Page 104 of Third Time is the Charm
The color drained from Darcy’s face, replaced by potent mixture of fury and fear, seeing Caroline with a smoking gun pointed at the woman he loved. Beth watched his fists clench and she put her hand out – not to protect herself from Caroline, but to stop Darcy.
By contrast, Caroline’s eyes were filled with a crazed level of anger, all rational thought having left her long ago. Her shot had missed and by now, if Darcy and John didn’t already have more back-up on the way, hotel security would have heard the gunshot.
Hearing Darcy behind her, Caroline began to turn – the gun staying trained on Beth – as he said, “I’ll never fucking be yours.”His voice ice cold and menacing; his words containing the solemn implication the he would rather be dead than belong to Caroline again.
Beth saw the spark of rage in Caro’s eyes and knew, in that split second, that there was only going to be one way to stop her.And she was the only one close enough to do it.
“That’s what you think.” Beth heard Caro’s poisonous voice reply as her focus returned to her prey.
Beth didn’t know what came over her, but seeing Caroline begin to tighten her finger on the trigger again pulled Beth out of her paralysis.
Beth slung her broken shoe at Caro’s hand – missing the gun, but hitting her arm hard enough to deflect the shot she’d fired off. Using that millisecond of surprise before the ‘boom’ from the gunshot had even quieted, Beth launched herself at Caroline; Beth locked her arms around Caro’s lower legs as she rammed her shoulder into Caro’s torso, sending them both flying to the ground, the impact sending off another stray bullet in the direction of Darcy and the handful of security before the weapon completely dislodged from Caroline’s hand.
Beth heard Caro’s scream of rage as they landed. Beth’s entire body tensed, preparing for Caroline to attack her in some other way when suddenly, she was lifted off of the crazed woman and crushed against Darcy’s chest. Heart racing, her eyes blinked open, only able to partially see the commotion going on behind her as John, some of the other security guards, as well as two Boston police officers restrained Caroline, putting her under arrest.
She looked up at Darcy; his face was a stone mask, frozen from everything that had just happened. He didn’t move – he didn’t say a word – but, Beth could feel his chest pounding just as hard as hers.
“Darcy, are you ok?” she whispered still in a daze.
He didn’t answer. A few seconds later, Caroline was gone from the hallway and Darcy immediately reached underneath her, groaning slightly as he lifted her up and carried her to the elevator, punching the button to get to their room. John halted the police from following them; Beth heard him say to give them a few minutes before asking for a statement.
When Darcy stepped off the elevator, Beth realized that her hand holding his arm felt like it was getting wetter. She’d assumed at first that her palms were sweaty from the situation she’d just been put through, except it shouldn’t be getting worse. Lifting her hand, she saw it pull away red from his shirt.
“Oh my God! Darcy! Were you shot?!” She exclaimed. The sight of his blood jarring her from her state of shock. Her voice quivered with concern, the adrenaline that had been keeping her emotions at bay dissipating as tears began to flow down her cheeks. “Oh my God…”
Beth turned and cried into his chest. Her tears streaming not from sadness or fear, but from complete and utter relief that Caroline was finally gone. Darcy gently shushed her, still too on edge to fully respond. He unlocked the door to their room, carrying her into the room and kicking the door closed behind him. He brought her directly over to the couch, sitting down, and held her tight against his chest. There they sat for several minutes, Darcy clasping her close; he held her as though the second he let go, she would disappear.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” he rasped into her hair, his voice thick over the tears she knew he was holding back. She could only imagine what he had thought, seeing her and Caroline – and the gun.
“I’m here,” she whispered, trying to comfort him, but he wouldn’t let her move; he kept her locked against him.
“John and I turned the corner and I saw her… with the gun pointed at you…” He trailed off, the memory overwhelming him. “I heard it in her voice; I saw it in her eyes – her insane hatred. She was going to shoot you; she was ready to kill you just to give herself a chance with me.”
“Shh,” Beth hushed. “But, she didn’t. She didn’t shoot me; I’m still here.”
“And then when you lunged at her.Christ, Beth,”he swore.“What the fuck were you thinking diving towards a loaded gun?”The anger in his voice wasn’t really directed at her, but at the thought of what could have happened if things hadn’t gone the way that they did.
“I saw it too… her hatred for me when she noticed the ring. I didn’t even remember that I had it on, but when I moved my hand that was holding my shoe, she saw it and it set her over the edge,” Beth explained thickly. “I don’t know if she would have pulled out the gun anyway, but I saw the moment that whatever rational thought remained with her, disappeared.”
“She would have, Beth.” Darcy reassured her. “Just look at everything that she did; she hasn’t been thinking clearly for a long time…”
“I saw that she was going to go through with it, but when you got there, she was distracted and I thought it was my only shot – I mean, my only chance to get the upper hand,” Beth rambled. “I didn’t… I don’t know what I was thinking. I didn’t have time to think. I remember I was holding my shoe, I remember seeing the look in her eyes change when she heard what you said… I did the only thing I could think of.”
Beth paused to take a breath, trying to calm herself down when she realized that she wasn’t the one shaking – Darcy was.
“I wanted to just knock the gun out of her hand, but I didn’t have that good of an aim with my shoe... As soon as I realized she was still holding it, I knew she’d fire it again and for some reason, I was just so afraid that she’d turn and point it at you. So, I tackled her.” Beth finished the last statement in astonishment. Replaying the events back over in her mind and saying them out loud had her asking the same question –What had she been thinking?
That it was time to end this. That it was time to take control of the situation. That she was strong enough to stand up to Caroline.
His hand came up to cup the side of her face, turning her gaze to meet his. “I thought… I lost you,” he repeated. His voice was hoarse as he struggled to get out the words over his tears. “I heard the shot and then I saw you fall forward. I couldn’t see that you lunged for her. My heart stopped -no, my entire fucking life completely stopped.” Her tears began to fall again at the pain and fear in his words. She hadn’t thought about it from his perspective and what he could see. Now, she knew why he had completely shut down; not because she’d attacked Caroline, but because, from where he stood, it had looked like Caro had actually shot her. “It was only when I lifted you off of her that I could see that you were ok. Those seconds that it took to get to you were the longest moments of my life.”
“I’m so sorry,” she choked out. Beth watched his jaw flex and his eyes darken as those moments replayed over and over again in his mind.
“Don’t…” he began, his thumb brushing tenderly over the soft skin of her lips. “Don’t be sorry. You were incredible, Beth.God, you were so incredible and brave.I’m an asshole; I’m the one who should be fucking sorry; I just can’t forget that feeling – that moment – when I thought I had lost you; I had lost everything.” He paused to clear his throat. “All I could think was that I hadn’t done enough. All I could think was that I’d just gotten you back only to lose you for good.”
“I’m here. I will always be here.” She tipped her head up to touch her lips to his.
Darcy groaned at the contact before his mouth claimed hers. He poured everything into that kiss – everything that he felt, everything that he thought he had lost, and everything that he would spend the rest of his life being thankful for; it was all right there –it was her.
