Page 160 of Rugger: The Huntress

“It?”

“It was the perfect shot and the perfect plan–even the perfect person to execute it. I don’t understand how I woke up six months later without a fucking clue about what’s been going on around me.”

I leaped to my feet and pushed my chair away from the table.

“Gazelle,” Sonnie called out to me as I took off in the other direction, “Gazelle.”

The shuffling behind me let me know that he was attempting to follow, but with the way his body was betraying him it would be impossible right now.

“Gazelle!”

I kept a steady pace as I made good strides toward the compound. As I approached, I was given immediate access. My feet didn’t stop marching until I was behind the largest home on the island where Chemistry and Egypt sat on the deck as if neither of them had a care in the world.

I dislodged a warning shot from my gun, piercing the shutter just above Chemistry’s head. He turned to face me as Egypt raised from her chair. She was almost seven months pregnant and as big as me. Though her movements were slow, she still cleared the intended path in a short amount of time.

“RUGGER,” she shouted, “Put it down.”

“Let her be, Egypt.”

Her weapon was raised and her hand was on the trigger. Without a doubt, I knew she’d shoot for Chemistry. She’d kill for Chemistry. She’d die for Chemistry. But her lengths were hardly commendable compared to the lengths I was willing to go forChemistry, which was why it was best she stayed the fuck out of our business.

“I will shoot you dead and cut the fucking baby out of your belly to make sure he lives. This is not your fucking mess, Egypt, so stay out of it. I have forgiven, but I have not forgotten that I owe you a bullet.”

“Put your fucking gun down!” She screamed, “You’re aiming it at my fucking husband. I will not–”

“Choc, put the gun down. I love you, baby, I love you with my life but if a bullet from your gun touches my sister, shit between us will never be the same. We’ll be beyond repair.”

“She– she has every intention to shoot you.”

“She has every right. Shooting me and killing me aren’t the same. It would destroy her. I’m not going to die today, Choc, but something between us will if you don’t put your weapon down.”

Defeated, Egypt lowered her gun and waltzed into the house.

“Urgh.”

Chemistry accepted the first bullet I lodged in his side.

“Urgh.”

The second one pierced the skin just beneath it. He stood tall, never folding as he nodded.

“Do you feel better now?” He asked, taking a step toward me.

“It was yo– it was you, wasn’t it.”

His silence was deafening. I wanted to see more blood, but this was my whole chest coming toward me. I couldn’t release another bullet. I wouldn’t release another bullet.

“I don’t know anyone in Clarke that can take a kill shot like that and not kill the target but you!”

“And you–” he reminded me, “And, Sonnie.”

“Sonnie was the target and I had completed my assignment. I was busy reading his proposal, preparing to agree to marriage because I knew that with him was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. But, right before my fucking eyes– right beforemy eyes, a bullet stole everything I’d never known I wanted or needed right from me. And, it was you. It was you all along.”

“It had to be me.”

It had to be her.The words I’d heard at least twenty times after his incarceration and Egypt’s revealed identity came back to mind.

“It had to be me, baby.”

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