me,” Solomon speaks up again, the fear in his voice getting more and more desperate.

“You're right.” I step closer and take the blade from Mitch’s hand. He looks confused as he keeps a firm hold on Solomon, then just as he’s about to say something, I interrupt him.

“He’d much prefer if I did it myself.” I think about the baby that he had ripped from my womb as I slice the blade across his throat and watch the blood spill from the gash I’ve made. His eyes bulge with shock before Mitch releases him, and as I watch him turn pale and convulse on the floor, I drop the bloody knife from my hand and allow Mitch to scoop me up in his arms.

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