Page 56 of The Fear
He hit Jessica so hard the two of them went straight into the thin drywall next to the dining room table.
Hala would never forgetthe sound Jessica made. The keening wail of a rabid animal was the closest way she could describe it.
Grady was there.
It was going to be okay.
She told the precious little girl in her arms that. “It’s okay. Grady’s here now. We’re okay. We’re safe.”
“My mommy hates me. My mommy hates me. I want Daddy. Mommy hurt Nana and I want my Daddy. My mommy hates me because I am bad.”
“We’ll find Daddy very soon.” Hala struggled to block Wynnie’s line of sight. Where was the knife? She didn’t see the knife. “You are not bad, baby. You are not ever bad.”
Jessica was writhing on the 1990s linoleum that Hala hadn’t exactly been too fond of. There was blood all over Jessica. There was bloodeverywhere.
The sight of all the red had Hala almost vomiting. She rememberedblood.From the night she’d lost her parents. There had been so much blood—on her parents, her baby sister…her. She fought nausea.
She tried to pull herself to her knees, to hold Wynnie close. Her arms…they burned. Both of her armsburned.
Jessica had cut her. Had actually cut her with the butcher knife. And she was bleeding.
But there was a precious baby girl in her arms. Who deserved,needed,Hala to keep it together.
Hala had to keep it together now.
Then there was shouting, and she looked up.
Into a beautiful man’s face.
But…it wasn’t the man she was looking for.
“Grady!”
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Grady was probably goingto be feeling this one for a while. He tried to roll toward his back, but Jessica was on his knees. Screaming. Sobbing that all she wanted was her kids. That she wanted to love them and take care of them.
But they had never bothered to loveherin return.
The little girl was crying. She sounded like George’s girls when they were scared. The sound was going right through him. She was just a baby—she didn’t deserve this. Not at all. He tried to turn again—to look for that little girl and for Hala.
Just to make sure they were both okay.
Grady tried to pull in a breath. It didn’t happen. It just hurt too much. He didn’t care—all that mattered was that Hala and those kids were okay. He looked down. Saw the hilt. He turned his head, to see her. “Ha?—”
Then…Luis was there. Grady just looked at his friend. “When?—”
“Stopped by on my way to see if Hala needed a hand with boxes. Saw your sister in the parking lot and heard the screaming. I figured I’d be all heroic and save you. Do notmove,Grady. Just don’t.” Luis leaned over him. “You need to stay still, no matter what.”
Luis was doing something with a roll of paper towels. Almost looked like he knew what he was doing or something. Which…he probably did. Luis had worked as a paramedic while getting his teaching degree, over a decade ago. Good old Luie did tend to come in handy sometimes.
“Hal—”
“Don’t try to talk. She’s going to be okay. I promise. You got the worst of it. Going to need to go to the ER, I think. I’ll probably try to steal your girl while you’re in there, though. Maybe. I may give you a pass on that. The whole old friend thing.”
Grady just nodded. “Glad…to…see…you…this…time. Tell…her…I…love…”
“Yeah, yeah. Time for all the gushy romance later.”
