Everlasting Love

by M. S. Brannon

  “From the moment I met you Darcie, you’ve singlehandedly ruined everything. I was completely distracted by you, and then you betrayed me. For him. For that useless piece of shit. And then, to be humiliated by your brother, Jeremy. I will be getting my revenge just as soon as you pop open the cash register and give me all the money.” Grady starts to walk around to the side when the back door slams shut.

  My gut sinks to the floor when I see my husband walk into the open room of the bar. He is transformed into the vengeful man as he takes note of what’s going on. I have to diffuse this quickly. The moment Reggie gets his hands on Grady, he will kill him. I have no doubt. Reggie has been wanting to annihilate him since the night he tried to rape me. I heard Reggie boil over with anger for months after that happened.

  The wickedest smile snakes across Grady’s face, slowly exploding into a full grin, when he locks eyes with Reggie. He’s smiling so big, almost like he’s won the lottery or something. The very sight makes me almost lose the contents of my stomach. He wasn’t planning this, but Grady obviously is extremely happy Reggie is here with us, which means he wants his revenge on him, too. He wants to harm Reggie, perhaps even kill him. The very thought rips me apart.

  Grady turns slightly and puts his attention back on me. The moment he breaks his eyes from Reggie’s, my husband makes a move to tackle him, but Grady stops him immediately. The steel of his pistol is quickly turned back toward Reggie’s fuming body, pointing right at his chest. Reggie begins to flex his hands, balling them into fists and straightening them out again. The muscles in his forearms dance, making the ink on his skin come to life with every movement.

  “Move again, and I will put two in your chest. Believe that, fucker,” Grady pants as he struggles to breathe and deal with the adrenaline pumping through his body. I briefly wonder why he’s panting, but then it occurs to me that he’s an addict and is probably needing a fix, and soon. “I couldn’t have planned this better. I was sure you’d be alone here, baby doll, like you typically are on Sundays.”

  Wait, what? How does he know I am counting inventory on Sundays… unless? Oh, my God. Grady’s been watching me.

  Reggie has been helping Jake and Jeremy at the shop on his days off, which has left me in charge of getting things ready for Tuesday.

  I can feel it. The bile in my stomach starts to burn its way up my throat. The whiskey and beer I drank out of happiness earlier has left me wanting to vomit.

  “But, seeing him, I know coming here tonight was not a mistake.”

  Reggie’s hands move up in a surrender fashion, but the lethal look in his molten eyes is saying he’s only waiting for the right moment to destroy Grady. I need to stop this before Reggie gets that opportunity. I can’t let him get his hands on Grady, because it will be Grady who will be rolled out on a stretcher. If I can only get to him, I can put myself between Reggie and Grady. I’ve had influence over Grady before, maybe he will still listen to what I have to say. It’s my only hope in stopping this.

  I shake off my fear along with the impending urge to puke and find the strength to stop this before it gets really bad.

  As I step from the back counter and move slightly closer to the bar, Grady flinches, quickly pointing the gun back to my chest. Reggie cringes and then scowls at me because he knows I’m going to try my damnedest to make this stop before it starts.

  “Grady, why are you here? I mean, it’s obvious you’ve been watching me, so what’s the real reason you’re here?” I don’t know if I’m making any sense or not; I’m simply talking to keep his attention on me and not my raging mad husband.

  “I know what you’re trying to do, cunt. And it’s not going to work. I’m going to rob you. Then I’m going to kill you.” Grady looks back over to Reggie and smiles his wicked grin. “Both of you.”

  The deep bass of my husband’s voice fills the room as he looks directly at Grady and threatens, “If you come within one inch of my wife, it won’t be me who’s lying on the floor dead. I guarantee you that.” Reggie steps closer and lowers his raised hands.

  I look over to my husband, simply staring at my knight when my eyes catch a glimpse of his finger pointing underneath the bar. Affixed under the bar top is a small shelf, and on that shelf is a nine millimeter pistol.

  I’ve worked here for years and never knew this thing even existed. How did I not notice this?

  I take another step closer to the bar, making the pistol at thigh level with the rest of my body. Reggie keeps Grady’s attention as he stares him down, acting like he’s going to make a move on him.

  As soon as my body is almost flush with the bar, I run my hand up the side of my leg and slip it under the bar top until my hand is pocketed inside the shelf holding the gun. I have zero experience with a gun, and in all honesty, I thought my husband did, too. Ever since Presley’s murder, anything related to a gun has been forbidden.

  I hold my hand still, gaining familiarity with the cold, steel weapon. When the stare down gets even more intense, I pull my arm back, holding the pistol by my side. I need to shoot him. I need to raise my arm and fire this at his chest. I don’t know if I can do it, though.

  I take a moment to think back to all the shit we’ve been through. From the moment I laid eyes on my husband, the Evans family has been on a journey of epic highs and crippling lows. However, I’ve always had the strength to get through the worst with this man by my side.

  Suddenly, the fear washes away with the knowledge that I need to protect him. Reggie has always been my protector, and now that is going to change. I won’t allow this asshole to fuck everything up.

  With all the courage I can muster, I lift my arm and point the gun square at Grady’s chest. He snaps his head to me and stares down the barrel. I hold strong, although my body feels like it’s going to explode from the intensity of the moment.

  “Put the gun down, Grady!” Hearing the intimidation from my own voice is baffling because that is the exact opposite of how I feel. I jerk my hand slightly again. “I said put it down!”

  Grady looks at me and smiles. He’s not scared, not one little bit, and that’s when I know this is about to get bad, really bad.

  He cocks his head to the side, simply looking at me. Then his shoulders twitch, and the life drains from my face. He moves his arm in one swift move, and then squeezes the trigger.

  The sound of the gun deafens me as my vocal chords strain from my blood curdling scream. The love of my life falls back against the counter, knocking against the wood with great force. The bottles behind him clank and clatter then eventually fall to the ground, crashing next to his bloody body. Reggie’s white T-shirt is stained in blood as it seeps out. It’s like Presley’s murder all over again. The blood is running everywhere as it drains from his body.

  Fury is the only emotion I can tap into right now. If I allow myself to feel anything else, I will crumble and die right next to him.

  As I raise my hand and point the gun at Grady, he only looks at me and says, “Go ahead, baby doll. You killed me a long time ago.”

  Then, without another second of hesitation, I squeeze the trigger and unload the clip into his chest. The sound is piercing, and I don’t care. I want to make sure he’s dead, that he will never resurface in our life.

  Grady must die.

  I keep my assault on his body until the clicking of the empty chamber sounds. That’s when the growl of agony draws my attention to my dying husband on the bar floor.

  On my way to him, I push the security button under the bar top. It will only take moments for the police to arrive and soon after an ambulance. Then I fall down beside Reggie, scrambling to open the cupboard and pull out clean bar towels. As quickly as I can, I pull them out and cover his wound. He is breathing, which is a good thing, and I can tell he feels the pain. It’s not like when Presley died. She had the look of happiness on her face, but Reggie has the look of fight and pain on his, telling me he’s not going to leave this world without fighting. I won’t let him, either. He
will not leave the world like this.

  Reggie’s breaths are starting to become labored, and the blood is everywhere. It has soaked through his shirt, and I can feel it absorbing through my jeans.

  I lean down and place a kiss on his head. “Keep holding on, baby. Don’t leave me, okay? Just stay with me,” I plead.

  While Reggie’s warm breath grazes my lips as I kiss him gently, the tears finally escape from my eyes and fall onto his cheeks. Reggie slowly looks up at me, his Caribbean blue eyes glimmering for a moment before they fall shut, and he turns his head to the side.

  I tap the side of his face, screaming as loud as I can. “Reggie! Reggie! Please wake up! I can’t be in this life without you! Please don’t leave me! Reggie!” I suck in a deep breath and scream. “Reggie!”

  My body is being jerked back by a man I recognize standing behind me. Drake is yanking me off Reggie’s body while Zoe starts to give CPR. She is thrusting on his chest and breathing in his mouth, but he lies there, lifeless and unmoving.

  My world is spinning, and my stomach is wretched. It’s all I can do to get myself turned around before I throw up all over the floor. Drake rubs my back, trying to comfort me as I expel the contents of my stomach.

  I knew the moment I saw Reggie walk in on Grady trying to rob me this was all going to go bad. I fucking knew it! And now, the love of my life is dying on the floor.

  I wipe my chin with the back of my hand and pull myself off the floor. I don’t want to look at him. I don’t want to remember my husband covered in blood and dying. I need him to be in the remaining years of my life. If I look at him, it will only cement the fact that he is dead. My husband is dead.

  The pain rips through my chest as it explodes from my body. I can’t control the devastation to my heart. I fall back down to the ground, crying uncontrollably.

  Why, God, why! Why would you do this to us? We’ve been through so much already. Life was almost perfect, and this is how you repay us—by taking the one person who’s the center of this family? You take the one person who will guide us, protect us, teach us, love us, adore us, support us, worship us, provide for us, and simply devote their entire being to us. How could you, God? How could you do this to us—to him?

  “He’s breathing!” Zoe shouts.

  My heart lurches from my chest when I turn around and see the faint rise and fall of Reggie’s chest cavity. He’s alive! Oh, my God, Reggie’s alive!

  I scramble on my knees again and hold his face in my hands. Only the banging sound of the gurney breaks my gaze with Reggie. As the paramedics fall to the floor and start assessing his wound, I am ushered away from his body so they can work.

  Drake wraps his arms around my shoulders. Then it occurs to me that he is even here.

  I look up at him. “How…? How did you know to come here?”

  Zoe stands in front of me and grabs my hands. “The alarm is set up to page Drake and I if it’s tripped. You didn’t know that?”

  “No, I guess I didn’t.”

  Why wouldn’t Reggie share that with me? Then I recall a conversation we had after we gave Zoe a key to the bar. Reggie said he was going to add her and Drake to the alert system. Why am I thinking about this now? That detail is inconsequential at this moment. I shake my head and look in the direction of my husband.

  At that point, the police come forward, surrounding me. I am unable to see Reggie, and the idea of not seeing him is freaking me out. Drake nods to me with his head and smiles, putting me temporarily at ease by letting me know he is still alive. When a tall, older police officer begins to question me, I share with him exactly what happened from the moment Grady walked into the bar. I tell him he held me at gun point, trying to rob me. I tell him I found the gun under the bar and pointed it at him, and before I could stop him, he shot Reggie. Then I tell the police officer I turned my gun on Grady and shot him.

  The sound of grunting breaks me from the conversation. While I walk over to Reggie, the paramedics are lifting him as if he’s as light as a feather. They whisk him up and plop him down on the bed. The next thing I know, I am running after the gurney and falling into the back of the ambulance. The sirens awaken the quiet night as they echo through the city, and we get transported to the hospital with Reggie’s life hanging in the balance.

  ***

  Hours have gone by since the ambulance arrived at the hospital. Reggie was quickly ushered from the emergency room to the operating room. He’s been in surgery for the last two hours, which has kept that sickening feeling in my gut since this all began. Drake and Zoe followed the ambulance to the hospital, and I’m assuming they called Jeremy and Jake. Luckily, my brothers had secured a babysitter for their kids because of Reggie’s surprise party; otherwise, we couldn’t all be here for Reggie.

  We all sit in a small waiting room on the fourth floor. No one has really spoken or shed a single tear. We are all planted in here with our emotions bouncing back and forth between devastation, fury, and hope. None of us know how to feel, because we don’t know how he’s doing. The nurse has come in twice, only saying he’s stable. She has no details. I want to punch her in the throat.

  Jeremy pops up from the chair and begins to stalk the length of the room. His face is contorted into something I’ve never seen. It soon dawns on me that he has reverted back to his old self.

  The night Presley was killed, I knew Jeremy was out of his mind, but I didn’t witness it. I was too busy crying into Reggie’s shoulder to see how he was acting, but now it’s right in front of me, and it’s terrifying.

  He is flexing his hands, his body completely rigid, and his eyes are as black as tar. You can hear the slight popping sound as he flexes his jaw from the rage. I’m worried about my husband, God knows I am, but Jeremy has me completely on edge.

  I look over to Cami, whose eyes are shut, and she is holding her rosary beads in her palms, whispering under her breath, praying no doubt. But does she not see this? Does she not know her husband is teetering on the edge of his rage and will soon plummet back into that horrifying abyss?

  I slide over to sit next to her and tap her on the arm. Cami raises her head and looks up to me. Her brown eyes are glistening as she attempts to hold her emotions inside. I say nothing, just nod in Jeremy’s direction.

  He is standing at the door of the waiting room with his back to us, but his stance is menacing. He slightly moves his head to the left and then to the right. The balled fists have yet to relax, and Jeremy’s knuckles look ready to pierce through his skin.

  Cami gasps and looks me in the eye. She is frightened, the blood draining from her face. “It’s happening,” she says.

  I look at her with confusion. “What?”

  However, before she can even say one word, the door flies open, and Jeremy abruptly exits the room.

  “Stop him!” Cami stands, holding her swollen stomach as she shouts to Drake and Jake. “He’s going to lose it. You have to stop him!”

  Jake and Drake run from the room, leaving Delilah, Zoe, Cami, and I in their wake. Cami bends over her pregnant belly and weeps. Delilah and Zoe come closer as we all hold each other.

  The sound of the gun shot from Grady’s gun silenced every good thought I had of this place. Nothing good ever lasts in Sulfur Heights, yet the last five years almost had me convinced we could live a peaceful life here. However, the very sight of Grady McGuire destroyed any hope we had to be happy here. All that is left is pain, rage, and the unknown.

  I hate Sulfur Heights. As soon as my husband is well enough, we are leaving. My mind is made up. I’ve been living in la-la land for the past five years, and the crimson blood gushing from my husband’s body woke me out of my blissful daydream. We have to leave. In fact, I want to leave. I’ve wanted to leave since I left Robert’s house, but my feelings for Reggie kept me here. Not for long. He’s been my protector all of these years, and now it’s my turn to protect him and our very precious life. We can’t afford to stay. The good memories do not save us from nights like this. Once
Reggie admits this to himself, the better off we will be. Of course, leaving our family will be next to impossible, but they don’t need us. All of my brothers are living their own lives and are thriving. It’s Reggie’s and my turn to do the same. The only way we can do that safely is away from Sulfur Heights.

  “I haven’t seen that look in so long,” Cami whispers, breaking my thoughts. She sniffs then lifts her hand to wipe the tears away from her eyes. “I hope they can stop him.”

  “What will he do?” Delilah asks. “It’s not like he can go after Grady.”

  “No telling.” Cami looks back to her. “When he’s like that, it’s like nothing rational seeps in. He completely changes into someone else, someone menacing and hurtful. And, if the wrong person says one thing to him, he will just destroy them.”

  “I thought he was over all of that.” Zoe chimes in, a look of worry all over her face.

  “So did I. But he hasn’t had to face anything life altering like this. And, if Reggie doesn’t make it—”

  “Don’t say that!” I interject. “Don’t ever say that! He’s going to make it.” Cami grabs my hand, her eyes full of pity. “Stop!” I jerk my hand out of hers.

  Why is she looking at me that way? Does she not know you can’t say someone won’t make it when their very existence is tethered on that one person staying alive? How dare she?

  “He’s going to make it!” I snap as I get up and begin to tap into Jeremy’s rage. “Do you realize what you just said to me, Cami?”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Darcie, but I don’t want you to forget how dire his situation is. You have to remain sensible.” Cami looks to me, barely whispering.

  I lose all my composure. The emotions dancing so haphazardly in the air before now have been pinpointed. Fury. It’s the one feeling that’s no longer in limbo.

  “Sensible? What the fuck are you saying to me right now? Are you telling me I shouldn’t believe my husband is going to pull through this? Are you telling me I shouldn’t hold on to any shred of hope I will be walking out of this place with him by my side? Is that what you’re telling me?” I unload my anger and pain on Cami as she stands, holding her hands out for me to grab.