The Edge of Heaven (Broken Wings Duet Book 2)
Page 2
Tess teeters backward on her heels, the gun still held loosely in her hand. Ace exchanges a look with me and then keeps his eyes on her, encouraging her the closer she gets to him. But, no matter how many times he asks her to, she still won’t drop the gun.
If I had any sense, I’d rip my helmet off and handle Tess myself. But the helmet is the only thing that’s probably keeping Tess from blowing my brains out. As soon as she saw my face, she’d do it—without hesitation. That’s how much she despises the fact that I’m alive and Mick isn’t. His death wasn’t my fault, yet I get all the blame.
The door behind me opens and slams shut.
One of the bartenders stands there with an empty box in his hand, frozen in place next to the dumpster. “What the fuck?” he mumbles.
Jax, Tess, and Ace are focused on the bartender when I spot Winnie running toward the building. Her eyes are focused on the ground, and I beg her to look up and see us before she gets too close to turn around.
She doesn’t.
Her dress is too short, and her hair’s all over the place, whipping around in the wind behind her. She swipes at her cheek with the back of her hand, and I’m pretty sure she’s wiping away tears.
As soon as she sees the leather covering my body and the helmet on my head, she covers her mouth with her hands. She knows it’s me standing in the middle of the parking lot with a gun.
Run away. Please.
“Trey!” she shouts and sprints toward me, crying harder the closer she gets.
No, Winn. No.
The second she hears my name, the calmness that was slowly taking over Tess vanishes. She looks at all the faces in front of her, and by process of elimination, she narrows her gaze on me. “You motherfucker,” she spits. “It’s you.”
My identity no longer matters, and I flip the shield up, revealing my face. Tess’s manic laugh bubbles out of her while Jax’s jaw hangs open.
Once the shock wears off, Jax realizes the gun’s pointed at me again. Tess’s eyes smolder with hate. She’s holding revenge in the palm of her hand and that doesn’t sit well with any of us.
I feel Winnie by my side before I see her. But her presence is always like some kind of spiritual awakening. It’s just what she does to me.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I tell her. She looks the same age as me in that dress and with all that paint on her face.
She overwhelms me with one look, and even though I want to tell her how much I love her, I shove my feelings aside like I’ve been doing for months.
With a gentle voice and as much calmness as I can muster, I say, “Go inside. Stay in Ace’s office until I tell you to come out.”
“Tess is my battle. Not yours,” she says. “And I’m not leaving you, Trey. I can’t.”
Like Ace just stabbed me with the tip of his knife, her words cut through my heart and settle somewhere in my gut. Maybe it’s how she’s dressed or the way the wind’s blowing the hair by her face, but it’s like she’s mine, ten years from now, and the whole world knows it.
Winnie’s entire life is a goddamn fight between good and evil. And there’s so much she doesn’t know. If she did, she wouldn’t look at me the way she does. She’d be as repulsed as everyone else.
“Don’t argue with me, Winn. Not now.”
“I fucking knew it,” Tess says. And, suddenly, Tess can’t decide whom to aim the gun at. One last look of disgust toward me, and then her attention’s on Winnie. “Do you know how many times I’ve thought about killing you in your sleep?” she asks her.
Winnie’s breath hitches, and her mouth is so dry, I hear her struggle to swallow.
“Nobody would miss you, ya know. You’re fucking worthless.”
Ace is still behind Tess, on the hood of his car. He holds his phone up so that only Jax and I can see, and I pray that means he’s calling the police.
Jax exchanges a look with the both of us because we all know Jax is the only one capable of talking some sense into Tess right now. She respects Ace, but she trusts Jax. Right now, trust is the only thing able to keep Winnie alive.
“Baby,” Jax says softly, “do you hear the sirens? The cops are on their way. If they see you with the gun pointed at Winnie, you’ll get arrested.”
Though the threat is real, Tess doesn’t even look at Jax. All she says is, “Then, I guess I’m going to jail.”
“I won’t be able to see you if that happens.”
“Aw, will you be sad, Jaxy?”
Jax is getting nowhere with the nice routine, so he raises his voice and steps closer to Tess. She takes a step to her right, wanting the space back. But Jax doesn’t falter.
He says, “Give me the gun.”
“She ruined my life, Jax.”
“You ruined your life, Tess. This isn’t Winnie’s fault.”
“Everyone cares about precious Winnie,” she says through gritted teeth. “The little bitch always gets her way.”
Winnie winces, and I try to inch my fingers over to hers. Just a little brush against her skin would calm her down, but I can’t reach her.
Jax inches closer to Tess and then glances over his shoulder to Ace. Ace motions to grab the gun from her. Tess isn’t steady on her feet, and it wouldn’t be hard to tackle her to the ground. I’d do it myself, but I’m on the wrong end of the barrel.
Sirens wail in the distance, and Jax is running out of time.
There’s no count of three.
No warning at all.
Ace runs and jumps on top of Tess.
Jax reaches for the gun, and as they wrestle it out of Tess’s hand on the ground, it fires. I grab Winnie, pulling her against my chest, at the same time she wraps her arms around my neck and melts against me.
“Everything’s okay, Winn. You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
The warmth she fills my soul with vanishes, and in its place is an icy chill like I’ve never felt before.
My fingers are coated and then my entire hand. When I pull back and take a look at Winnie’s face, her eyes are already rolling back in her head.
“No, Winn. No,” I beg. “Please.”
I scan her body and watch as the blood seeps through her dress and down her thigh.
“Stay with me,” I beg. “What have you done?” I scream at Tess.
But Tess can’t hear me. She’s lying on the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs, clawing her nails into the gravel, while Ace and Jax fight to restrain her. She’s so high, she has the strength of three grown men.
The gun’s still pointed at us, only it’s now on the ground in the dirt.
Winnie’s limp body rests in my arms. All I can do is hold her against my chest and rock her back and forth, like I did when she was a little girl. Only this time, I’m not praying for her to grow up and become the princess she always dreamed of becoming, I’m praying for her life to a god I’ve never had any reason to believe in.
“Trey,” she whispers, “don’t leave me.”
“I’m not, Winn. I’m right here. You’ll be okay.”
The sirens are a block or two away and I know I have to get up and get out of here before the cops see me. If they do, I’ll never see Winnie again.
“I have to lay you down now, sweetheart. Close your eyes, and think about the beach. When you open them again, I’ll be with you. I promise.”
“No,” she whispers. Her breaths are coming slower and slower. Her eyelashes flutter as she fights to stay awake.
The pool of blood surrounding her grows, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to help her.
With every ounce of strength I possess, I stand up and run toward my bike. If I look back, I won’t be able to leave, so I don’t.
Tess is still screaming.
Jax and Ace are still holding her down.
And Winnie’s dying.
As I gun it out of the parking lot on my bike, I try to convince myself I’m not running. I’m leaving to protect her.
Two
Jasper
The closer I get to The Whip, the more sweat pours down my forehead and onto my face. The soles of my sneakers pound so hard against the pavement, the vibrations snake up my legs and all the way into my arms. Somehow, I manage to run the three-quarters of a mile more like the hundred-meter dash.
But, as I round the corner and spot the commotion, I can’t make sense of it at first. Trey’s peeling out of the lot on his motorcycle, and he doesn’t even glance over his shoulder as he pulls away. Jax and Ace are on top of Tess, shouting at each other. In between cuss words, she wails and kicks her legs like she’s in a pool of water.
Jax runs his hand through his beard and then restrains her arms the best he can. She punches the ground and pulls at her hair. It’s like watching a wild animal, but I know it’s just the drugs in her system, making her crazy. Once the high wears off, she’ll calm down and forget about why she was upset in the first place, just like she always does.
I can’t make sense of what’s happening. All I know is that something’s wrong—really, really wrong. My muscles are so tensed up, I can barely get my body to move.
I say Ace’s name twice before he hears me. His shirt is soaked with sweat, and his face is bright red.
“Get the hell out of here,” he says. “You can’t be here.”
When I turn my head, I take a swift punch to the gut. Something clicks, and I realize the girl on the ground that I’m staring at is Winnie.
“Is she dead?” I ask in a voice I don’t even recognize as my own.
Ace lets go of Tess and stands up. He grabs my arm with his sweaty hand, and I pull it out of his grip. I’m scared of what I’ll find when I get there, but I walk toward Winnie anyway, one cautious step after another.
Run, I tell myself.
Do something.
Move faster.
Help her.
But my body doesn’t listen to my brain.
“Jasper, for once in your life, listen to me. Go home, and if anyone asks, you weren’t here.”
He roughly pushes me backward, and I almost stumble, but he grips my elbow before I fall. My whole body is shaking, and I can’t take my eyes off the growing bloodstain coating the parking lot around Winnie.
“M-mom has Lydia. I didn’t leave her alone.” My teeth are chattering, and the only way to get them to stop is to mash my lips together.
Jax lets go of Tess, rips his T-shirt over his head, and then uses it to tie Tess’s arms behind her. She’s too strong for him without Ace’s help, and it’s the only thing to keep her from hitting him in the face over and over.
She screams like she’s in pain, but I don’t think Jax is hurting her.
“Where are the fucking cops, Ace?”
The sirens sound close, and finally, a cruiser speeds down the alley. As soon as it stops, two officers run toward Jax and Tess. Because of Tess’s loud wails, neither officer sees Winnie at first. But, as soon as they do, they’re on the radio, giving word for backup.
Ace and I were in a car accident once. It was pretty bad, and both cars were all mangled up. Since it was late at night, a ton of cops showed up, and Ace got a Breathalyzer even though he’d only had one drink. They interviewed us, too. To make sure our stories all matched. The whole situation played out like in the movies. I guess you could say it was organized chaos.
But an accident isn’t the same as a crime. This is ten times more intense than that car accident, and as I watch the ambulances pull up and cop car after cop car surround the scene, I wish it were more like that accident and less like this crime.
I bend down and reach for Winnie’s hand before she’s encircled by strangers. I want her to know that I’m here. That, no matter what happens to her, I care enough to stay. In case she’s already gone, I look up into the air above her and search for angel wings, but I don’t see anything.
Two people turn into six and then ten, and I’m pushed out of the way and taken to one of the cop cars. I walk sideways the whole way there, unable to take my eyes completely off Winnie. When she’s completely surrounded and I can’t see her body anymore, I focus on the edge of her shoe barely sticking out. I try to forget about the fact that it hasn’t moved once since I’ve been watching it.
The officer with dark hair and eyes stands in front of me. His lips are moving, but the words coming out aren’t making it to my ears. Like I’m underwater, every sound is muffled, and all I can do is concentrate on the red and blue lights ricocheting off the white building. They go around and around every second, chasing the sirens as they spin.
“…crime…”
“…assault…”
“…weapon…”
“…shock…”
“…gun…”
What happened to Winnie? How did she get between a gun and a bullet?
I lick my lips and swallow, and then I stare at the officer. Even though I have no idea how this happened, there’s really only one thing I need to know. “Is she dead?”
As soon as I say it, I realize I don’t want to hear the response.
“They’re doing all they can,” he tells me. “Is she your sister? Friend?”
“She’s Winnie,” I tell him. “She’s my girl—” I stop myself.
She’s only my girlfriend in my head. I’ve never had the courage to actually ask her. I thought, if I waited long enough, it would happen on its own. But, now, that might never happen.
The officer listens to me and jots down pieces of what I’m saying onto his notepad. “Keep going,” he says. “Any information you have will help your friend.”
I tell him about the trailer, how I was babysitting, and how Winnie came by unexpectedly. The officer asks about her mood, what she said, and how she acted when she left. I tell him every detail I can remember—the way her lips quivered as she spoke, how upset she was about going to The Whip, and that I was scared she was about to do something she’d regret. I told him, if I hadn’t been with Lydia, I would have run after her and taken her home with me, so she wouldn’t have to get on that stage and take her clothes off. He seems surprised about the dancing but only for a split second. Then, his emotions disappear, and he’s stone-cold again.
“Tess and Jax aren’t good people,” I tell him.
Maybe he goes to The Whip and already knows that for himself. A lot of guys his age spend nights there. All my time gets spent in the kitchen, so I never see any faces I’d remember.
“I believe they’re known at the station.”
Known.
It doesn’t surprise me. Someone in Carillon is always in trouble. Maybe that’s why Winnie’s always worried about the cops being at her house. There’s a chance this officer has been inside Winnie’s trailer. It’s a stupid thing to get jealous about, especially at a time like this, but I am. I want Winnie to trust me enough that she lets me see both the good and the bad.
Suddenly, the crowd of people around Winnie stand, and she’s being pushed into the ambulance with her body strapped to an orange board and little wires stuck all over her. One medic is holding a bag of clear liquid in the air, and I follow the line all the way into her arm. It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, but it means she’s alive.
I take a step around the officer, and he grabs my shoulder.
“I need to see Winnie before they put her in the ambulance.”
He seems satisfied with the information I gave him and hands me his card. “Give me a call if you remember anything else, okay?”
I don’t answer him because, when I turn round, I see all the people who have gathered around The Whip. The usual night crew is standing in the lot, and the alley’s full of nosy people from the park, trying to get a look at Carillon’s latest drama.
I manage to push through a line of people being held back by yellow tape, and
then I duck under the barrier set up to keep people away from the ambulance.
“Winnie!” I yell, unsure if she’s awake or still passed out.
I’m steps from the back of the ambulance when a female officer grabs my arm and tries to pull me back onto the other side of the tape. I pry her fingers off my skin and spout off a bunch of nonsense about how I belong here. Who the hell says they belong on the scene of a shooting?
When she won’t listen to me, I grab her arm like she grabbed mine, and tell her, “She’s my girlfriend. Let me see her. I was just with this officer.”
I hold up the card he gave me, and her eyes soften the slightest bit.
“Stay with me,” she says.
I nod and then let her lead me toward the ambulance. The EMTs slide the gurney into the back, and I barely catch a glimpse of Winnie’s cheek before the doors close. I didn’t get to touch her, couldn’t talk to her, nothing. And, just as I press my palms against the window, trying to peek inside, the ambulance pulls away.
“Why are you still here, Jasper?” Ace’s hand grips my shoulder and squeezes.
All the tension has drained his voice of emotion, and I can tell he’s barely holding it together.
He looks like he’s on the verge of passing out.
“A cop interviewed me, and I didn’t get to see Winnie.”
The ambulance turns the corner, and we watch the colors from the lights dance off the building. Winnie’s on her way to the hospital, and I have no idea if I’ll ever see her again. The last words I had with her were about The Whip, not about how much I cared about her. If I had been able to stop her from leaving or convinced her to stay until my mom showed up to watch Lydia, she never would have run into the path of that gun.
Another round of screams surrounds Tess and Jax. We watch as they’re each placed in separate cars with their arms bound behind them.
“Did Tess shoot her, Ace?”
“Yeah,” he whispers. “Tess isn’t coming back. She’s going away for a long time.”