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BLYTHE

I fight Randall as he drags me up the stairs. He grabbed me and shoved a gun into my side. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, so I allowed him to lead me from the room. But when we reached the lobby, I tried to reason with him. His eyes were wild, and he didn’t listen. When he shot Butcher, I knew I needed to do something.

So here I am, trying to figure out what to do and how to save both Reed and myself, because I know he’ll be coming after me without a second thought for his own safety.

“Let me take off my shoes so I don’t trip,” I say, stalling for time.

He turns to look at me. The gun wavers in his hand, and I know I’ll only have one shot at saving us.

I slip off my shoes and grip one in my hand like a weapon. Randall is distracted, listening as the stairwell door slams open a couple of floors down. I swing my arm without the shoe, deflecting the gun. It goes off, and I stab the heel into Randall’s side. I hit something hard, and I wedge it in as it slides between his ribs. He screams and tries to shoot me again, but this time I get the gun away from him as he scrambles to remove the shoe. I turn the gun on him and start firing, not caring.

He will never touch me again. I will no longer be his whipping post or victim. The gun starts to click, and when I feel someone behind me, I turn, ready to kill them too. My arm goes slack when I realize it’s Reed. He pulls me into his body, and I start shaking and trembling. I can’t talk, but I scream and cry into his chest. The fear overwhelming me.

Neither of us let go of the other, even as security bursts into the stairwell and Butcher comes hobbling toward us.

“Might want to call an ambulance now.” His voice is struggling and laced with pain. We turn and watch as Butcher slides down to the floor. “Knew you had it in you, girly.” He coughs, and I see blood seeping between his fingers over his chest.

S itting with Reed, we watch as the nurse checks Butcher’s vitals. He was in surgery for a couple of hours to repair his lung after he was shot in the chest. He has a collapsed lung, but his heart is good, and they said he’ll survive but must be in the hospital for a while.

Randall was dead, but I’m not in trouble for killing him because it was self-defense. Reed won’t let me get far from his reach, and I know he was afraid I had been shot, just like I thought it was him that Randall had shot before I turned and saw it was Butcher.

“Reed.” I look up at him from where I’m cuddled into his lap on the chair.

“Yeah, Bee.” He stops texting and looks down at me.

“I love you. I never stopped.”

“I love you too, Blythe.” He leans down and kisses me, slow and deep.

A groan comes from the bed, and we both turn toward it.

“Don’t be doing that shit while I’m lying here. Get a room.” Butcher’s voice sounds gruff.

“We can’t leave you.” I stand from Reed’s lap and move to the bed. “Thank you for trying to help me. Sorry you got shot.” I take his hand carefully in mine.

“It’s all good. I can relax. I’ll meet you back in Eastport as soon as they discharge me.”

“We aren’t leaving until you can come with us,” I tell him. “You’re family now.”

“Don’t make me laugh.” His eyes droop for a moment. “You don’t want me in your family.”

“Yes, I do.” I lean over and kiss his cheek.

“Hey, my woman,” Reed grumbles as he playfully pulls me back. “But thank you for taking a bullet for her.”

“Least I could do.” They bump fists, and we tell him we are heading back to the hotel so he can rest.

Hemingway

A week after the shooting, we’re loading into a car for the over twenty-hour drive home. Blythe’s friend, Briar, offered her company’s jet, but Butcher can’t fly, and Blythe won’t leave him.

Stopping for a break in Tennessee, I decide now is the best time. As Blythe takes pictures in the Daniel Boone National Forest and Butcher is asleep in the back seat, I move toward her.

“The last time I did this was on a beach.” I take her hand and get down to my knee. “This time, we’ll do it with this view and hope it gives us better luck.” Her other hand moves to her mouth, and her tears start. “I’ve loved you since we were kids. Will you be the Jessie to my Buzz Lightyear? You know we have to give this baby a daddy.” I press my hand to her stomach. She’s been emotional and getting car sick, and her breasts are sensitive too. I know she’s pregnant.

“Yes, Reed.”

I stand up and take her lips in a deep kiss before sliding the eternity band diamond ring on her finger, then I kiss her again.