Page 121 of Girls Night
And then what, Mia? Knock on the door and ask if she can come outside and play?
Whatever I had to do, I had to get her out of there. My gut told me she wouldn’t live to see the morning, if I’d read that jerk right. I’d seen men like him before. I knew what they were capable of.
So with that, I walked out the door and into the night. With every fiber of my resolve, I shoved the panic and the dread out of my mind. My one goal? To rescue my bird.
I hailed a cab, thanking the gods above one was passing just as I began to walk. I gave the driver the address as soon as I got inside the taxi and told him to hurry.
When the car picked up speed, taking me away from my sanctuary behind me, the panic pressed hard against my brain, whispering that I was trapped.
No, I’m safe, I told it.
You’re going to die.
I’m not. It’s just panic.
You’re going to run out of air. Home is so far away, Mia.
I’ll be fine.
That man driving the car can’t be trusted.
He does this all day. Tons of people ride in cabs and they are fine.
He’ll take you out of the city and never stop. You’ll be in this car forever, no control, Mia. No control. Trapped. Dying. No way out.
Shaking, I closed my eyes and suddenly saw Devon’s face. The image pushed the panic away. With deep breaths, I focused on that face, the face of the beautiful girl I was falling in love with. My bird, even if I wasn’t hers, she was mine. And Iwouldsave her, and I would save myself in the process.
When the cab driver dropped me off at the right house, I stood in front of its front door feeling like a woman in a lame horror movie. The house was two-stories, no lights on, just a dense shadowy shape.
I wanted to grab Devon, put her in a cab, and burn the house down with TJ in it.
That’s when I heard it.
The screaming woke me out of my mad fantasies, scaring me. The sounds coming from the house, somewhere below, were harrowing, primal.
This was way bigger than me. But I wasn’t without a weapon. I dialed a few numbers after calling 911 and prayed Devon would be alright.
I waited, standing there with tears falling down my eyes, my heart in my throat with fear, until the officers arrived. And just in time, too. When the sound of gunshot rang through the night, I fainted.
Chapter Eight
Devon
Beeping. Something was beeping and pissing me off ‘cause it wouldn’t let me sleep. When I opened my eyes, which I didn’t even know were closed, I realized I was in a white room. Cold and sterile.
“Hi,” someone said nearby.
It was Mia’s voice. I tried to turn my head, but it felt like a boulder set into a mountain.
“What… why am I here?” I croaked. I was in a hospital, obviously, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how. This was the shit you’d read about in a book or see on those stupid hospital shows, I thought. I never figured it was a real thing, waking up in the ER or wherever I was. Huh.
I wiggled my toes and the movement made me gasp. My thigh was suddenly on fire.
“Shh, it’s okay. I rang the nurse.” Mia came around the bed and instantly her face crumbled when she saw me.
“Thank God you’re okay.” She wiped her eyes and gave me a tiny smile, trying to pretend she wasn’t a damn mess, as usual.
“What happened?” I asked her, ignoring the burning pain in my leg.
