“It’s fine, come here.” Grunting, I clutch her close with my uninjured arm, stroking her hair. She flinches when I brush over a lump. I’m woozy and aching, but the only thing that matters to me is her. “I’m sorry, Thea. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have let you leave.”
“No, shh, I’m sorry,” Thea whispers, hugging me until I wince. “Shit. God, I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I should’ve listened. I came here alone, it was so stupid, but I had to help her. I couldn’t let him hurt her like he hurt me, I—”
“You’re safe now. It’ll be okay, baby.”
She fusses over the wound, finding a dish towel to help stem the bleeding, and helps me sit up. I can’t tell if it was my shoulder or lower, my whole arm throbs. I can move it, so I don’t think he hit bone. If I’m lucky, it was a graze or a clean through and through. We shuffle further away from Coleman’s knocked out body.
“Can you stand? We have to get you to the hospital.”
“Yeah.” I lean on her for support. The red staining her pristine coat catches my eye. “The blood on your coat, are you—?”
“I’m fine. Just a little banged up.” She shows me her palm, where a shallow cut has mostly clotted over. “Broken glass. But I stabbed him with a screwdriver I found in the basement.”
The corner of my mouth lifts. “That’s my girl. Resourceful even in a crisis.”
Her lower lip wobbles as she pauses, really taking me in. “I love you so much.”
A band constricts around my heart. I almost lost her.
“I love you, too.” With a rough sound, I gather her in my arms, kissing the top of her head. “Won’t ever stop. My heart beats for you, sunshine.”
“How touching.”
We spring apart as Coleman climbs to his feet, the gun in hand. I step in front of Thea, shielding her as he takes aim.
“Come here, princess,” he commands.
A small sound catches in her throat. She buries her finger in the back of my hoodie.
“You willing to die for her?” Coleman’s voice is creepy as fuck, completely psychotic. “I’ve shot you once, now I’ll finish you.”
“I’m not letting you near her.”
Narrowing his eyes, he stalks toward us. I back up, keeping her behind me as we move into the next room.
The front door flies open and flashing lights illuminate the shadows in the living room. Shouts come from the front and back of the house.
“Freeze! Hands up!”
About fucking time.
Coleman’s eyes go wide as he whirls to face the cop and the gun trained on him from behind. More responders pour in from the front.
“Put the gun down on the floor slowly!”
“Officers, this is a misunderstanding.” Coleman shifts his demeanor, putting on his good teacher act. “This punk broke in.”
Thea and I shuffle out of the way. I stay in front of her, hands up to show I’m unarmed.
“Drop the weapon!”
I meet his gaze and smirk. “Game over, bastard.”
Watching Coleman’s expression crack as the authorities disarm and cuff him is satisfying. Thea takes my hand while we are ushered outside. I’m never letting go again.
It’s a madhouse on the quiet residential street outside of Coleman’s place a short while later. The road is crammed with squad cars, an ambulance, a news van, and the neighbors watching the scene unfold.
Coleman is in the back of one of the police cars as the cops secure the scene and take our statements.
Thea and I are seated on the back of the ambulance as the EMT patches my injured arm. They cut my hoodie off and Thea wrapped the blanket they gave her around me to keep the frigid night air at bay.
Mom’s going to have a goddamn field day when she gets wind of this. Deranged teacher, wounded protecting my girlfriend. Sympathy vote, here she comes.
“GSW, male, eighteen.” A paramedic standing to the side checks off on a tablet. “We need to get you to the hospital for a CT scan so they can confirm the bullet isn’t lodged in your arm.”
The paramedic rolls her eyes as I lift the oxygen mask off and toss it aside.
“Fuck that, I’m not going anywhere. I feel fine.” I hold Thea closer, tucked beneath my good arm. I’m not ever leaving her side. “Not without her.”
“Connor, they’re just trying to help.” Thea rests her bandaged hand against my stomach. It shakes slightly, the shock and adrenaline wearing off. Troubled shadows cloud her beautiful eyes and I want to drive them away. “Don’t give them trouble.”
“I want to see Chief Landry’s face when he gets here so I can look him in the eye when I tell him I fucking told him so.”
“It doesn’t matter now. As long as they stop him from attacking and abusing others.” Thea puts her head on my good shoulder and I cradle her close.
I can’t stop touching her. It’s vital I feel her in my arms, to know she’s okay.
“Who are they?” Thea murmurs.
A black SUV rolled up a minute ago, stopping near the ambulance. The windows are tinted. It doesn’t seem like regulation, and the car model is way too expensive for a government budget.
“Feds?” I squint as the doors open and one by one the agents get out. “Maybe some kind of elite prodigy squad, they don’t seem old enough.”
They’re not like the FBI agents shown in the movies at all, despite dressing the part with long dark coats and sunglasses at night. All four of them are tall, imposing figures. Tattoos creep up the side of some of their necks and onto the backs of hands as they adjust their sleeves and cast assessing glances around. One with thick, slicked back blond hair gives orders to one of the other guys with inky hair and a contemptuous frown.
“Ten minutes. In and out,” the blond agent says curtly. He addresses the most hostile looking guy in the group. “Keep it clean.”
A dangerous vibe rolls off them and people give them a wide berth as soon as they move like shadows through the bustling scene, spreading out. Agent Grumpy heads in the house, while the rest follow the domineering blond dude who must be in charge.
The agent stops an officer by planting a hand on his chest. The officer is annoyed until the fed removes his sunglasses and speaks too low for us to hear. Whatever he says, it has the officer heeling to his chain of command, jerking a thumb behind him at the squad car where Coleman is in custody.
He motions to another officer and Coleman is yanked from the car, then marched over to the group of feds. As he gets closer, Thea tenses. I clutch her in a hug. He can’t get her now.
Coleman goes willingly enough, until he sees who he’s trudging toward. He freezes.
“No.” He loses his cool, paling. Struggling against the officers, he tries to get back to the car. “No, no!”
“Is that any way to greet me?” The lead agent asks with a sadistic gleam in his eyes. He holds out his hands. “I told you we’d find you. No point in running.”
Coleman hollers in protest as the two other intense agents grab his arms. They have no problem containing him. Their boss gets in Coleman’s face, grabbing his jaw and forcing his head back. The curve of his smirk is lethal.