Page 49 of Squatch Out!
“Let me go!” All my attempts to pry his hand from my hair are futile. Darren has several inches and probably sixty pounds on me—add to that his enraged state, and he’s able to drag me away from the table with ease.
Sean jumps to his feet, sending his chair toppling over behind him. “Get your hands off her!”
The smell of sweat and greasy fast food wafting off of him makes my eyes water as he pins my back to his chest with one arm. He lifts his other hand up, and my breath stills when I realize he’s holding a knife. He presses the sharp steel against my jugular, and I squeeze my eyes shut with a whimper.
All around me, the room has erupted into chaos. Several diners have their cell phones out and the wait staff is watching us anxiously. The hostess has her phone to her ear and is talking quietly, hopefully calling the police.
“Darren, please,” my voice is barely a whisper.
“Shut up!” he hisses against the side of my face, making me flinch. “Do it! Show them!” he shouts. But he’s not talking to me, he’s talking to Sean. “Show them what you are, or I’ll slice her throat.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SEAN
When Darren lunges for Olivia, I move too, sending my chair skidding out from behind me. I move to charge at him, but he’s already pulling her out of my reach. The flash of metal against her neck freezes me in place and sends my heartbeat skyrocketing. It takes every bit of my strength to keep from squatching out.
“Do it! Show them!” Darren shouts at me. His eyes are wild, and I can’t look away from where he is carelessly pressing the blade to her throat. If he so much as nicks her perfect skin, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to hold on.
Inside my head, my squatch howls his frustration at the danger our girl is in.
Not yet.My control over him has never been this tenuous, but knowing that’s exactly what Darren wants gives me the strength to hold him back.
As soon as Darren stormed into the restaurant dining room I had a feeling that something was about to go down. I sent a text to Owen, just before Darren grabbed Olivia. Now, all I can do ishope he’ll pass the warning to some of the locals, before all hell breaks loose. All I can do now is keep my cool so Olivia doesn’t get hurt while I wait for backup.
Fear has leached all the color from her cheeks, but her eyes are steady and calm, locked with mine as she silently tells me to hold on. Begging me to keep my squatch hidden. Except, there is no telling how long it might take for help to come, and the longer my girl is in danger, the weaker my grip becomes.
“Put the knife down. Olivia hasn’t done anything to deserve being treated this way.” I hold my hands up, trying to reason with him.
“Yeah, man,” the cameraman suddenly speaks up. “I didn’t sign up for anyone getting hurt.”
“Shut up and keep recording!” Darren hisses at him, then turns his attention back on me. “My brother wasn’t doing anything either when the bigfoot came rushing out of the woods at him. We were deer hunting, and then suddenly he just came out of nowhere. Of course, no one believed me. They thought I killed Johnny. They sent me tojail,but I’ll finally be able to prove that it wasn’t me.”
The cameraman glances over at the other two, who shrug, and he holds the camera up again.
Turning his attention back to me, Darren presses the knife harder against Olivia’s throat. “Do it! Now!”
“Do what?” I shout back at him trying and failing to keep the panic I’m feeling out of my voice. “I can’t do what you expect me to do!”
“Quit playing dumb. Turn into bigfoot like I saw you.” He glances at Olivia. “Or, I swear, I’ll hurt her until you do!”
Olivia lets out a soft whimper, even as she shakes her head, just slightly. Pleading for me not to do it.
The tense silence stretches, and Darren slowly drags the sharp tip up and down the side of her neck. “Fine. I warned you.”He turns so his lips are pressed to the shell of her ear. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Liv.”
She squeezes her eyes shut when he presses the knife’s edge deeper against the side of her throat, and the familiar tingle of my shift starts in my fingertips. Just then, the sound of sirens and tires skidding on blacktop come from outside. Icy relief washes over me, and I curl my hands around the sharp claws that have broken through the ends of my fingers.
“What is going on here?” a voice booms just before a tall man in a police uniform storms into the restaurant. The moment he sees the weapon in Darren’s hand, the officer draws his taser. “Drop the knife.”
Several more cops file into the dining room behind him, followed by a small group of elders I recognize from nearby tribes. Seeing them helps me relax enough that the tingling in my fingers subsides.
“Keep recording, Alex,” Darren barks at the cameraman. “I’ll show everyone!”
But Alex and the other two are already backing away with their hands up as the police pull them aside.
When Darren realizes his stunt isn’t going to work in his favor, he turns to run. Olivia is still pressed to his chest when the officer fires his taser. The prongs dig into his back, sending 90,000 volts through his body. With a strangled sound, he stiffens like a board and the knife falls from his fingers.
Unharmed, Olivia pulls herself away from him and runs right into my arms.
