Page 123 of Sky Full of Stars

He lets out a roar and dives across the coffee table, his legs are long enough that he leaps it without needing to step on it. I scramble backwards and spin away, running into a kitchen.

My eyes search frantically for a weapon, a knife, a rolling pin, anything? But the counters are bare. I run towards a drawer and yank it out, but it’s full of junk that rattles around inside. I hear him behind me and dash to the side as he slaps me. The full force of his weight is behind it and my head snaps to the side, pain flashing right through the whole side of my face, I stumble sideways against the counter, slamming my hip painfully against the wood.

I lash out my fists and catch his jaw, as he dodges back I hit him again in the gut and he whooshes out nasty, stale beer smelling breath. This time I figure an offence is better than defence and lunge for him, my knee going towards his dick. He manages to get his leg in the way and my knee impacts his thigh, which isn’t great but there is enough force behind it to hurt him and he grunts and staggers back. I go at him again punching over and over, knowing this is not the way I was taught self-defence, it’s more what I see Joey doing when he’s training for his MMA fights.

I could punch a bag for twenty, thirty minutes at a time but fighting a real life person is hard and I’m panting, as I slam my fists anywhere I can get them. One particularly vicious punch lands on his jaw and something snaps in my hand, making me cry out and fall back.

It’s the opening he needs though and he grabs me by the shoulder, running me backwards till I hit the fridge hard, knocking the wind out of me. He punches me in the gut, but I can’t double over because he is holding me up. I lose my breath as he straightens me up and pushes me hard against the fridge. He laughs then and my heart beats so wildly it feels as if it is going to come straight through my chest.

“Michael!”

He turns at the sound of Meg’s scream and his grip on me loosens. I see the opener and bring my knee up. Hard. Michael bends over, grabbing for his junk, which I hopefully just sent up into his throat. I use my other knee and bring it up to his face, his nose shatters as he falls backwards, slamming hard into the floor, not knowing whether to grab his balls or his nose where blood spurts out.

“Jenna. Oh my God, are you okay?” Meg cries.

I look from the animal on the floor to my friend, she is using the wall to hold her up, she has a black eye, there is blood dripping down the side of her head and she looks absolutely terrified. I hurry over to her, wary of the asshole, but he is curled up in a ball crying and cursing and clearly unable to get up.

“It’s okay,” I wrap her up in a hug. “You’re safe now. Come on, we need to call the police.” She shakes her head. “Meg, you can’t live like this. He was going to seriously hurt me. How long has he been hurting you?” I touch her hair gently and she starts to cry in earnest. I hug her to me. “You have to report this, you need to press charges against him.”

“I know,” her voice shakes as she pulls back, her eyes meet mine and it breaks my heart to see the fear there. “I’m scared,” she whispers.

“I’m here for you. Brooke will be too, whatever you need. We’ll take care of it, Meg. I promise. Come on, let’s go call the cops.” I take her arm and lead her away from the kitchen. The asshole might be down but that doesn’t mean he’s out. I can’t risk him attacking us again. I hurry her along the hallway, scooping up my purse. I reach inside and pull out my phone when Meg screams.

I whirl around to see him lumbering down the hall at us, holding a fucking knife. I pull Meg behind me and back up to the front door but he’s moving fast. I can’t fight a knife. I hear slamming behind me and for a second wonder if Megan has ran out the door and left but he pulls up short, just before he reaches me.

“Megan, don’t be stupid.”

I don’t want to take my eyes off him but Meg steps out from behind me, her arm held up shakily. She’s holding a small handgun. I have no idea where it came from.

“You don’t know how to use that thing, put it down before you hurt yourself.”

“Stop moving!” Megan shouts. “I put up with this for years. I let you do this to me over and over. You tell me you love me?” she spits, the gun wobbles in her hand but it’s still pointing at him. “Jenna you need to leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Meg, let me call the police.”

“Listen to your friend, Megan,” Michael says and takes a step towards us.

Meg pushes me back behind her and holds the gun steadier now, her shoulders square, her back straightens. “You shouldn’t have done this, Michael. She’s my friend and you hurt her. I won’t let you hurt her anymore. Or me.”

Then she fires. I slam my hands up to cover my ears. I’ve never heard a gun fire before and shit it is loud. Meg doesn’t stop firing until the gun is clicking uselessly in her hand, then she drops down to the floor, the gun falls from her hands and clatters against the hardwood. I lean back against the wall, in total shock, my chest rising and falling heavily as I try to breathe.

Michael is on his back, staring up at the ceiling, his eyes wide. Blood pools out beneath him. Meg screams from the ground and snaps me out of my stupor. I fall to my knees and grab her, pulling her against me, holding her tight while she cries. I don’t know if they are tears of relief or anguish. Probably both.

We stay like that, Meg sobs, my ears ring, but I don’t let go of her.

Then the police arrive.

Chapter Thirty- Five

Pounding on the door wakes me. Or is that my head? I’m halfway to thinking it is my brain bouncing around in my skull when it starts again, and a muffled voice calls my name.

“Shit, fuck,” I grunt, grabbing my forehead as I throw the covers off me. A pile of clothes lay beside the bed, I’m surprised I managed to get myself undressed, I barely remember returning to my room.

The banging starts again and I wince, one eye closed as I stumble out to the door. I don’t know what time it is, or when I went to bed. My mouth tastes like the inside of a trash can and I can practically smell bourbon seeping out of my skin. What the hell was I thinking drinking bourbon straight out of a bottle?

“Adam! Open the fuck up!”

“I’m coming, Christ,” I drag the door back to see Archer and Nick. “What the hell? Do you know what time it is?”

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