Page 96 of Guarding Glenda

Suddenly, Allie shouted from behind me, “Or surprise, bitch!”

Lydia’s gun finally moved from Leigh and swung in our direction, so I took my shot. She wailed, but didn’t go down. Hammer had flung himself to Allie, so I rushed toward the chair and took us all down in a pile.

I grabbed her wrist, pressing my thumb into the soft spot as hard as I could. She yelped, the gun falling from her hand. Leigh squirmed and the chair fell away from us.

Climbing onto her, I backhanded her with one pistol, tossing the other away from me. I hit her over and over. She clawed at me with her hands, and her legs flailed, trying to throw me off.

I just kept hitting her–gun then fist, gun then fist–until something cracked. Her face turned into a bloody mess. Her hands stopped, falling to the concrete floor.

But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I had no control over my body. The gun and my own hands were covered in red, just like my vision. Everything was red, just different shades.

I was still swinging my arms, my thighs clenched around her body, when arms went around my waist from behind.

The red sheen of everything in the room started to dissipate but I didn’t stop flailing my limbs. My thighs were so tight around her that she lifted off the floor as someone pulled at me.

“Glenda! Glenda! Baby, it’s me. It’s over.”

Leigh’s words washed over me, snapping me out of my trance. The gun dropped from my hand and my body went limp.

He pulled me to him, and once my face hit his chest, I started sobbing. “I love you! I love you! I love you, Leigh!”

He dug his face into my hair. “I love you, baby. It’s all over. I got you.”

“I think she got you, dude,” Allie said.

A watery laugh escaped me but Leigh grabbed my face and moved it so he could look at me. “She sure did. It’s supposed to be the other way around.”

“I’m nothing if not stubborn,” I joked through sobs.

He pulled me in for a deep kiss, melting the tension in my body and slowing the jerks from my muscles. “I can’t say I’m glad I almost had to die for you to tell me you love me, but I’d do it again just to hear that on your lips.”

“Like I said, stubborn.” He grinned but I grabbed his cut and pulled him in for another kiss. “I love you, Leigh.”

Hammer said, “We need to get the fuck out of here.”

Leigh looked at me then back down at the lifeless woman. “We gotta take that bitch. She’s got my woman’s skin all under her nails.”

“She fought like a bitch,” Allie said as she patted my shoulder before she bent down to grab the guns. “I got a tarp in the Explorer.”

Hammer grabbed her arm. “I’ll walk you out.”

Allie pulled her arm free and pushed him, walking ahead.

Leigh’s brows pinched.

I laughed. “Don’t ask. I don’t think they know what’s up.”

Leigh looked down. “Oh shit, baby.”

“Oh yeah.” I leaned down, pulling my pant leg up. “Just nicked me. I knew it didn’t go in.”

“Well,” he said, scooping me up like he was carrying me over a threshold, “at least let me do this.”

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Hey, how did you get free?”

“Allie lifted the key off that guy out there,” he said, tipping his head toward the door. “You were busy going to town on Lady.”

“She’s a good partner in crime.”