Page 155 of Devious Obsession
And it snaps me out of my nightmare, back into reality.
Steele has a hold of Dad’s wrists, but he can’t seem to break his grip. And there’s no way I can imagine a world, afuture, without Steele O’Brien in it. And right now, Dad’s killing him.
The six-year-old inside me is screaming, and it echoes and echoes and echoes.
I squeeze the trigger.
47
STEELE
Bang!
Aspen’s dad slumps off me, and I gasp a breath I thought I wouldn’t get. I rip his hands away from my neck and scramble backward. For a split second, I thought I was going to die. My throat burns, my body aches. Like I went through a pulverizer. My face is hot, pulsing with pain.
But then I see what happened to him. He’s gaping like a fish out of water, struggling to breathe. Blood flecks his lips, and there’s blood soaking his shirt. It’s hard to see where it’s coming from with his leather jacket.
“Oh, god,” Aspen moans.
I look at her.
The gun in her hand.
She just fucking saved my life—by shooting her own father.
She drops to her knees, setting the gun down by her side. Her gaze is locked on her dad. He hasn’t made any move to get up, but his attention is on her, too. Even as he gasps for air, and his breath whistles.
They’re in a staring contest.
I willnotlose her to him.
I crawl across the floor to her, blocking her view of him. I grip her cheeks and force her to focus on me. It takes me a second to realize my hands are bloody, and it now paints her skin, too. Her wide-eyed stare bores into me.
“You’re okay,” I tell her.
It hurts to talk. To breathe, really.
She shakes her head. “I killed him. I-I killed him, Steele, he was going to kill you, and I just picked up the gun and pulled the trigger—”
I drag her into me. All the worry and fear eases when our lips touch. She sags against me, gripping my shoulders. She needs me to save her.
I know that now.
So when I pick up the gun,Idon’t hesitate. I leave her kneeling on the floor and push myself up, going back to her father. He looks up at me, then at the gun. And he fucking smiles.
“She picked a winner,” he says, his words gurgled.
I’d bet anything that she nicked his lung. And I’d love to see him drown in his own blood, but it’ll take too long. The paramedics, the police—everyone will be here soon. Already, the sirens are drawing closer.
I will.
I aim at his chest and squeeze the trigger. It kicks in my hand, but it lands true. I do it again, just to make sure. And again. Until the gun is only dry-firing, out of bullets, and utterly fucking useless. I toss it away from us and go back to Aspen. I’ll deal with it after, if I need to clean it, or… whatever you’re supposed to do with a deadly weapon that belongs to a career criminal.
“Your dad,” she whispers. “He—”
Oh, fuck.
I pick her up. Because I’m not leaving her to stare at her dead father while I go see about mine. She winds her arms around my shoulders and buries her face in my neck.
