Page 108 of The Marriage Deal
“I’m prepared for that.” I press the blade in again, hitting resistance that seriously has a spotty black hovering at the edge of my vision. I force out, “Faster, Lilah.”
She whimpers. “Nash.”
“Faster.”
She drives faster.
I press the blade harder.
“Okay. Fuck, okay.”
“Okay, what?” I grind out. My voice is rough with the struggle to hang on to consciousness. He mistakes it for a grit I clearly donotfucking have.
“I’ll give you the fucking gun.” He swallows. “And you let me run.”
“Deal,” I agree. “Lilah, pull over as soon as I have the gun.”
“You don’t know who you’re messing with,” Jake threatens as I grab the gun, and he releases it.
Something bubbles in my stomach. Acid, I think. Perhaps it’s last night’s liquor.
Lilah slows and parks on the side of the road.
“Run,” I croak as I pull the blade from his throat. It’s red with beads of blood that have streaked the silver. My stomach turns.
Jake pushes from the car and starts for the bush as Lilah flips in her seat. She plucks the gun swiftly from my hand, leans over the center console, aims and fires before I can get a word out to stop her.
The sound of the shot has that acid in my gut boiling over and I throw open the door just in time to expel the contents of my stomach in the ditch.
Lilah is already jumping down from the car, rounding the hood. She’s got the gun trained on Jake as he writhes in the dry grass, shouting curses.
I’m relieved she hasn’t killed him. I can already hear sirens.
“I hope you get a tick, you sick piece of shit!” She kicks him hard in the leg, and by the way he wails, I’d say it was the leg she shot. “You’re going to prison. It’s a hell of a lot more than you deserve, but you’re going.”
He continues to wail on the ground as a big black truck skids to a stop beside the SUV. The sirens aren’t far behind.
I see Briggs fly by me to Lilah and then there’s a soft hand on my shoulder. I’m spun around and those soft hands grip either side of my face. I see double ofShana and through the ringing in my ears, she tells me I did good.
The rest is a blur. Officers and cuffs. An ambulance and questions. A statement I’m not sure I’ll remember and Lilah’s shaky hug. I think I hold onto her for dear life.
Briggs’ gruff ‘thank you’. Another hug from Lilah.
Jake gone from our lives. Alive. Everyone is alive.
I think I vomit again.
I’ll never live that down.
EPILOGUE
AN ETERNITY OF LOVING HER
Briggs
My wife points to the sky and tells me dreamily, “The first star.”
I think it’s a satellite, but I don’t burst her bubble. I’ve come to realize over the time I’ve grown to love her that she sees magic places most can’t. We spent the last hour laying here in the makeshift bed in the back of my truck watching the sun set. As we did, she pointed out a thousand pictures she saw in the clouds. Dragons and faeries, flowers and dogs, spaceships and cats.
