Page 78 of Blood

“No,” Daniel says, shaking his head and taking a step toward me.

The sound of a car idling close by draws our attention.Thank fuck!

Seeing Cooper in the driver’s seat, I curse.

Motherfucker,today is not the day.

“Kaleb,” Michael warns, but it falls on deaf ears.

Cooper rolls to a stop in the parking lot, pressing his window down.

“You stopped fucking your sister long enough to eat?” he calls out.

A few people close by stop and stare.

Michael’s hand lands on my chest, but it’s not enough. Daniel’s hand joins Michael’s when I continue to approach the beat-up car.

“Let him go. Not the time, not the place,” he tells me lowly.

My chest heaves.

Never have I wanted to kill someone this much.

Not getting the response he wants, Cooper takes it up a notch.

Sticking his head out of the window, he starts to sing the chorus to “Sweet Home Alabama,” turning his radio up. The music blares from his speakers.

He’s lost his fucking mind! He looks demented.

Daniel moves to stand in front of me, his restraining hand no longer keeping me rooted. “He’ll get his,” he promises.

“Cooper, what are you doing?” Sheriff McCallister demands.

Seeing his old boss rush over from another parking lot, Cooper panics and peels off.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Samantha

A commotion outside makes me turn my head.

My smile drops.

Michael and Daniel are holding Kaleb back while Cooper speeds off across the parking lot, his upper body out the driver’s side window. He’s turned back, yelling at Kaleb and my brothers.

I hear the screams of the other diners, and helpless, we’re forced to watch as Riley Moore pulls away from her father and runs across the parking lot toward Shelby, who stands near the edge of the diner.

I twist Belle in my lap, pulling her to my chest so she doesn’t see, but I can’t find the strength to look away myself.

Everything happens so quickly.

My best friend screams, propelling herself forward. Riley hears the car and freezes in fear. Shelby reaches the small girl at the same time that the vehicle does.

My whole body flinches at the impact.

Shelby’s body is sent airborne as she rolls over the hood of the car and into the windshield. Riley is barely visible tucked up so tightly in Shelby’s arms.

The tires screech as Cooper hits the brakes.