Page 66 of Jack

I don’t know who she is, but she has a lot of faith in the Viking Warriors. And whoever said librarians were sweet and timid had never met this one. She’s proof you should never judge a book by its cover. No pun intended here at all.

Sirens blare in the distance, and tires screech to a halt. Joel weighs his options. The librarian realizes his intent. She screams and runs toward us, ready to swing the chair again. I don’t see Joel’s fist until blood spews from my nose, and I’m on the floor again. Before the librarian can hit him again, Joel opens the door.

He pauses long enough to issue one last threat. “I’ll be back for both of you.”

With him gone, I crumble all the way to the floor, still holding my bleeding nose. My sobs are controllable now, so I don’t even try to hold them back.

“Oh my gosh.” The librarian drops to the floor next to me. She quickly takes her cream-colored cardigan off and holds it against my nose.

“I’ll ruin it.”

“It’s just a sweater.” She slowly helps me to my feet.

“Lily!” Jack bursts through the front doors and runs toward us.

Viking Warriors and firefighters run in behind him and quickly spread out around the building. The librarian steps away and motions for me to go. I listen and run into Jack’s arms.

“Joel was here,” I say between ragged breaths.

“I’m so sorry, angel. I won’t ever leave you unprotected again.” His arms wrap so tight around me it feels like he’s trying to pull me into his chest.

“What happened?” Jay asks. He looks between me and the librarian.

“He was in the library. I didn’t see him until he grabbed me.” They can never know why I was so distracted.

“He tried to take her out the back door,” the librarian tells them.

“This will help more than the sweater.” Rodeo hands Jack an ice pack he got from one of the firefighters.

I lower the sweater, and Jack tries to hold the ice pack over my nose gently. The cold hurts, but it will help to reduce the swelling. I squeeze the bloody sweater tightly. I'd have been taken if it weren’t for the woman who owns this sweater. She saved my life.

I turn my head just enough to face her. Tears run down my cheeks. I can never repay her for today.

“It’s ruined.” I slightly lift the sweater. “I can’t give it back to you like this. I’ll buy you a new one.”

“It’s just a sweater,” she repeats.

“You saved my life.” Whether she lets me or not, I will replace the sweater.

“Finley?” Jay narrows his eyes and moves closer to her.

Rodeo and Bankz surround her with stunned expressions on their faces.

“Angel?” Jack gently lifts my chin. “How did Finley save your life? What did she do?” He sounds concerned and surprised like the others are.

“She hit him with a chair.” I point to it on the floor. “Several times.”

Rodeo laughs. “Nick needs to pull the cameras. I wanna see this.”

“Let’s sort this out at the Den. I wanna get Lily home,” Jack insists.

“Jack.” I place my palm against his chest and wait for his eyes to meet mine. They’re light brown now and haunted. He thinks he failed. He hasn’t failed, but we can talk about that later. “Joel threatened to kill a lot of people here.”

“Give me a list of names, and Jay will set up security details for them.”

“He threatened everyone at the bakery and Mrs. Hammond.” I look over my shoulder at her. “And Finley.”

Jay growls and gives a firm nod. “I’m on it. They’ll have guards within thirty minutes.”

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