Page 106 of Break the Ice

“I said don’t move!”

POP!

I jump at the crackling noise and flash of light.

Jerry’s made good on her threat and fired the taser. My reflexes come in handy while her bad aim plays out to her detriment. As I leap back, the jolt of electricity that streaks from her device fails to connect.

She growls in frustration when the taser dies with a soft hiss, then abandons it as she launches herself at me. Her body connects with mine and sends us crashing into the wall. We’re a tangle of limbs and disheveled hair, filling the space with the sounds of our grunts.

“You’re not getting away with what you’ve done!” Jerry shrieks, her face flushed red. She grips onto my arms as if we’re dance partners while I fight to break her hold. “You never cared about Hawk like I cared about him—that’s why you took him away!”

“You crazy bitch!” I wrench my left arm free then curl my fingers together enough to throw an amateur punch.

It lands… barely.

Jerry’s scream rings out, an unnatural and shrill noise to the ears. It clashes with the sound I make: another grunt of pain I can’t control.

As it turns out, slamming your fist into someone’s face is unpleasant for both parties.

Sharp pain shoots through my hand and spreads up the network of bones.

We stagger back from each other heaving for air and at something of a stalemate. Jerry nurses her jaw, blinking back tears, eying me like I’m a monster.

“Stay the hell away from me,” I gust out, backing toward the door. “Do you understand? You come anywhere near me again and I’ll?—”

“Kill me?!” she yells, her chin swelling up. “You mean like you did to Hawk? You knew he was like a dog with a shiny new toy and you thought you could take advantage of that. But you couldn’t handle what that meant. All the dirty, painstaking work it entailed. Do you know how many years I worked trying to prove myself to him? From the time I was a college intern I was the one there for him. I was the woman in his bed and his shoulder to cry on through his second divorce. I loved him.”

For a brief second, I’m practically time traveling to the past as I stand opposite a teary-eyed, manic Jerry. The desperation tears away at her voice. The emotion spills out of her. She’s breaking down before my eyes over a man who used her and threw her away in the end.

Even before he died.

She hadn’t been good enough. He’d demoted her and then moved onto the next new girl, uncaring of how it pained her to be replaced.

Just like David.

It’s the kind of crushing heartbreak that’ll have you acting out of character. That’ll have you desperate to fix it somehow.

My fight instinct recedes if only slightly. I’m not going to spar with Jerry over a man that’s already dead. Some lecherous jerk of a boss who regularly made passes at his female employees and treated others like Beringer like trash. If Jerry’s going to the police, then that’s her prerogative.

Mine is to make it to the airport. I have a flight to catch.

“I wasn’t trying to take your place,” I say as calmly as I can after the scuffle we’ve had. “I never wanted Hawk. You could have had him.”

Jerry gapes at me, her blinks drawn-out and slow, as I turn my back on her and start to walk away.

But I don’t get very far. Someone else has stepped through the lobby doors and he surveys the both of us like we’re his sworn enemies.

Detective Gomez makes no attempt to reveal his intention. His gold badge glints under the light and speaks for him.

“Detective!” Jerry chokes out. “Here she is. She’s trying to flee the country. She murdered Hawk!”

“Those are lies,” I say quickly, thrown for a loop by his abrupt appearance. “She’s hysterical and doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

“Shut up. Both of you.” His hand ghosts over the firearm holstered to his hip. “I don’t want to hear a sound out of either one of you. You’re coming with me.”

28. Rafe

“Move out of the fucking way!” I roar, slamming my palm against the horn on the steering wheel.