Page 11 of High for the Haunted (Rejected 4)

Chapter Eight

Landon

“Mmmmhhh… Ricki?” I grunt, reaching over to her side of the bed, but I feel it empty and cold, making me sit straight up in bed instantly awake. That’s when I hear it; The noise that must have woken me up. My phone is going off. Ringing in the middle of the night, and it’s a number I don’t recognize.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Oh my god, Landon, is that you? It’s Bailey,” Bailey says frantically over the other end of the phone.

“Bailey? How did you get my number?” I ask, getting up out of bed and going in search of Ricki.

“Alec gave me all your numbers just in case of an emergency. Look, no time to explain. Ricki went back to her dad’s house to find any information she could about her mom. She was just supposed to slip in and out before he got home. Landon…” she says, pained, and I’m already running out the door.

“Bailey, what happened? Is she okay?” I ask, running in my fucking boxers through the trailer park.

“She found a box of her mom’s stuff and an article about her death. Her dad showed up and said he was going to make her disappear too… then we heard a gunshot go off,” Bailey tells me, crying.

“Call Alec!” I scream before hanging up the phone and not stopping to look where I’m going.

I race up the porch steps of Ricki’s old trailer and burst through the door, running straight for the room I know is her father’s. He’s waiting for me, but seems to be stumbling around with the gun aimed at me. He takes a shot, and it hits me in the arm. I don’t stop. I keep running at him until I tackle him to the ground, wrestling with him and the gun. I can smell the booze coming off him in waves and know he missed because he’s drunker than Satan. I get the gun away from him, rear my fist back and bring it down straight to the right side of his temple, instantly knocking him out.

I look up and around the room for Ricki, and that’s when I see her lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. A pool that is steadily getting bigger. I make a noise of pain from the back of my throat, roaring and crashing around the room to get to her. I’m slipping in blood. Blood that is now all over my body as I run my hand over and over her again, trying to figure out where it’s coming from.

“Landon? Ricki?” I hear yelled before foot stomps come down the hall, and all my brothers are there in the room, watching as I lose my ever fucking mind while the girl I love tries to leave me.

“Don’t just stand there. Get some fucking help!” I scream, and it snaps them into action.

“I’ve already called the cops, and I’m here to make sure you don’t get locked up and can ride with her to the hospital,” Bailey’s dad, Trey, says, pushing his way into the room as I find the spot on Ricki’s stomach that’s bleeding way too damn much.

“Ambulance in on the way, Landon. Here, hold and apply pressure,” he tells me, bending down by her side.

“How did you know to come?” I ask, trying to distract myself from the panic wanting to take over.

“Bailey was on the phone at home when they heard Ricki’s dad come in. Bailey was smart enough to put the phone on record and come get me. I called the police and an ambulance before rushing right over,” Trey says, holding his hands over my blood-soaked ones while Ricki continues to bleed. I’m about to freak out and lose my shit by yelling at everyone in this room. I don’t care about fucking details. I just need my girl to live. Finally, I hear the sirens going off, and before I have time to think, police are rushing in with guns drawn, and Trey is in their face while the EMT comes to me and tries to pull me back from Ricki.

“Brother, you have to let them help her,” Griffin tells me, pulling me back. Griffin and Parker struggle to pull me back and keep me away, but I fight with everything I have until Alec steps in front of me.

“If you don’t stop, she will die. They need to work on her without having to worry about you ripping their fucking heads off,” he tells me, and the thought of Ricki dying has every bit of energy I have leaving my body. I cry out in agony, feeling like my heart and soul are being ripped from my body, and I go slack against Griffin and Parker.

“We need to move and get her out of here. She is stable for the moment but needs a hospital,” one of the EMTs says as someone brings in a stretcher. Everything flashes before my eyes, but I can’t focus on anything. I watch as they load the love of my life on a stretcher and rush her out of the house, with us following closely behind. Glancing back, I notice they are handcuffing her father and loading him into the back of the police car. Fury is coursing through every inch of me. If I lose Ricki because of this piece of shit, not even jail will keep him safe from my wrath. He deserves to suffer, and I plan on delivering.

When we walk outside, I see Alec, Dean, and Joey holding Bailey, Rissa, and Lexi in their arms. The girls are crying, but again I can’t focus. All I can do is watch as they load Ricki into the ambulance, shutting the door and driving off. I fall to my knees and stay there until I feel my brothers at my side.

“Come on. You need a shower, and then we need to get you to the hospital,” Brody tells me. I pull away, not caring if I have to walk by myself to the hospital I will, but I know he’s right. Although, instead of a shower, I just wash my hands and throw on some clothes. When I’m done, Trey has his SUV pulled up to my door, and we all pile in, heading to see if the love of my life holds strong or if I will have to find a way to live this life without her.

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