Page 114 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
If anything, his grin got wider and more macabre.“Then you won’t be surprised by this.”He lifted his gun and aimed it at me.
Adrenaline dumped into my system.But I had to distract him from my daughter.“Surprised?No.I’m only surprised it took you so long to kill me.Why?”Keep him talking.Feign interest into his twisted mind, cater to his fucked up ego.I’d learned all of that from him.Now, I used that knowledge to buy time.
“You always were my favorite.”
Oh, spare me.“I’m sure that’s not …completely accurate.”I’d almost called him a liar.Survival instincts screamed at me to change my phrasing at the last second.
“I suppose not.Girls are a dime a dozen.But you were… how to say it?”He stared off into space for a theatrical moment, searching for the right wordsto cut me.“Defiant?No.More like patient.You knew when to back down.But you were always searching for a way out.I never knew when you’d run.You were only biding your time.That’s because, deep down, you’re truly like your father.He was a patient man, too.Waiting for his time to strike.Eating my shit for years.”
Shock paused to rid himself of a bad memory that flashed on his face like he’d tasted something bitter.
“He went to the Feds.Right behind my back.”Shock lifted his head to the upstairs railing.“Thank God Cara warned me.That’s why he died.She did it.”
“She didn’t pull the trigger.”That was all his doing; I had no doubts about that.
That ugly smile came back.“She might as well have.”
Zoe tried to slip from the office to the kitchen hallway.It caught Shock’s attention.“There you are.”
“Shock.”I tried to get his attention, but he was having none of it.And I was too far away to throw myself on him so Zoe could get away.
“She’s pretty like you.I wonder if she blushes?”
“Leave her alone.”My voice didn’t sound like mine.
He noticed that.“Your mom was always such a shy, quiet creature.But I knew she had a backbone.I loved beating that fight out of her.”
Zoe’s eyes darted to mine for answers.I shook my head.
No, he didn’t beat it out of me.I would fight to the very last breath.But I’d do it my way.Patiently.Like water eroding stone.
“Do you take after your mother?”
“Don’t answer him,” I interjected.
“Aw, you can talk to me, sweetheart.”He turned on the charm.
“I repeat, leave her alone.”I stepped forward, hoping to draw his attention.
It worked.He refocused his aim on me.“Or what?”
“Or nothing.You don’t talk to her; you don’t touch her.”
“How are you going to make that happen?”
His leer sent a chord of terror through me.But I kept my face calm.“Whatever it takes.”I took another step forward.I was almost within touching distance of the gun.
“Try again.You’re old.Bred.Used.Using your body won’t work on me, Kate; you’re useless.I’m thinking I need something newer.Fresher.More… virginal.”His head tilted toward Zoe.She edged away from him, moving back toward the office.Her shoulders were hunched, and her hands tucked tightly in the front pocket of her hoodie.I wanted to scream at her.Not that way.Don’t walk like prey.Don’t come closer to me so he can shoot both of us.Please.She took another shuffled step toward me.
Damn it.I spoke with my “mom” voice, “Zoe?I’ll do whatever it takes, but that’smysacrifice, not yours.”I meant it.
Her eyes locked on Shock.Her eyebrow, the crooked one, lifted.It was so similar to Jackson’s that my heart hurt.Whatever she was planning, it wasn’t good.
“Zoe, please,” I begged her to listen to me.
Shock laughed.“Teenagers, huh?They never listen.”
Zoe straightened, her hands sliding out of the pocket of the hoodie.They met in front of her.In them, she had Gina’s tiny gun.The one I’d thought she’d set on the ledge by the gun range hours ago when Nonno interrupted us.Zoe must have grabbed it when we scrambled into hiding.
