Knowing it’s either him or me, I regain my focus and try to subdue my sobs as I crawl on my knees over to him. Pulling the crowbar over my head with shaky hands, tears blur my vision. I take a deep breath and slam it down on his head again. His face that resembles Travis’s looks back up at me. All the pain he caused me, the way he talked to Addie. The first time he physically hurt Addie all reel in my mind like a horror movie. The pain. Torture. Belittling. All fogging my head in a haze of uncontrollable anger.
I scream loudly as I thrash it down onto his skull again. I lift my tired arms to hit him in the head one more time, but can’t muster the strength. I can no longer feel my hands, my limbs in general. Everything is numb. My instinct to survive is the only thing I can feel; it’s pounding in my brain so hard I can barely see straight.
“You can’t hurt us anymore,” I sob quietly, falling onto my hands, panting.
Tires screeching at the top of the hill catch my attention. I freeze wondering if I should run and hide, but know I have no choice but to remain. My body is shutting down.
“Jessica!” Bobby’s voice is a balm to the chaos around me. I look toward his voice and watch in relief as he runs down the hill.
“Bobby!” I cry, my body releasing its tension.
He sprints all the way down the hill. His unbuttoned black shirt flapping against him.
Ignoring my frozen limbs, I clamber to a stand and stumble toward him, the crowbar still in my hand.
Bobby smashes into me painfully, wrapping both arms around my frame, and tucking my head into the crook of his neck.
“Bobby, I love you,” I cry, holding my bloody hands out to the side, nuzzling my face into him more. Bobby pulls me closer, resting his nose just above my ear.
“You were right. I was just scared. I am scared,” I mumble into his shirt.
“I love you, too, Jessica,” he whispers.
He pulls away looking me over warily. Glancing down at myself, my white dress is splattered with specks of blood, my hands covered in back splatter from hitting Grant with the crowbar. I look like a psychopath.
“Fuck,” Bobby whispers, running his hand along my bicep. I turn and look at what he is staring at. My eyes catching my upper arm with a shard of glass sticking out of it.
“Don’t pull it out. It will bleed worse,” I warn. I can’t even feel it, so I know it’s bad.
He reaches down my arm and grasps the crowbar still in my hand, taking it. He rounds me and squats near Grant.
“He’s Travis’s brother,” I quietly say, stepping up beside him.
“That’s why he looks familiar. You did a number on him, Jessica,” Bobby remarks. He reaches forward, and rolls Grant over, applying his hands to Grant’s neck looking for a pulse. “He’s definitely dead,” Bobby informs, dropping the crowbar to the ground.
“I had to do it. He pieced together I hired the club to kill Travis,” I explain, defending my actions. Bobby shrugs, glancing at me.
“I would have killed him for nearly hitting my truck,” he adds seriously. “I think you had a pretty good reason to do what you did.” Bobby stands up, and walks over to me, tucking his arm behind my head.
“What the fuck is this?” Bobby whispers, his fingers pulling at the collar still wrapped around my neck.
“It was Travis’s. Grant put it on me,” I mutter, trying to take it off anxiously. I know with Bobby here I’m safe, but the idea of being a prisoner in this collar is suffocating.
Bobby curses under his breath and turns me, his hands sliding over my shoulders to the clasp on the back of the collar. It makes a loud noise as he unbuckles it, the clicking noise resembling a locking mechanism on a cage. Goosebumps rise all over my body as a heavy breath leaves my mouth. I turn around, my eyes glazed with emotion, finding Bobby eyeing the collar with anger.
“I’ll make sure nothing ever hurts you again, Jessica,” Bobby promises, pulling his arm back as far as he can and throwing the collar deep into the distance; it quickly merges into the darkness of the night.
Sirens suddenly catch my attention at the top of the hill, along with tires screeching to a halt.
“Oh, shit, what do we do?” I ask nervously, eyeing Bobby in fear.
“Freeze!” A cop screams, pointing a gun in our direction.
14
Bobby
“Shit,” I whisper.
The scrawny cop tripping down the hill I recognize as Skeeter. He’s as dirty as they come. He used to be paid for his scum ways by the club, but he got greedy wanting more under the table than he deserved. When he didn’t comply, he tried to blackmail us. So we flipped it around on him, making him look like a fucking fool to the police force. He has been out for us ever since.
“Jessica, this is all me,” I mumble, causing her to turn and eye me with confusion. “Don’t tell that cop a fucking thing except Grant kidnapped you. When I found you, he attacked me, and I reacted. That’s it,” I inform her.
If the hospital gets record of her killing someone whether it is self-defense or not, her career will be over. I watch her body tremble with fear, her dress and body covered in blood. Blood. Shit, I don’t have near enough on me to convince anyone I did this. I look up the large hill and see Skeeter and another cop trailing down it slowly, focusing on their steps rather than me.