Page 240 of Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout)
Crap.
“You two are the morons here. You actually think I’d fall for the ol’ switcheroo?” he scoffed.
“How did you know?” I asked, stalling for time.
“Your tits aren’t crooked.”
“You mean Tina’s aren’t.”
“No, dumbass. Tina’s are crooked. Yours aren’t. Who’s the idiot now?” He said this while gesturing with the gun.
Since it wasn’t trained on me, I turned to face him.
Tina was frantically trying to work Waylay’s bonds free.
Knee. Balls. Nose.
Knox’s instructions came back to me almost as if he were standing next to me.
“I liked you, Tina. Really fucking liked you and now I hafta kill you. How do you think that makes me feel?” He raised his gun, and I knew somewhere deep inside that this time he intended to use it.
Tina was looking at me hard. And for once in my life, I could read her mind.
“Hey, Duncan?” I said.
The second his eyes were on me, everything moved in slow motion. Tina gave Waylay’s chair a shove out of the line of fire and dove in the opposite direction, reaching for the pizza box.
“This!” I grabbed his shoulders and rammed my knee up into his crotch. The gun went off as he doubled over.
My ears rang. But I could still hear Knox in my head.
Nose.
Clinging to his shoulders, I brought my knee up again, and this time connected with his face.
I couldn’t hear if there was a crunch, but judging by the way the man crumpled to the ground, I’d done it correctly.
Over the ringing in my ears, I thought I heard more shots. But they sounded like they were farther away. A siren too.
I left Duncan where he lay and sprinted to Waylay. Spinning her chair around, I was beyond relieved to see she was unharmed.
“Are you okay?” I asked, as my shaking fingers started to untie her.
“That was awesome, Aunt Naomi!” she said.
“You stupid piece of shit!” Tina had the pizza gun trained on Duncan as he got to his hands and knees. “You were gonna shoot my daughter, my sister, and me?”
“Mom, the cops are here,” Waylay called as I finally freed her wrists.
Tina gave Duncan a kick to his mid-section. “You’re lucky I don’t have time to shoot you.” Then she turned away from him. “Here,” she said, handing me the gun.
I held it at arm’s length and prayed it wouldn’t go off.
“You’re not seriously running, are you?” I asked.
It was an admittedly stupid question.
Of course my sister was running. It’s what she did after making a mess.
