Page 96 of Still Afraid

She wouldn’t be deterred by his taunts. “Drop the knife.” What would Gabe make him do right now?

They needed something to restrain him with.

“Aaron? Are you all right?”

He groaned. “Sorta.” Even in the single word, she could hear the pain.

“We need to restrain him. Do you see anything?” She didn’t dare look around and give Richard a moment to act, especially since he still hadn’t released the knife.

“Not really.” Aaron grunted as he moved. “Wait, I found something.”

“Richard, drop the knife.”

He let it fall to the floor next to him.

“Push it away.” He snorted but obeyed.

Chloe was actually surprised this guy had a survival instinct left. Keeping the gun trained on Richard, she walked over to the knife, put her foot on top of it, and slid it over to Aaron.

She still hadn’t looked at her brother to know how bad his wound was. She needed to tend to it, but until Richard was restrained, she had no choice except to hold him under the fear of being shot.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

As soon as the all clear came, Josh jumped to his feet. He tried to be patient with everyone as they exited the bathroom. The tornado had come incredibly close to his house, but, thankfully, they seemed unscathed. Not everyone had been so fortunate. Reports claimed businesses and several homes had been hit.

While he cared deeply for the people who had experienced loss, he couldn’t help but be more concerned with finding Chloe first and foremost.

Troy and Bonnie left the bathroom first, then Josh, with Poirot less than half a step behind him.

Josh strode to the door and grabbed his keys off the hook.

Lance followed him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Josh stopped but didn’t turn. “I have to find her.”

“You aren’t going to find her by driving around.”

He stared at the bottom of the door. Lance was right, but he didn’t know what to do with himself. He finally turned. “I have to do something.”

“I get that. For a minute, imagine if the roles were reversed.”

“And you actually had a girlfriend?” They’d razzed each other for years about being single.

Lance glared at him. “It’ll happen. I have faith, but if I’m in your shoes, what are you going to tell me?”

Josh inhaled deeply. “I’ll say you need to be safe and trust God to bring her back to you.”

Lance raised his eyebrows.

Josh hung his keys back on the hook.

Poirot whined and scratched the front door.

Josh knelt beside the dog. “I know, boy. I want to find her too.”

Poirot laid his head on Josh’s shoulder.

“We have to wait.” It felt cruel not to get out there and search, but Lance was right.