“Hunter,” I heard Kelly scream from the porch. She was standing in her house coat, shaking and crying her eyes out. “Hunter.”
I rolled in the dirt with the big ape and managed to knock him off me with a hard head butt.
“Kelly, get inside the house, now.”
“But Hunter.”
“Now,” I cried.
She turned and ran inside the house slamming the door behind her. She was safe. For the moment at least, she was safe.
I felt a fist come down on my face and looked up, just as the goon cocked his pistol and took aim. I rolled out of the way as two bullets bit into the dirt where I had just been.
I swung my leg and swept his feet out from underneath him, watching the big fuck crash to the ground. I reached over, grabbing his collar, and mashed my fist into his face twice. I watched him go limp, grabbed his gun, and sprayed the fucker’s blood all over the chest and face.
I let out a hard sigh as I fell back on my ass and rested my hands on the ground.
“Fuck me,” I gasped as I tried to catch my breath.
I looked around at the collection of bodies and blood that soaked the dirt of the driveway, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it as I climbed to my feet. I let out a deep groan as I lowered my hand back down. I forgot there had been a blade digging around my shoulder until a minute ago.
I took a deep drag of my cigarette and exhaled a thick cloud into the afternoon heat.
“Fuck me,” I sighed.
I took one more deep pull of the smoke and threw it to the ground. The hard part was over. Now I just had to find that old fuck who liked to think he was my father. I had to find him and, when I did, I was going to fucking murder him with my bare hands.
But first, I had to get to Kelly. Nothing was done until she was safe.
Chapter 51
Kelly
I RAN INTO THE HOUSE as my heart beat out of my chest and gunshots rang in my eardrums. It had all happened so fast. One moment I was lying in my bed with Hunter, and the next there was a gang war exploding in front of my eyes. I couldn’t catch my breath and my legs felt like they were about to give out. I turned to run back to the porch, but heard more gunfire and sounds of fists against flesh. I felt like I was being pulled in two directions and before I knew it, I had collapsed against the wall and was sitting on the ground. There was nothing else I could do. Hunter was outside, fighting for his life, fighting for my life. I put my head in my hands and rocked back and forth to the sound of the mayhem that surrounded me. Then my head shot up.
“Lucas,” I gasped.
Where had he gone? I could barely register how he’d escaped. I had turned my head for a second and then all I saw was Hunter’s father gushing blood and Luke running full speed around the house.
“Lucas,” I cried desperately. “Lucas, Lucas.”
I pulled myself up and ran through the house, looking in every room. There was no sign of him.
Dear God, please, please let him be okay.
I moved down the hall, holding myself steady on the walls as I fumbled toward the kitchen. Oddly, it reminded me of the first time Hunter and I were together. The confusion, the anticipation, the fear, all of it leading down a hall and into a kitchen. The feeling in my stomach this time was one of sickness though. Violence and evil poured in from all around me and I felt weighed down by the horror of it all.
I finally burst through the door to the kitchen.
“Lucas?” I screamed, hoping against hope to find him hiding in a corner. But I did not. I felt my heart drop and it was as if the room was tilting back and forth before my eyes.
“Kelly. So lovely to finally and officially make your acquaintance.”
My heart sank. Hunter’s evil father sat at a table. I could see his hand bleeding through a piece of fabric he’d wrapped around it. The other gripped a pistol that rested on the table in front of him. I backed away as fast as I could, but ran into the wall behind me, sliding down to the floor.
“Well, well, well, I see why the boy likes you. You’ve got a real shape to you, girl. I bet that * is nice and tight, isn’t it? Barely felt the touch of a man before.”
I looked down and realized my house coat had fallen open and left my body exposed. I quickly covered myself up and turned my head to look away from him.
“Oh, no, baby, don’t do that. Give an old man a thrill. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a pair of titties like that.”
I could hear him walking toward me and I did my best to stop the tears from coming. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me weep. I was beyond scared, but I wasn’t about to let him get that from me.