Page 129 of The Lucky Heart (Jamison Valley 3)
“Derrick!” I screamed. “Stop!” Why wasn’t he letting her go?
His bloodshot, evil eyes came to me. “Stupid bitch had me thrown in jail!”
His grip on her neck tightened and Khloe’s lips turned blue. Her head was hanging forward as she dangled in the air. He was going to kill her. If we didn’t get to her soon, it could be too late.
“Let her go!” I cried, struggling wildly again.
“Shut her up!” Derrick bellowed.
My attacker grunted, “Shut up,” as his hand found my mouth. Before he could clamp it down, I sank my teeth onto the meaty flesh and bit as hard as I could. The metallic taste of blood hit my tongue at the same time I wound up and thrust my elbow backward into his gut.
“Ahh!” He grunted and jerked back, doubling in half as I wiggled free. I threw myself on the floor, darting toward my fallen purse to frantically dump it out.
Hurry! Where was it?
“Get back here!” the man yelled. He bent to grab me at the waist but I scooted across the floor, stretching for the little black box in front of me.
My fingers touched the plastic and I gripped my weapon tightly. Flicking on the switch, I rolled onto my back. This time when the man came at me, I jabbed my stun gun right in his chest. His body shook with the electric current before he collapsed at my feet.
Kicking away from him, I hurried to my feet. Paxon and the other man were still fighting. I spun around, ready to rescue Khloe, but Derrick had been expecting me.
He had dropped Khloe, unconscious, to the floor so he could come after me instead.
Silas
“Jess,” I answered the phone. “Can I call you right back?” I was loading up the last bundle of flattened cardboard boxes into my truck.
“Better come up to the hospital.” My spine snapped straight. “Lissy’s here.”
“Two minutes.” I slammed the truck’s tailgate and jogged to the driver’s side door. “What’s going on?” In the background, someone called Jess’s name.
“I gotta go. Just get here.”
Fuck. Fuck. Something bad had happened. I dug out my phone to call Felicity while I drove. One ring. Two. My heart pounded. Three rings.
Come on, Lis. Please answer.
When I got her voicemail, my foot pressed harder on the gas. I was thirty seconds from the hospital when my phone rang and I blew out a relieved breath at the sight of Felicity’s name.
“What’s wrong?” I answered.
“Did Jess call you?” Felicity’s panicked voice didn’t calm my racing heart. “Are you coming to the hospital?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there. What’s wrong?”
She started crying. “I’m having a really bad afternoon.”
Crying was good. Crying meant she was alive and not hurt. More often than not, crying meant she was mad. “I’ll make it better,” I promised. “I’m almost there.”
My stomach was in a fierce knot when I hit the parking lot, and seeing Paxon sitting on the curb outside the hospital’s emergency-room doors just wrenched it tighter. His head rested in his hands as his elbows dug into his thighs. Blood covered his fists and forearms.
“I’m here, babe,” I said into the phone as I hopped out of the truck. “Where are you?”
“In the waiting room.”
“Okay. I’m hanging up. Be right there.”
I tucked my phone in my pocket and jogged past the ambulance toward Paxon. When he heard my footsteps, he looked up, his face full of agony and torment. What the fuck had happened at that house showing?
