Page 132 of Falling Too Late

I watched as he and the dogs headed down the driveway.

I wandered into my studio. I hadn’t been in here since Alex found it. I pulled down the project I had been working on andfound a new file for it so it didn’t smudge, putting on a piece of tissue paper to protect the charcoal.

I let myself get into the zone, taking a piece of charcoal sideways and adding dimension to it.

I realized I’d lost track of time and headed to the kitchen. I filled the coffee pot up and scooped some grounds into it. Trying to get the coffee started before Mario got here.

I heard the squeak of the storm door. “Shit, hey, Mario.” I thought I had more time, glancing around the kitchen for my phone to see the time, but realizing I had left it upstairs.

I headed down the hallway, “I lost track of time, let me change and then we can?—”

It wasn’t Mario standing in my hallway.

It was Jon.

“Jon, what are you doing here?” I fought down the panic crawling up my throat.

“I needed to see you, Wren.” His eyes were wide and bloodshot. He looked around the room like he was waiting for someone. “Where is he?”

I swallowed hard. “Where is who?”

“Don’t fucking play with me, Wren!” He rushed forward and I took a few steps back. His eyes went wide, hands coming up, placating me.

“Alex isn’t here, Jon,” I said slowly, calmly. “He left this morning.”

Alex had been taking the route around the lake for the last week, which usually took him about two hours.

Jon straightened and that’s when I saw it, my revolver in his hand.

I brought my eyes up to his, trying to keep my nerves at bay.

“How have you been? Are you f-feeling better?” A tremorcaught in my throat, but he didn’t seem to notice. That gun was loaded, and I knew it. I always kept it loaded.

“No, Wren, I haven't beenfeelingbetter.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

Mentally I was cursing myself. My phone was upstairs, and even if I got outside and screamed, I didn’t have neighbors for miles. I knew I could take him, I had the training, but even I knew I couldn’t go up against a gun. Alex hadn’t been gone very long, and I didn’t expect him to walk through those doors anytime soon. I had to deal with Jon myself.

“Talk to me. Melissa said you haven’t been going to work.” I pushed the words out calmly. I was hyperaware of my barely dressed state. The thin material of my sleepwear and my light robe. I pulled it tightly around me.

“I can’t go to work. They will find me.” He moved past me and pushed the curtains open, looking outside. Before I could make a move for my knife drawer, he raised the gun at me.

My heart hammered in my chest, and I couldn’t help the trembling in my hands.

“Who will find you?” I asked.

“The fucking loan sharks!” he yelled, moving away from the window. I had never seen Jon lose his temper before.

“Jon,” I whispered. “I don’t understand why you are doing this, why you lied about Ale?—”

The gun collided with my cheek. My ears rang and I fell to the floor, stars bursting behind my eyes. I tried to blink them away quickly to catch my bearings.

“Fucking Alex! Oh my god, that's all you fucking think about! That’s all anyone thinks about!”

I tried to push myself up off the floor when his hand gripped my hair and shoved me into a chair.

“If it wasn’t for you, I would still have my life.”

My face screwed up in confusion. I pushed my hair out of my way, watching him with my eyes as he paced back and forth. I felthot blood trickle down my face. I reached up and touched it, my hand coming back red.

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