Page 79 of Levee

This was the end.

But even as I felt like I was being pulled under, there was a loud sound in my apartment.

It wasn’t my attacker. It was further away.

My door, maybe? Smacking against the wall from being thrown open?

Was someone coming to my rescue?

But even as I thought I might have heard a voice, I realized they were too late.

I was gone.

—

Even at the brink of death, the body’s instinct to survive was strong.

I wasn’t conscious of starting to do it, but as I sucked in a violent breath, I folded upright on the couch.

My heartbeat, so close to giving up, started to slam so hard in my chest that it seemed like it was punching against my ribs.

My hand flew to my chest as I sucked in fast, frantic breaths. Both the need for oxygen and the panic had me hyperventilating.

I couldn’t say how long it was until I could think a single thought other than breathing and panic.

When I did, though, I shot off the couch, ready to fight, to run, to…

But the attacker was gone.

In his place?

William.

Sitting in his electric wheelchair, using it to bar the door.

“He’s gone,” he said, making me sink back down onto the couch, my legs shaking so hard I was worried I might fall.

“You’re… sure?” I gasped between deep breaths.

“Yep,” William confirmed, watching me with a faraway look. “Ran off like he had a fire up his ass. ‘Course, I would too,” he said, reaching to tap something down by his leg.

It was only then I realized what about an old gentleman in a wheelchair could scare a man into running away from his crime.

The shotgun he likely had raised in his hand as he came barging in.

The door slamming against the wall.

That was William, of all people, coming to my rescue.

I tried to think the best of most people. But I kind of expected that if William heard me being brutally murdered, he would grumble about the racket and turn up his TV program.

This was… pleasantly surprising. And, you know, life-saving.

“Thank you,” I said as tears flooded my eyes, realizing how close I was to never seeing my family again, never seeing mywork in a gallery, making love with Levee again, having and raising the babies I so desperately wanted.

To that, he just grunted as I pressed my hands to my eyes, trying to press hard enough to keep the tears from streaming down my cheeks.

He said nothing else as I tried to breathe through the adrenaline surging through me, making it impossible to think straight.

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