Page 56 of Paradise & Vodka

Until we had to run from a wave and ended up kidnapped.

Until I had a gun to my head, and the man pulled the trigger.

"No!" Nick shouted and rushed to us.

The guy holding me threw me to the ground, and I turned around on my knees to see Nick on top of him, punching the guy in the face over and over and over and over.

I didn't know what to do except stare.

Icouldn'tdo anything except just watch as the sound of gunfire still popped above us. It sounded as if we were in a war zone or something, and I hoped that no more bad guys would come down the stairs because I wasn't sure what would happen.

Why wasn't I dead?

Why wasn't I bleeding out on the cement floor of the cellar?

Why wasn't I bleeding at all?

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Nick hissed, still punching the guy repeatedly. "You fucking shot my girl!"

But he hadn't shot me. Or at least I didn't feel or see any blood when I reached up to double-check.

The guy didn't reply. Instead, he laid there, taking blow after blow after blow.

"Nick," I whispered, but he either didn't hear me or was ignoring me. "Nick!" I shouted. He turned his head, stopping his fist from flying. "I'm okay."

He blinked as though he wasn't sure what—or who—he was looking at. Then he got off of the guy and moved to me, grabbing my cheeks with his bloody hands. "You're alive!"

I nodded. "I don't think he shot me."

Nick looked for an entry wound in my head. "I heard the gun click."

"So did I, but"—I shrugged—"maybe it was empty?"

"Fuck," he breathed and pulled me into his arms. "I thought I'd lost you."

"Me too." I buried my face in his sweaty neck, and then I realized the gunfire above us had stopped. "Is it over?"

"I don't know."

I didn't hear footsteps as I had before, but in an instant, another man with a gun appeared behind Nick. I startled, trying to pull away from Nick's hold as though I could dodge another bullet. Then there was another man, and then another, and another, and then a woman. All of them with helmets and vests and camouflage, and it finally registered that these were the people Nick had called to rescue us.

"Nick! Are you okay?" one of the guys asked.

Nick turned and rushed into the man's arms. "Fuck, dude!"

The woman came to me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, speechless.

"You told me there were four men. There was more than that," the guy said to Nick, who was still hugging him.

One of the guys was checking on the kidnapper. "He still has a pulse."

"We've only seen four," Nick replied.

"Well, luckily, we came prepared."

The guys pulled apart, and Nick went to the next guy, hugging him before making his rounds to the next and then the final guy. After he hugged the woman, he reached out his hand for me and helped me stand. "Ash, this is Paul, Gabe, Seth, Brad, and Paul's wife, Joss."