Peaches (The Izzy Quinn Series Book 1)

by C. Penticoff

  Grayson stood up and pointed the gun at the guy, simultaneously Kent walked in with a gun in hand.

  "What the fuck is going on in here?" Kent was now pointing the gun at Grayson. "You let him get your fucking gun?" He looked at me. "The fuck are you naked for?" He shifted his eyes from me to the other two. "What the fuck is going on in here?" Kent was starting to look flustered and confused just as we wanted him to, but the problem is we didn't expect him to have a gun pointed at us when we got him there.

  "He jumped me, Kent." Kent’s minion told him.

  "Did you not expect them to plan something like this!" Kent’s eyes were so bulgy they looked like they were going to fall right out of his sockets.

  "The bitch was naked, titties hanging out everywhere. It threw me off."

  That dude has some balls calling me a bitch when my twin brother is pointing a gun in his direction.

  "Put down your gun," Kent told Grayson.

  Grayson laughed. "Um, put down your gun, asshole.”

  "Don't worry, Kent," the man said. "The gun isn't loaded."

  Grayson's face turned sideways. He fired the gun but all we heard was a click.

  Fuck. We're really dead now.

  "Go stand by your slutty sister," Kent demanded, keeping his aim toward Grayson's head.

  Grayson was now standing by me and he grabbed my hand to squeeze it.

  "Well, well, well. Nice try, folks. Guess what I learned before I came in here? Grayson never had two million dollars coming to him. In fact, all he had was twenty grand and he spent it all on dope. Of course, that was after selling all the goods I gave him before wasting the money. Which begs the question," he rubbed his temple with the tip of the gun, "how the fuck am I going to get my money's worth?" Kent pointed the gun back to Grayson. "I think I know. I've always wanted twin sex slaves. Especially hot ones who like to fuck the same people."

  "Touch my sister and I'll fucking gouge your eyes out with my thumbs."

  "You try that and I’ll ram my dick up your ass like the little faggot you are."

  I felt nothing. I heard the words come out of his mouth and my blood didn't boil like I thought it would. The only thing that happened was a reflex to attack him. Without even thinking my legs started and I rushed toward him.

  Instantly, I heard the bang of the gun.

  I instinctively grabbed my chest, where he had the gun aimed. All I felt was my bare chest. I expected to feel pain and pressure in my body and was surprised when I didn't.

  I looked down to see my brother lying flat on his back with blood staining his shirt around his abs. "Grayson!" I let out a raspy, growl, and the most utterly shock filled yell I had ever made. I didn't feel any pain because the bullet didn't pierce me. Grayson had jumped in front of the bullet for me.

  I knelt down by my brother shaking him and repeating his name over and over again. I'm sure Kent had the gun pointed towards me, but I wouldn't have known because I was trying to perform CPR on my brother when all of a sudden I heard a random voice.

  "Hands up, everyone! Police!"

  I didn't have time to think or to be excited about the fact that Kent was caught and that I was saved. I just started yelling at the police. "My brother's been shot! Help! Get an ambulance!"

  While my attention was focused on my brother I heard lots of commotion and gunshots and a big thud. When I looked over, I expected to see Kent's lifeless body on the ground but instead the cop was on the ground and I knew I was fucked.

  Kent gave me his half-smile that used to make me weak at the knees. Now it just made me want to knee him in the mouth.

  He pointed the gun to me and spoke slowly. "Bye, slut."

  More shots fired.

  Finally, another cop had come in from the hallway and shot Kent. In the matter of seconds the other guy was taken out in handcuffs.

  My head felt light as I looked at the bodies lying on the ground, one of which was my brother. My lifelong best friend. My ride or die. My head spun as the reality of what was happening sunk in and stabbed me straight in the gut, twisting on its way out.

  Is my brother dead?

  The sounds of police scanners, sirens, and shouting vibrated through my brain as my head was becoming lighter. I looked over to Kent's pocket and saw something falling out of it. Before the dizziness completely took me, I grabbed it from his pocket and stuck it in my pants which were laying next to my naked body.

  ***

  My eyes fluttered open and I was instantly dazed and confused. Where am I? The quiet, high pitched sound of a buzz caught my attention, but the slapping noise that followed it sprung me up.

  Where the fuck am I? I gazed around and saw medical supplies, two big doors, and a group of men surrounding a bed. Suddenly I realized I was in the back of an ambulance. Once I realized who the person was the paramedics were surrounding, everything that happened all came crashing down on me at once.

  "Is he okay?" I meant for this to come out loud, but it came out very crackly and quiet. I cleared my throat. "Is he okay!"

  The paramedics whipped around. "She's up," one said. She came to me and asked how I was feeling.

  "I'm fine. I want to know if my brother is okay. Is he alive? Where did the bullet hit?" I was frantic and I knew I needed to calm down because I could feel my heart beating out of my chest.

  "We're not sure. He's unconscious."

  The ambulance slowed as it pulled into the hospital’s emergency room parking lot and my heart sunk with fear and uncertainty.

  My head began spinning again as the area around me turned to static.

  ***

  Muffled voices woke me up this time. Upon opening my heavy eyelids, everything was blurry. It was like I had my eyes open underwater, but without the stinging. It only took a few seconds for my vision to clear enough to see a television and a white board anchored to the wall.

  "Is she going to be okay?"

  I turned my head, which felt really fucking heavy, and was extremely caught off guard when I saw my mother standing there. She had a watery substance dripping down her cheeks, and I about gasped when I realized they were tears.

  Is my mother crying for fear of my life?

  That would've been a first.

  "Izzy?" My mother's face lit up as she rushed toward me.

  "Careful. Give her some space," the nurse told her.

  Yeah, like lots of space. She wasn't the first person who I wanted to see but I also knew now wasn't the time to complain. Honestly, I was happy to see anybody familiar at this point.

  "Is Gray okay?"

  "I don't know," my mother sobbed.

  I saw the nurse take a deep breath like she was trying to keep herself calm. It was like she was annoyed with my mother. I knew the feeling very well. I'm sure my overdramatic, overbearing mother had been driving her crazy with Grayson and I not being conscious.

  This poor nurse.

  My mother sat in the chair sobbing while the nurse came to my side. "Your brother is with the doctor right now."

  "Is he gonna be okay?" I held back tears since my mom was crying enough for the both of us.

  "I'm unsure of his condition, dear. I'm sorry. I wish I had an answer, but I promise you'll have answers very soon."

  Before my heart could drop into my gut, the door slammed open and Tyson and my sisters came barreling in.

  Tyson and Prissy looked stressed to the max, while Coyote seemed completely unfazed, as any three year old would be. I was kind of jealous. What I would give not to feel the stress of my current situation.

  Prissy and Tyson ran to me and hugged me, while my poor baby sister, Coyote was being bombarded by our hysterical mother.

  "Is Grayson okay?" Tyson was furiously biting his nails.

  Before I could say anything, a doctor stepped into the room, and I didn't like what I was seeing. The way his face was turned upside down worried me. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "Are you all," he looked at his clipboard, "Grayson Quinn's family?

  "Yes," we all
blurted out, clearly waiting with anticipation.

  "I just came from his room."

  "And?" I blurted out.

  "He's doing great."

  "Oh, thank God!" I said with sheer enthusiasm.

  Everyone was sighing with relief.

  "The bullet caused some pretty good bleeding, but it missed any vital organs, so his recovery should be pretty smooth."

  I'd never been so relieved in my entire life.

  "Thank you so much, doctor!" My mother jumped up and down with Coyote on her hip.

  "I'm not sure what the doctor who's caring for you wants you to do, but everyone else can go visit him, if you'd like."

  We all thanked the doctor before he left.

  "Would you mind if we left?" Tyson asked.

  "Not at all. Please, go see him and see if he's okay," I reassured him.

  Everyone left besides Coyote and Prissy, who wanted to stay with me.

  "Are you okay, sissy?" Prissy asked.

  "Yes, I'm all good, girl. Come here and hug me."

  She came over and I playfully grabbed her and squeezed her tight, and Coyote joined in.

  "I hope you weren't worried about me," I said.

  "We weren't too worried until Desmond came over," Prissy said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, he saw you get into a man's car and he said you looked scared. I guess it made him worried. He'd been stewing on it all day and finally came over to our house at midnight when he couldn't get a hold of you all night."

  "So, Desmond called the cops?"

  "Yes. He kind of saved your life. Once he talked to Tyson for a few minutes about everything, they tried calling you and realized something wasn't right. I didn't know any of this until about twenty minutes ago. Tyson didn't want to worry me."

  Wow, Desmond saved us. If Desmond hadn't called the cops, we wouldn't have been found in time. I owed him so much. I owed him my life, actually. I didn't know how I could ever thank him.

  "My gut was telling me that there was something wrong, but I kept telling myself not to worry, and so did Tyson. You'd be proud of me. I didn't panic."

  "You mean the one time you calmed yourself down from your anxiety is the one time you should've been panicking?"

  "Oh." She stared blankly for a moment before we both burst out into laughter. "I guess you're right!"

  "Oh!" I said when I suddenly remembered something. I pressed the button to the nurse more times than what was necessary.

  "Can I help you?" A female voice spoke over the speaker on the bed.

  "Where are my belongings?"

  "They should be in a hospital bag in one of the cupboards. That's usually where we put it.”

  I got up from the bed and pulled my i.v. pole along with me. I found the bag and immediately grabbed my pants, digging into the pockets. Oh no, it's not here. I dumped the bag out and frantically rummaged through the pile.

  There it is.

  ***

  It took several hours but I was finally released once they knew my vitals were okay and once the detectives got my statement. They informed me that Kent was dead, which I already figured. It made me feel weird inside that there was a small part of me that was sad. Don't get me wrong, he was clearly a bad person and had it coming, but this small part of me was going to miss the security I felt with him. I guess it was just that--it was the security I was going to miss, not him. I'll find it when the time is right. And to be quite honest, I was happy being single anyway. Especially after all that, I just wanted to focus on my family for a while.

  I walked into Grayson's hospital room with Coyote on my hip and Prissy by my side. Immediately, I set Coyote down and jumped into my brother's arms. I don't think I'd ever hugged him that hard in my life.

  Playfully and gently, I slugged him in his shoulder. "Don't ever get shot again, Grayley Goose." I laughed while I cried.

  Grayson wiped his tears away while he laughed also. "I'll try not to. That's a fucking promise I think I can keep."

  "I was so scared, dude. You have no idea. You jumped in front of me, Grayson."

  "You almost tackled a guy with a gun for calling me a faggot."

  "That's right!" I remembered. "Oh, I wanted to kill that mother fucker."

  "I could tell. And it almost got you killed."

  "Me? You're the one that volunteered your body to the bullet."

  We both laughed.

  "Don't say I'd never take a bullet for you, Frizzy Quinn."

  "You're gonna remind me of this for the rest of our lives, aren't you?"

  "Damn straight, ho."

  "Bailey's going to shit her pants when she hears about this."

  "Oh my God, she's gonna die." Grayson winced as he scooted himself up.

  "Careful." I grabbed him under his arm and helped him situate himself.

  "I'm so glad we made it out of that. I know I kept telling you we were going to, but I wasn't so sure."

  "Oh my god, I almost forgot." I pulled the envelope out that I originally took from Kent's pocket.

  "What is that?"

  I reached in the envelope and I pulled out a huge wad of cash. My brother's eyes lit up like the fourth of July. "Where'd you get that?"

  "Kent's pocket." I leaned in and whispered. "After the cop shot him."

  "You stole from a dead guy?" he whispered back.

  I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm a Quinn. It's not the worst thing I've done."

  "Nice." He high fived me.

  "How much is there?"

  "I haven't got a chance to count it yet, but I'm pretty sure there's at least ten grand here."

  "Oh my god."

  Grayson and I were as giddy as ever.

  ***

  It was three days later and Grayson was finally back from the hospital. He wasn't completely back to normal, but he could take care of himself for the most part. He mainly just needed to be careful and rest a lot.

  I'd been out of work since we got back because Desmond insisted I take the time off to emotionally heal. He was probably right. Him and his parents found a temporary drop-in daycare to keep the baby at until I came back, and they were also partially paying me which was really nice.

  I'd also made a few splurge purchases from the money I got from Kent. Well, stole, but let's not get into semantics. Turned out, I'd grabbed just under fifteen thousand dollars from Kent. I gave Grayson half of it, despite the fact that he basically stole ten grand from me. He tried refusing to take it, but I told him to save it.

  As for my money, I splurged a couple grand and stuffed the rest into savings. I thought about a million different things I could do with the money, but really, I was too scared to use it. Even only after a few days, the amount of security I felt having that in my savings account was priceless, so I wasn't even sure if anything would be worth it. I'll figure that out later.

  For now, we were deciding whether to order in pizza or Chinese.

  "I wanna get that pizza joint down the road because they have those yummy smoothies," Prissy said.

  "Ooh, a smoothie does sound good,” I replied. "Whatcha think Gray and Ty Guy?"

  "I'm not picky," said Tyson.

  "I'm in," added Gray.

  I called Papa's Pizza and ordered three large pizzas and a few liters of pop.

  "Three larges?" Gray remarked

  "Wow."

  "Yolo, bro."

  I was about to get off the phone with the pizza guy before Prissy reminded me to order smoothies.

  "Oh, one more thing, please. Do you guys deliver your smoothies too?"

  "Yes, we sure do."

  "How much are they?"

  "I think they're on sale right now. Let me go check."

  As I waited for the employee to get back on the phone to take my order I couldn't help but to gaze around at my people and realize how blessed I was. A few days before I was staring down the barrel of a gun. I thought I was going to die. Even after, when I knew I wasn't going to die, I thought my brother was going to die. But he d
idn't. And we were all there together. Suddenly all the bullshit of my life didn't matter. Not my shitty apartment. Not my worthless mother. Not my dirtbag, dead ex-boyfriend. Not even my abortion which I spent a while regretting before. None of that mattered because I had my siblings by my side, and my family was all I was ever going to need.

  My train of thoughts were interrupted when the employee came back to the phone. "Yes, we do have a sale on smoothies today. Buy one get one free. What kind of fruit would you like in your smoothie?"

  I looked at my siblings, smiled, and said to the employee, "Peaches, please."

  Click here to purchase book 2

  Thank you so much for reading Peaches! I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to click the link above to purchase book 2. I would also love for you to join my reader community! When you join, you will get a couple free books from me every week, plus occasional updates on my books, and alerts to any promotions going on.

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  More from C. Penticoff

  Women’s Fiction

  Peaches

  Peppers

  #MeToo

  Young Adult Fantasy

  Weathering the Wicked

  Enduring the Energy

  Corrupted Enchantment

  About the Author

  Story Teller. Dream Chaser.

  C. Penticoff has always considered herself a dreamer in a world with a million opportunities.

  She recalls her dream of being an author starting at the ripe age of nine years old, when a published author visited her school and empowered her to reach for the stars. It was then she realized her ability to write a great story could be something that made her shine in a world full of bright lights.

  C. Penticoff began writing her first full length novel when she was 12 years old, and finally published the new and improved story September of 2017.

  C. Penticoff lives in the Pacific Northwest with her two sons and husband. They are in the process of building a tiny home for their family.