by Amy Muscat
“Because if I come barreling down the street with ten FBI and cop cars, with their lights flashing, Andrew might get skittish and do something we don’t want him to,” I told him. My voice was stern, and I felt like I was back in the army, giving out orders to everyone one my team.
“Okay, yeah. I didn’t really think of that, to be honest with you.”
Of course, you didn’t… I wanted to say to him.
“Right, when I’m in, give it about five minutes and then start moving. Unless you hear gunshots or something like that, then don’t come in.” My tone was stoic and strong. I was in army mode.
Green frowned and looked like he was about to object, but I spoke again before he could.
“That is my woman in there with some fucked up fucker. I am not gonna let someone put her life in even more jeopardy, just because he wanted to play hero and can later say that he stopped a psycho, but the victim had sadly died. I don’t fucking think so, Green. Not happening. I’m trained for this sort of stuff; I was in the army for five years. I know what I’m doing, okay?” I hissed out to him. I couldn’t let one of them mess everything up. Wouldn’t allow it to happen.
Green took a step back and after silently debating with himself; he said, “Okay James. This is all yours. Just give me a signal, and we’ll be there in seconds,” he nodded at me and with a nod back to him I jumped in the Range and drove the eight hundred yards to my destination; Peyton.
****
~Peyton~
“NO!” The word came out from my lips, but the denial came from deep within my soul. He couldn’t kill Keller! He just couldn’t.
I struggled to get up, my arms shaking with the effort, but because the pain in my back and stomach was so bad, I couldn’t even lift up. Exhausted I slumped back down in the broken seat and lifted a shaking hand to my forehead and wiped away the evidence of my exertion.
“Andrew, please. Please, please, don’t do this. Don’t do that, please.” I begged him. I wasn’t above begging, not at all.
“Shh, Peyton.” He admonished me.
“No Andrew, you can’t do this!”
He spun around, glared at me and said that he could do as he pleased.
“Drew, please don’t do something this stupid.” Sandra told him, pushing herself up from the chair she was sitting in.
“Stop telling me what to do, Sandra! You’re not my mother.”
“Maybe not, but I did bring you up. Why are you acting like this? Where’s the sweet little boy who I brought up, gone? Wher-”
“YOU DID THIS! You did this to me. You made me obsessed with her, got me to watch her every move. So this is your fucking fault, Sandra, yours!” He was in her face, his face was contorted in rage. I wouldn’t want to be Sandra at this moment. But I had to give her props, she stayed there and stood her ground.
“I didn’t ask you to become obsessed with her, did I?” Her voice was raised, but she wasn’t shouting.
“How could I not? She is beautiful! Fucking stunning and I fell for her and it’s all your fault!” He spun away from Sandra, but I don’t think she was done with him.
She grabbed his bicep and went to spin him back around, but as she did, his hand jerked, and I heard a gunshot. The bang was so loud in the otherwise quiet room that it ricocheted off the walls.
I heard the gasp that left all of our mouths.
I watched as Sandra let go of Andrew’s forearms, placed her hands on her stomach, pressing down and then lifting them away.
I saw the blood coating her hands. Watched as it ran down and reached her wrists. Watched as a drop of blood curled around her wrist, twirling around again, before it finally ran down to her elbow.
I then watched as Sandra glanced up at Andrew in shock, horror and disbelief, choking out “Drew.”
Then I watched as Sandra collapsed onto Andrew. Watched as Andrew dropped the gun to wrap his arms around her, before slowly dropping to his knees and then sitting on the floor, gently laying her head on his lap. I watched all of this happen in the matter of seconds. And through all this happening, all I could do was sit there and watch. I couldn’t even move to help her; I had no energy at all. I could actually feel my energy leave my body, rapidly. I could feel my eyelids drooping, and I tried my hardest to open them, but even blinking took too much energy from me.
I’ll just close and rest my eyes for a second, I thought to myself. Just for a second…
“Sandra… Sandra… Sandra!”
The last thing I heard before I succumbed to the darkness that was Andrew shouting at Sandra to wake up.
****
~Keller~
The place was a dive. The house looked rundown and about eighty years old. There was graffiti all over the foundation of the house and there was trash lined everywhere; all over the front lawn, the walkway that led to the front door. And the smell was atrocious. It absolutely stunk.
As Blake, Jay, Ethan and I crept over to the house, I made a hand signal at Jay for him to go ‘round the left and for Ethan to go around the right. Blake was coming with me; he’d always been my wingman in the army, when we were on a mission or just doing our rounds. It would feel weird if he weren’t with me on this.
I lifted my hand to my lips as I heard a noise from inside.
Frowning, both Blake and I leaned closer.
Pulling back with confusion, I looked at Blake with my eyebrows drawn, it had sound like crying… a man crying.
“What the fuck…”
Giving me a shrug, Blake looked as bewildered as me for a second, but then he got a look in his eyes that honestly scared me.
“What?” I mouthed to him.
“He might be crying because…” He stopped talking and it grated on my nerves; I wanted to know what he was gonna say.
“Because, what?” I quietly hissed at him.
“… ‘cause Peyton might be hurt or… dead,” he barely whispered that last word, but I heard him clearly.
Without a second’s hesitation, I booted the door off its hinges and stormed in there, hearing Blake curse behind me, but I didn’t care. Fuck precaution. That fucker had Peyton and she might be seriously hurt or… dead.
I followed the sounds of the weeping as I stomped through the house, I came to the living room and the first thing I saw was Andrew hunched over a body, his shoulders shaking from his sobs. Panicked, I started to rush forward when I spotted a slumped body sitting on a chair. My heart stopped beating for a second, then started up again, beating double time.
Peyton.
Her red/ginger hair was covering her beautiful face.
As I rushed over to her, I turned my head back and I finally saw who Andrew was bent over.
I couldn’t believe who it was: Sandra.
What the fuck was she doing here?
I’m sure Andrew had heard my entrance, but he was rather too engrossed with Sandra or he just didn’t care that I was here. Either way, I didn’t give a fuck, all I cared about was getting to Peyton and getting her out of here. Stopping beside her, I bent down to her level and gently ran my hand over her hair.
“Peyton,” I whispered to her. “Baby, come on we gotta go,” I lifted her chin up with my palm and saw that she was completely knocked out. As I lifted her hand to feel a pulse, I finally saw all the blood covering her jean-clad thighs.
“Peyton!” I shouted out, horrified and scared.
What was wrong with her?
As I lifted my head, I saw Blake from the corner of my eye walk into the room, and I watched as he took in the situation.
“What the…?”
Andrew’s head snapped up when he heard Blake, and an instant scowl covered his face.
“Who the fuck are you?” He growled to Blake.
Blake tilted his head and with a smirk on his lips he said, “I’m your worst nightmare, bud.”
It all happened in a split second; Blake moved his hand to the back of his pants to grab his gun, but at the same time Andrew dropped his hold on Sandra and lifted his
arm that had been hidden from my view and pointed his gun at Blake.
No…
“Don’t even fucking think about it bud,” Andrew hissed out, the word ‘bud’ coming out of his mouth in a mocking tone.
I don’t think he had seen me, so I took advantage of that fact and moved my hand and quickly grabbed my gun and aimed it at his head.
“I’d put that down if I were you,” I told him.
His head whipped around to me and I watched in satisfaction as his eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped open- but it was the fear in his eyes that made me happy. Good, be scared fucker. Be very scared, ‘cause I was not happy with the psycho and what he had done.
I watched as his eyes flicked from me to Blake to me again and then move and settle on Peyton. I watched as his hard eyes soften. It made my blood boil that he was looking at her like that. It also made me feel sick.
“Hey! Eyes on me bucko!” I snapped at him and his eyes made another slow sweep of Peyton. When they stopped on her jeans, his eyes turned sad. He knew what was wrong with her. “What’s the matter with her? Why is she bleeding?” I barked out the questions to him.
“She’s having/ had a miscarriage…” he mumbled out, sounding truly saddened by the fact.
My blood froze in my veins when I heard him say that.
Nooo…
NO! No no, no no…
“NO!” I roared.
No, this couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t.
“What did you do?!”
“It wasn’t me! It was Sandra, she didn’t know she was pregnant and she kicked her.”
My head whipped around to Sandra.
I asked the question that I had been thinking.
“What is she doing here, Andrew?”
But before he could answer me I heard a groan come from my right and instantly turned my back to the room and looked at Peyton, who I was hoping was coming to.
“Baby, are you okay?” I asked her taking her face between my hands and holding her head up, so I could look at her.
When she didn’t respond, I gently tapped her check. “Open your eyes Peyton, open them and show me those beautiful emerald eyes.”
When she still didn’t open them, in a hoarse voice I begged, “Please Pey, please Pie.”
Her eyes finally fluttered open, I saw the stunning emerald jewels. When they locked on me, a sleepy smile graced her perfect lips and she said, “Hey Kel… I knew you’d come for me,” before her eyes closed again.
“No, baby, open your eyes again for me, please. Open them Pie,” after a couple of seconds she opened her eyes. “I told you I’d come for you, you should know that, Pey.”
“Yeah, I know, baby, I know.”
I smiled gently at her, as I caressed her face with my fingertips. I loved her so much.
“Hey! Don’t even think about it!”
I turned my head and saw that Andrew now stood and was facing me, with fierce rage on his face.
“Get. Your. Hands. Off her now,” he bit out, his hand clenching and unclenching on the gun.
Slowly, I turned back to Peyton and told her that I was gonna let her go now, asking if she was okay and with a subtle nod letting me know she was fine. I let her face go and stood up to my full height.
“Look psycho, just put the gun down and no one gets hurt. We’ll just forget all about this and move on with our lives, okay?” I told him, lying through my teeth, but he didn’t know that.
He snorted and said, “Yeah, okay. What you’re telling me, is that you’re just gonna leave this alone? I don’t think so, I’m not stupid.”
Okay, maybe he did know.
“Look-”
“No. The only way either of us is leaving is if the other is dead and to be honest with you, I don’t feel like dying tonight, so I think it’s gonna be you who dies.” As he was saying this, I watched as his arm, the one that was attached to the hand that held his gun, lift and point right at me.
Before I could press the trigger of mine, I heard the sound of an almighty bang.
Actually I heard multiple bangs.
My body instinctively flinched and I took a step back looked down at my chest, but when I felt no pain, I looked down and saw no blood. I snapped my eyes up to see Andrew standing there with a look of shock on his face and I moved my eyes down to where his hands were fisting his top, blood was seeping through his hands. He then dropped to his knees, still clutching his chest. I looked back up and saw Blake with his weapon still pointed at Andrew.
Realization dawned; Blake had shot Andrew.
It wasn’t five seconds later that the rundown house was swarming with police and FBI agents. Green took in the scene and barked over to another agent for them to bring the paramedics in. As he was doing this four police officers rushed over to Andrew’s slumped figure. One kicked away the gun that had fallen from his hand, and another knelt down to check his pulse.
“He’s dead.”
Oh, thank god…
“Sir, this one’s dead too,” I snapped my head over to where that statement had come from, and saw an agent standing over Sandra’s body.
Peyton.
Rushing over to her, I knelt down and gently shook her arms.
“Baby, it’s over. Wake up baby, Andrew’s gone, Pey… Pey… Peyton!”
Just then the paramedics ran into the room, carrying their bags and wheeling two stretchers.
“Help! Help her, please, she’s not waking up!” I turned my back to them and held her face as I begged her over and over and over to wake up.
But she didn’t. She just sat there body slumped, her face held by my hands.
“PEYTON!!!!” I scream- sobbed her name, still begging her to wake up and gift me with the sight of her emerald jewels.
But she never did…
TWENTY-SEVEN
I was sat out in the backyard under the canopy holding my baby boy in my arms.
He was so handsome; his chubby cheeks were flushed and his mouth was parted as he breathed in and out in his sleep. I let my eyes travel all over his face, stopping at his eyes, which when open were the most-beautiful hazel color I’d ever seen. His long eyelashes were thick and dark, curving up. His pink lips were bow shaped. His head a mop of auburn hair.
He was perfect. My mini Keller.
Giggling brought my head up and I looked to see Keller holding a laughing Ivy in his arms.
He was holding her up in the air, above his head, and he was twirling her around. The sun shone down on their bodies and it made it seem like halos were surrounding them. Keller had a big grin on his face as he looked up at our daughter. That same smile that he had when he looked at Cameron.
It was his proud, dad smile. It was the smile that made my heart thump, and speed up in happiness.
“Hey, got your drink.”
I looked to my left where Lottie’s voice had come from and smiled in thanks.
“Just put it on the table,” I asked her, nodding at the table that separated our chairs.
She put both of our drinks down and with her hands made the universal gesture of ‘gimme’ and pointedly looked at Cam.
Sighing, I handed him over to her- but not before placing one more kiss on his puckered lips.
“Hi baby. There… that’s better, ay? Being with Auntie Lottie, yeah I know…” She said in his ear.
“Lotts, he’s asleep, he can’t hear you, you know that right?” My best friend was nuts, I tell ya.
“Oh, he can hear me, trust me girl. Kids hear everything. Don’t cha, baby? Yeah, you can…” She was speaking in a baby voice that irritates everyone, but everyone always does it; myself included.
My eyes narrowed when she not so subtly tapped his arm.
“You’re trying to wake him up ain’t you?”
Shifting her eyes away, she said an unconvincing no.
“You are! You bitch, I just got him to sleep!” I hissed quietly at her. I may love him, a lot, but god he was always hard to get to sleep. Cameron love
d being awake and playing. He was one active baby. At only seven months, he was trying to do the stuff that he couldn’t yet; so I had to always keep an eye on him- well more than I normally would. He also loved Ivy, completely adored her. Every time she walked into a room and was in his eyesight he would go crazy, and the feeling was mutual. Ivy dotes on him, if he so much as makes a noise she’s there to give him his binky, or to rock him. Sometimes she would even sing to him when he’s upset and he would quiet down immediately, listening to his big sister sing the newest Disney song out. (We’d had to listen to ‘Let it go’ from Frozen about ten thousand times this past year or so- drove me mad, no matter how much I enjoyed the movie.)
“I can’t help it! I just want to play with him a little, and that’s only best if he’s awake,” Lottie mumbled into Cam’s cheek.
“Don’t you dare wake him, I mean it. At least for an hour,” I conceded when she gave me a pout.
“Okay, I’ll just hold him until then… or until I have to pee, then you’ll have to take him.”
I shook my head at her and got up from the lawn chair, and walked over to where Keller and Ivy were still playing. I sneaked up behind Ivy and wrapped my arms around her tiny body spinning around with her. She squealed in my ear, as I spun her in my arms to face me, she giggled out a ‘momma!’
“Hi baby,” I said to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, grinning at her happy face.
“Hi, momma. Is Cam awake yet?”
“No, baby, but why don’t you go and keep Lottie company,” I suggested to her.
“Okay, momma,” and off she went, skidding to a stop and taking the seat that I had just left.
“Hey.” A voice said in my ear and I felt strong, capable arms wrap around me.
That voice, that tone, them arms- they made me melt into them.
I loved his husky tone- it let me know how much he wanted me.
Slowly I turned around and looked up into the face of the man who had captured my heart at the young age of thirteen. I’d always loved Keller since we were kids, but when I turned into a teenager; I started developing feelings for him, which eventually turned into lust and then love.