“What does that have to do with me?” Jessa asked.
“Simple. You’re a loose end that has to be tied up. You were there that night. You saw me. You tried to fuck me, Jessa. You ran your mouth.”
“You killed my best friend and her daughter.”
“Best friend? You got pregnant by your best friend’s fiance. Whore.”
Jessa swallowed hard. She started to shake. “You’re a criminal.”
“We all are,” Vin said. “I’m just better at it than anyone else I know. Now, I want to see how good you are with that mouth. No more talking, Jessa. I want to see what’s so good about you. What’s got Blaine all twisted up. He’s out of his mind because of you.”
“He’s always been out of his mind.”
“Get on your knees.”
“Eat shit.”
Vin laughed. “I hate when people don’t understand the gun concept.” Vin put the gun to Jessa’s stomach. “Get on your fucking knees.”
Jessa moved from the table. She inched down to her knees.
Vin slid his fingers through her hair. “Good girl. You know, I wanted to do this with Meghan. Fuck, she had the tightest little ass and beautiful tits. I didn’t know that little bitch of a kid would walk in on us. You know? I was going…”
A fire raged inside Jessa. Fight or flight took control and somehow, they mixed together. She told herself the honor was in trying. She would not stay on her knees and end up dead anyway. Blaine had showed her how to live. How to fight back. Blaine had given her a chance at life like no other person had ever done.
“Now,” Vin said, “you’re going to unzip my pants. You’re going to get me nice and hard. Okay? And when we’re all finished, I’ll give you a chance to survive this. Depends on how you do.”
Jessa put a hand to her stomach.
I’m so sorry… if we don’t survive this…
With her other hand Jessa reached for Vin. She curled her fist tight and took a deep breath. She then punched Vin right in the balls.
The hit was hard enough to send him stumbling back.
Her eyes looked at the gun. She had to keep focus on the weapon.
Jessa hurried to her feet and lifted her right leg. She kicked again, hitting Vin again in the balls. He flew back and fell over a chair.
Jessa lunged at the open door and had one foot in the hallway when Vin shot at her. A burning pain surged through her left arm as she fell forward. She caught herself and looked, seeing the blood. She then darted to the right, just as Vin shot again.
She was shot. But only in the arm.
Jessa went into the next exam room. She shut the door and locked it. A second later, Vin pounded on the door. He shot at the door as she ran through the other exit. She pulled that door shut but there was no locking it. Now she was in the back room of the office. That’s where they kept supplies, her office and Dr. Ashland’s office, and where they did surgeries and kept animals for observation.
Jessa opened her office door and slammed it shut. She then kept going, moving by Dr. Ashland’s office and going into the surgery area. There was a long metal table with large lights hanging over. A counter along the back of the room with a double sink. Jessa opened a drawer and took out two scalpels. She’d do anything to survive right now.
“Where the fuck are you?” Vin’s voice echoed outside the door.
She listened to sounds of doors slamming and objects being tossed around.
He was going office to office.
And then he was at the surgery room.
Jessa hid at the end of the table and watched.
Vin opened the door, his left hand holding his balls. He pointed the gun and shot.
The bullet pinged off something and Jessa let out a gasp, giving herself up.
Shit…
“You’re trapped,” Vin said.
Jessa inched up and threw one of the scalpels at Vin. He got out of the way and shot again. The bullet missed and hit the wall.
“You have a knife, I have a gun,” Vin said. “Who is going to win this?”
Jessa glanced at the medicine cabinet. There were plenty of liquids in there that could take Vin down. Hell, she could paralyze him. She could knock him out. She could kill him.
But she couldn’t get there.
“So let me make you a one time offer,” Vin said. He stepped slowly. “You put the knife down and I won’t shoot you in the stomach. Deal?”
Vin kept approaching. Jessa slid to the left until she was in a corner. If she jumped up and tried to run, he’d shoot her. She was right back to square one.
“Okay!” Jessa yelled. “Okay.” She held the scalpel out. Then she let it go.
Vin approached her, putting the gun to the top of her head. “I gave you a chance.” Vin took a breath. “So now it has to end like this. Are you ready to meet your fate?”
From the corner of Jessa’s eye she saw something.
Someone. In the doorway.
Yeah, she was definitely ready to meet her fate.
Blaine was in the doorway.
***
“Let me say something,” Jessa said.
“What?”