Page 106 of Dead Serious with Benefits
I was taken off guard by the intensity of the situation. “How the hell did you know?”
“I suspected,” Arlo said with a shrug. “But you just confirmed it.”
“Bastard,” I grunted.
“Shut the fuck up,” Devon said, and I winced when he swung the gun back toward me. “Your blood money won’t bring my sister back.”
“Your sister was fighting a losing battle you knew nothing about. All you could do was watch her fade away,” Arlo said quickly, and Devon froze. “This whole tragedy unfolded in front of you, and you couldn’t do anything. Neither could Ward. No one here is responsible, Devon. I know what it’s like to blame yourself for something that is, and never was, your fault. But you can’t push it onto other people.”
Devon clenched his eyes shut and took a deep breath. “Goddammit, you do understand, don’t you?”
“I do,” Arlo said as his expression softened and tears ran from Devon’s eyes down his cheeks. Even I felt bad for him. He looked so lost it was almost impossible to hold it against him…except for still being held at gunpoint.
Devon’s jaw tightened, and he glanced at me. “But you don’t, do you?”
“I haven’t known it like you and Arlo have,” I admitted. “I don’t know that kind of loss.”
“Fine, then let’s give you a taste,” he said, voice shaking as he raised the gun and pointed it….at Arlo.
There was no time to do anything but react because deep down I knew what was about to happen. I jumped out of my seat and flew forward, desperate to do something so Arlo wouldn’t take a bullet to the brain. I saw the flash as the gun went off. I heard a shriek somewhere in the room. Something punched me in the chest, knocking the air out of my lungs and sending me reeling.
Well, I guess I had done something.
ARLO
I could tell it wasn’t going to work, but that realization came too late as the gun swung toward me and I heard the man’s words. Stuck to the chair as I was, I could only flinch, trying to jerk away from a bullet I’d never be able to escape. The gun went off with a roar, and I flinched, waiting for the blow, waiting for the pain before I dropped to the ground and bled out on the floor.
God, I hoped Matilda forgave me for making her watch me die.
But it never came.
I opened my eyes, feeling them bulge out of my head when I looked in front of me and saw Ward standing with his back to me. I could see he was holding a hand to his chest, clutching desperately as he bent over. A scream built inside me, but refused to leave my lips. I realized what had happened as the first splash of blood hit the carpet.
“Warden!” Amelia shrieked in a voice so filled with despair and horror that I felt the remainder of the air in my lungs ripped out.
Ward took half a step forward, his legs buckling beneath him, and he dropped to one knee, still clutching his chest. Blood soaked his shirt as he collapsed onto the hand that wasn’tholding his chest. Terror locked my muscles as I watched his arm shake and he gasped for breath. He turned his head and looked me in the eyes, and I felt another wave of horror as I realized he was trying to say something to me.
The scream inside me built upon itself as I continued to sit there, body still refusing to move even as Ward fought to hold himself up. The edges of my vision became fuzzy, and the details of what I was looking at became all I could see. It was as if my brain was zooming in on one thing at a time, and that was all it could manage. Everything slowed to a crawl, and I turned my head up to watch the man raise his gun once more, prepared to send another bullet into Ward.
It was too much. I felt something inside me crack and shatter. The scream trapped inside me found a path to the outside and carried more with it than I would have ever imagined. It was no longer a scream but a howl that poured out of me as I surged up from the chair. The armed man next to me jumped in surprise, but I wasn’t there when he grabbed for me. There was only one target, and it was right in front of me.
The man who had come in here and attacked everyone, my parents, Ward, and then me. The man who, in his grief-stricken madness and fury, had decided that a debt had to be paid, and it had to be paid in blood and death. A man who was trying to take Ward from me, the newest and brightest point in my life. Who was planning on taking the lives of everyone else here to prevent us from telling the truth about what happened. That didn’t just mean Ward and me, but my parents.
Devon’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening just in time to react. Except his hand jerked as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to pull the trigger on Ward, or shoot me instead. That hesitation cost him as I slammed into him with all my strength, all my horror, all my terror, and every bit of rage that had found its way out of me. Devon was built solidly, but he felt like heweighed next to nothing as I felt him leave the ground, and my momentum carried me forward.
I was barely aware of where we were, but we finally stopped when he slammed into the hallway. His breath came out in a weak gasp as his back collided with the wall with all the force I could muster. A cry escaped him as he dropped to the ground in a heap, and the gun hit the ground with a clatter. His hand reached out feebly, and without thinking, I stomped on it, hearing something break when I ground the heel of my dress shoe into his fingers.
With a snarl, I snatched up the gun and lashed out with my foot as he curled up to try to push himself to his feet with his other hand. Another crack and his head snapped back, blood spurting from his face as he collapsed. Booted steps behind me reminded me of the other threats, and I whirled around, hand clasping tightly to the gun and bringing it up to level at the first man I saw.
“Should’ve just shot me,” I warned him as his hands clutched the rifle he was holding against his chest as he ran toward me. “Back up. Now. I will not ask again.”
When I heard a groan behind me, I lashed out and felt my foot collide with Devon’s face again. Savage pleasure flooded me, and I wondered if maybe, in his last moments of life, this was how my father had felt. To feel the rage and sorrow in equal measure swirl inside him and drive him to acts he would have thought unspeakable. It had taken an unspeakable act to get me to this point, so why not return the favor? The dam had broken, why not let the waters flood out and wash away?—
I bit back the urge to turn the gun on the man behind me, now groaning so softly it was amazing he was still conscious. Instead, I kept my attention on the man in the mask. “And tell your friend to stop inching forward. I’m furious, but I’m notstupid or blind. I can see his shadow reaching the corner...for an ambush, I expect.”
The masked man motioned to his left and cleared his throat. “Look, we?—”
“Are just hired men, I know,” I said, not caring that my voice was shaking. “I don’t want to have to shoot anyone, I don’t want to have to kill. So, how about this? You and your friend leave. I don’t fight you, you don’t fight me, no one else has to get hurt. You two leave, and we go on with our lives.”
