Page 235 of Show Me

My entire body jolts violently. Protect the baby. The thought slams through my brain so hard it steals my breath.

Lindsey claws at me with one hand while fighting to keep hold of the gun with the other. We stumble sideways. The overturned chair catches my foot. I slam hard against the counter edge. Pain tears through my hip.

The knife clatters from my grip and skids beneath the table. Fuck. Lindsey sees it disappear too.

Her eyes flash triumphantly. “You stupid bitch.”

She drives her shoulder into my chest hard enough to shove me backward. The gun swings toward me again. I grab her wrist with both hands. Every muscle in my arms strains violently as I fight the barrel away from my body.

Lindsey is crying now. Mascara streaks beneath furious eyes. “He was supposed to love me!”

The gun trembles inches from my face. I slam her wrist into the edge of the counter. Once. Twice.

Loud stomping comes from the back steps as someone ascends them. With Lindsey distracted by the noise, I drive my knee hard into her stomach. Air rushes from her lungs. The gun flies free. About fucking time. It skids spinning across the tile floor beneath the kitchen table.

My chest heaves with each breath as we dive for it. Lindsey catches my hair. Yanking. “Fuck.” Pain rips across my scalp hard enough to make me cry out.

She drags me backward. My shoulder slams into the cabinet. I grab for anything I can reach. My hand closes around the overturned chair. I swing it sideways as hard as I can. The chair crashes into Lindsey’s side.

She screams again and loses her grip on my hair. I slump hard against the floor. The impact rattles through my entire body. Fear spikes.

The baby. Oh God. Please. Please be okay.

Lindsey scrambles toward the table again. Toward the gun. No. I grab her ankle. She kicks backward. Her heel catches my ribs hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs.

“Police!” Jake’s voice explodes through the house.

The back door slams open so hard it crashes against the wall. Heavy footsteps thunder across the floor. Lindsey twists toward the sound. And everything freezes for one chaotic second.

Broken glass glittering across the floor. Overturned chairs scattered through the kitchen. White pills everywhere. The gun beneath the table.

And Lindsey and I staring at each other from opposite sides of the wreckage while Jake and Xavier burst into the middle of it all.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Six

Xavier

The scene inside hits me all at once…. Broken glass. Pills scattered across the floor.

Overturned chairs. A hole blasted through the ceiling, and another through a cabinet door.

Ruby sprawled on the floor. Hair yanked free from her ponytail. Red-faced. Rumpled clothes. And Lindsey halfway under the table, reaching for the gun.

For one split second, nobody moves. Then, Lindsey’s face crumples as tears spill down her cheeks. “She went crazy!” she sobs, pointing at Ruby. “She attacked me!”

My blood goes cold.

“She’s been obsessed with you,” Lindsey continues. “She did all of this to get your attention!”

Jake doesn’t even blink. “Move away from the weapon.”

Lindsey freezes. “I was trying to help–”

“NOW!” The command cracks through the room.

Lindsey jerks backward from the gun as if it might explode. She starts crying harder. Loud. Shaking. Hugging herself like she’s the victim. “I didn’t do anything.” Sobs rack her chest as her voice cracks. “She’s lying!”

Ruby hasn’t said a word so it’s hard for her to have lied. Not that it matters, I’m not listening to Lindsey anymore. My focus is on Ruby. She’s sitting on the floor in the middle of the wreckage and breathing hard. Pale. Shaking. Alive.