Page 37

Landon

My pulse hammers in my ears as I quietly descend the steps. Adam is behind the wall now on the other side of the foyer as we cautiously consider what to do next. He feels around the corners by the door for any sort of weapon-like object. He grabs an umbrella and tosses it to me. I catch it one-handed as I walk around the bottom of the stairs and grab a tall wooden candlestick off the entry table. I can use the other candles that I know are all around the house like baseballs if I have to. Boy, am I thankful for Elsie’s candle obsession right now. We make our way to the living room off the foyer. It has another doorway that runs along the back of the house. Options.

“It’s Trevor, Adam. He’s strong and fast. Don’t underestimate him. He’s got a knife from the kitchen. I heard it slide from the block,” I whisper out the information as quietly as possible. “Don’t let him get close. There’s a baseball bat in that closet next to you. Get it now. Don’t split up unless we have to.” He quietly does as I say. We both slink back into the darkest of the shadows just as a shadowy figure stalks into the dining room across from the foyer and this room. He slides a chair in and under the table.

“I know you’re all down here. I’ve taken the liberty of acquainting myself with the place over the past day or so,” Trevor taunts into the darkness. We stay quiet.

Shit...he’s been in here the whole time. My jaw clenches with the realization that he was leaving subtle hints all day for Kate. He opened the window yesterday and her bedroom door this morning while we were sleeping. He watched her take her shower. Watched her dress from the closet. He probably watched us fuck. Vomit churns in my stomach, teasing the back of my throat.

“After I finish here, I guess I better stroll down the street and take care of your parents, your sister and her husband, those two sweet little boys I saw you playing with… No loose ends. I promise I’ll make it quick.”

He’s baiting us. Baiting me. He didn’t say Elsie. Hopefully he didn’t hear her leave. Now we just have to bide our time and keep him busy. Keep him away from Kate.

“Oh Kaaaaatttteee...” he croons into the darkness and steps into the foyer. A room away now.

“Landon, maybe I’ll let you watch while I take what I want from her. I want you to hear her cry for me, beg for me to stop. I want you to watch as her body betrays herself and responds to my cock slamming inside her. Maybe I’ll even take her ass too, right before I reach around and slide this knife across her pretty throat.”

I clench my makeshift weapons so hard the wood from the rectangular-shaped candlestick cuts into my palms. I will not give my position away. Trevor almost slithers into the living room like a serpent, a malevolent air about him that stirs a primal need within me to attack. I imagine the gleam in his eyes as he details his sick ideas. It must be the way he looked at Kate in the library that night. The feeling she tried to describe. It’s empty. Dead. Evil.

Trevor glides smoothly across the room and throws open the curtains for more light from the moon. I wince as I see that it highlights Adam’s position. I make the split-second decision to knock something over with the umbrella a few feet from me. Trevor quickly looks to the source of the sound in the darkness and smiles cruelly, stalking my way. I slide back further toward the dark doorway that leads out of the back of the room, intent on giving Adam a few more seconds to prepare his attack. He’s visible and seconds away from being seen.

When Trevor gets close, Adam bellows to distract him from me, and Trevor takes the bait. Adam raises the bat, ready to swing at his attacker. As I make my way around the foyer side of the wall, I hear the bat crack against flesh and a grunt. I hope Adam nailed him good. I peek around the corner to see Adam frozen, the bat in the air with Trevor’s hand on it, staring harshly into each other’s eyes, the knife deep in Adam’s belly. My stomach sinks, and it takes all I have not to rush out and attack. I bite my cheek as I hold myself back. I have to think of Kate. I have to give Kate time.

Trevor rips the knife out, and Adam falls to his knees, putting as much pressure on the open wound as possible. I pick up a candle, hurtling it toward Trevor, hitting him hard in the left side of his chest. He roars in anger and pain. Adam slides back to the wall under the window and pulls the curtain, trying to shroud the room back in darkness, trying to help me.

Trevor stalks into the foyer. I pick up and hurl another candle from the back of the room, about ten feet away. I land him again, and his rage is tangible. He turns my way, but looks up the stairs.

No. No, no, no.

“I’ll take a wild guess; she wants to play hide and seek. Oh Kate!” he calls again. “You hiding up there from me with Mommy?” I see the outline of his head turn toward me in the shadows. “You’ll have to come out to stop me, Landon. I’m not stupid enough to come after you in the dark.” He grabs the banister and takes his first step.

I think hard where the other closest candles are. The shelf along the foyer wall. They’re scattered all along it. Yes! I feel along the wall and almost cry out in relief when I finally touch the shelf. I grab one and throw it at the wall along the staircase to distract him as he ascends. It does the job. He turns quickly, thinking I’m rushing after him.

I grab another and another, blasting them at him and around him. I’ve nailed him with two of them, and several have landed above him that hopefully he’ll trip on. No such luck. I grab the last two and round the bottom of the stairwell. One hits hard in between his shoulder blades, and he screams. I hold the other and grasp the candlestick that I’d held with my armpit during the assault. I wish I had that bat. Looks like this is going to end up close and personal.

I begin my ascent, watching his moves as he turns around. Shoving the candle back in my pit, I bend to grab a stray candle on the stairs and put all the heat behind it as I launch it toward his stomach. It lands hard, and he audibly “oomphs”. He shakily finds one and launches it my way. I dodge it, feeling the air whizz by my face. Damn, that was close.

Trevor makes it to the top of the staircase, and I’m just able to toss that last candle at his ankles, tripping him enough that I can get close enough to have a chance at the upper hand. He yelps at the pain. I attempt to swipe his feet out from under him the rest of the way with the candlestick. He hits one knee but is able to keep his balance. I crash into his back, sending him to the floor.

“Fucker!” he yells at me. I hope he cut himself. I see the knife glinting within his reach and push it farther away. He screams with fury. I fist the back of his shirt and land a blow to his head with my knuckles. It’s not great. It fucking hurts, but hopefully I managed to fuzz his world up for a second. He wrangles around and manages to flip underneath me, catching me with his elbow. Shit, shit, shit . I don’t see the knife. I break away, and we both get to our feet. He spits over the side of his shoulder.

“Looking for this?” His voice sounds spiteful as he brandishes the knife. I gulp. I wait. If I make a hasty move, he’ll gut me.

“She’s mine, Brooks. There’s no getting away this time.”

I eye him closely. I won’t take any baiting. He wants me to rush him and howls with indignation when I don’t.

“You will never have her,” I grit out with certainty.

He furiously swipes the sweat from his brow. I see dark smatters of blood dripping from his shirt. Good, he did get himself earlier.

He surprises me and throws the knife aside, hand-to-hand intentions made clear. I crack my neck to the side.

“Let’s do this,” he spits.

He runs at me full speed, expecting me to clash back, but I dodge him, ducking and kicking my foot out to trip him. He fantastically smashes into the wall but doesn’t go all the way down. I grab his arm, flipping him toward me, and he jabs with his right, just barely catching me across the cheek. I sucker punch him square in the nose since he’s not expecting it, and blood spurts, splattering shirts and faces. At this proximity, I can see the blood darkly staining his teeth as he bares them at me. We tangle and fight like lions, viciously attacking with the intent of only one of us making it out alive. There’s no other way around it.

Trevor lands a stomach punch, and when he gets closer again, I throw an uppercut then launch a knee into his groin, sending him to his knees. When I go to land another face blow, I miss as he dives for my legs, knocking me off balance but not enough to bring me down. He wastes zero time hopping up to his feet and kicks me hard backward down the stairs before I can regain that balance. The surprise that he bested me glimmers in his eyes as I fall. I hear my dad yelling my name in the background, along with the faint sound of sirens. Please, God, let them get here soon. Protect her. Then, nothing.

Kate

My heart pounds in my chest as I hear them brawling outside of my mother’s door on the landing. Hard thuds hit the walls like boulders being launched from catapults against a castle wall. Loud sounds of fighting, grunts, screams, and flesh pounding against flesh echo throughout the house... I have never been so scared in my life. I have never prayed so hard either. Please let him be okay! I hope I’ll hear sirens anytime soon.

It goes silent...That silence is too much to bear.

“ LANDON!” I choke a silent sob back when I hear Bill yelling from somewhere downstairs. NO! No, no, no! Is that the sirens I hear too? Oh please, let it be help! Let them get to Landon in time. Where’s Trevor?

I hear the floorboard creak and the sound of my mother’s bedroom door opening and closing. Locking. Shit... I didn’t pick a good enough spot!

“Here, kitty kitty…” Trevor croons into the darkness.

I put my hand over my mouth to hide my fast breathing behind my mother’s oversized corner chair. I do everything I can to quietly make myself smaller.

“I know you’re in here. You wouldn’t be stupid enough to run back into your room. Bathroom’s too predictable too. Where are you?”

I hold my tongue. I’d heard all the vile things he told Landon he wanted to do to me. I just need a couple more minutes. I hear him looking under the bed, in her closet, in the shower of her bathroom.

“ COME OUT NOW, BITCH!” he screams. Then softer, “I’ll make it quick. It looks like I won’t have time to enjoy you like I hoped I would. That’s okay, I got to enjoy every last second with Kristy.” I close my eyes at his confession. I can’t bear to hear any more.

“I told you that you’d see she meant nothing to me. Watching her grovel on her knees, sucking my cum down while I slit her throat… what a sight to see! The sound of her gurgling around my cock still gets me hard.”

Fuck, that’s sick... Vomit threatens to come up at the back of my throat. Please, no more. The chair in front of me groans, and I steel my spine. I promised Landon I’d fight. I have to fight with everything I have. For myself and for him. I grip a throw pillow in one hand for blocking the knife and a coffee mug that’d been by my mother’s bedside in the other. I’ll only get one shot to hit him hard over the head.

“Hi, kitten…” he growls sinisterly from above me, grabbing me by the hair and yanking me over the back of the chair. I scream with every ounce of air in my lungs as I do my best to hide the mug until the very last second. I kick my feet hard and twist my body, trying to get him to lose his grip on me. My scalp is on fire, but he’s not letting me go.

“There’s that fighting spirit I love! FUCK! I wish I’d had the chance to fuck it out of you!” He pulls me to my feet, but before he gets the chance to do anything else, I whip the pillow up toward his face as I arc my arm up high and swing the mug at his head as hard as I can. I make contact, and the mug shatters. He bellows in pain and fury as his grip on my hair loosens.

I run for the door to unlock it but to no avail. He grabs my arm and throws me on my mother’s bed. I kick him in the stomach and hear the wind whoosh from his lungs. He growls and yanks me by the ankle toward him, and I feel fire slicing up my calf through my jeans on my other leg. The knife. My throat goes dry as I hear a thud on the bedroom door. Sirens are louder now.

Trevor lifts the knife high to give me the first of what I expect is many fatal blows when the door blows open from a kick. Bill’s body fills the frame, puffed up like an angry Viking warrior ready to meet Valhalla if necessary. He’s got Landon’s shotgun that Dad got him one year for his birthday aimed right at Trevor’s chest.

“Don’t make one more move, motherfucker.” Venom laces every word. Trevor knows this is it for him. It’s the shotgun or the cops. There’s nowhere to escape, and he can’t take me with him. A coiling tension fills the air as he makes his decision. I notice his fingers slip down to the tip of the blade. Oh fuck, no! Don’t you do it!

“He’s gonna throw!” I scream and stare in horror as Trevor launches the knife through the air toward Bill. Bill pulls the trigger.

BLAM!

Bill grunts as the knife plunges into his right shoulder, and I cry out again. Trevor grabs at his stomach with both hands and looks at the wound with disbelief as he drops to the ground.

I launch myself off the bed toward Bill to help staunch the wound and keep him from pulling the blade to prevent more damage.

“You okay, darlin?” he asks me with a pained look.

Before I can answer, the cops yell from downstairs.

“Police!”

“We need help for two!” another voice yells.

“Up here! Hurry!”

The flashlights bob at a furious pace toward us, but I’m not centered on them. I need to find Landon.

“He’s in there,” Bill tells them gruffly, hitching his chin toward Mom’s door. “I stopped him. I gave him the chance to stop. He threw the knife at me, and I shot. I don’t know if he’s still alive.”

A cop comes up to look me over, but I dodge around him, not worried about my injury. I hobble down the stairs as fast as I can.

“Miss! You’re hurt! I need to check you!”

I don’t care. Where’s Landon? I fly out the door to see them rolling his stretcher to an ambulance, his arm flopping listlessly over the side. My heart stutters at the sight. Another ambulance takes off with its lights flashing. Flashing is good. Flashing means the person is alive. Adam...

“Landon!” I run as fast as my legs will take me, fire licking up my lower leg to my knee. I reach the ambulance as they are loading him.

“I’m coming with!” A paramedic nods, quickly helping me up onto the bench beside his head. They tell me to move farther up so that they can work.

The doors close and the woman yells, “We’re in! Let’s go!” The ambulance lurches into movement and the sirens sound overhead.

Landon’s not awake. He has a neck collar on. A man lifts his lids, looking at his pupils with a light.

“Pupils still good. Vitals elevated, but it could be worse.”

The radio on the lady’s shoulder gives a tone, and she listens to the message being relayed.

“The dad says this one got pushed down the stairs. An officer says she’s got an open leg injury.”

I gasp at the thought of Landon being thrown down the stairs. The lady turns to me and demands to see my leg. I shake my head, more worried about him.

“Let me just see that it’s not bleeding profusely, then I’ll allow you to be patched up at the hospital if need be. Okay?”

I lift my leg for her, and she whistles.

“He got you good, hun. It’ll need stitches, but it’s not too deep. An inch in a different way and it’d be another story. Tell me they got that son of a bitch.”

“His dad stopped him.” He was there when it mattered. My heart is sick over everything. She cuts my jeans off below the knee and continues cleaning and inspecting.

“Any news on the other guy in the ambulance ahead?”

“No, I’m sorry.” She staunches the leftover bleeding, wrapping the wound with gauze and securing it with some medical tape.

I look over to Landon, and the muscle in my chest squeezes hard. I can’t even begin to fathom what Adam and Landon went through in those minutes stalling Trevor and fighting to protect me. I’m so grateful. Landon moans and tries to open his eyes.

“Kate...” he whispers, disoriented, but is too drowsy for anything else.

“I’m here, Landon. I’m okay.” I don’t even know if he heard me. I move closer and grab his hand.