Page 143 of Puck Princess

I fist my hands at my sides again as I look at the bright red blood. At the butcher knife I use to cut fruits and vegetables being bagged for evidence.

“Where did they— Which—” I don’t even know what I’m asking. I only know I want to see her. “Where is she?”

“The ambulance took them to LBJ Hospital.”

I nod at the officer, but it isn’t until I feel Lance’s hand on my shoulder that I realize I haven’t moved. That my chest is rising and falling too fast. That my head is overflowing with all the things I need to do.

Get to Callie.

Make sure she’s okay.

Find Spencer.

Make sure he’s never okay again.

“Kennedy texted, and they’re at the hospital. Let’s get some air, okay?” He leads me towards the door, past the officers in the hall and down the stairs. “Callie is okay.”

No, she isn’t. If she was okay, she’d be in my bed.

If she was okay, there wouldn’t be a puddle of blood on my floor.

As soon as we make it to the curb, I lean against the SUV, just out of view of the flashing red and blue lights on the other side of the building.

“We were just with her, Lance.”

“I know.”

“I shouldn’t have gone. I should’ve stayed with her. I should’ve?—”

“This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault.”

It is. Because I should’ve killed him the first time I saw him with his hands on my future wife.

“Spencer tried to kill her!” I scream.

I’m not screaming at Lance. I’m screaming because I’m sick and fucking tired of being fucked with. Of men coming after the woman I love.

Lance nods like he knows. Like he understands. “What do you want to do?”

“Find him.”

Lance pulls out his phone and starts tapping out messages. Meanwhile, I am pacing. I am seething. I have so much hot adrenaline pounding through my veins, I feel like a dragon brewing up a storm in its lungs just before an annihilating exhale.

I knew Spencer was bad. I knew he wanted to hurt her—to hurt us. I knew he was a rich asshole who would stop at nothing to win, even if it meant smirking down from the top of a tall pile of collateral damage.

But I didn’t think he’d go this far.

And now, there’s no lengths I won’t go to take care of him. No matter what.

Lance’s phone buzzes, and he curses under his breath. “I found him. One of the rookies said he just saw him at a brewery off Fulton and Burnett.”

I hold out my hand for the keys. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

This might be the ugliest night of my life. There’s no telling how things unfold. If Lance doesn't want to be a part of this, I wouldn’t blame him.

But without any hesitation, he opens the door. “He messed with people I love, O. Now, he dies.”

I give him a grateful nod and we take off.

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