Page 47 of Lawson & Jill

Fuck!

“Tim, I’m never coming back to you if you hurt those two women.”

“But you still love me, right?”

God, the man’s crazier than a loon. He killed her kid—she’s more likely to castrate him than ever return to him.

“The only way we can work this out is if you let them go. They’re my friends, let me talk to them. I want to talk to Jill.”

“No,” Tim’s voice was petulant. “I’m not going to let you talk to Jill.”

Law could swear he could hear Jill in stereo, both over the phone and in real-life. “Let me talk to Angela,” Jill was saying.

Law felt himself able to really breathe for the first time in forty-five minutes.

Jill screamed.

“Shut up, bitch, don’t interrupt me!” Tim yelled.

“If you hit me again, I’ll find a way to break your neck,” Jill yelled back at him.

The asshole laughed. But it was good news in Law’s opinion. It meant that Jill was still in good enough shape to be issuing threats. It also meant that they were keeping one another occupied as he crept up on the van. Please just don’t let her go too far.

“Don’t hurt my friend,” Angela cried.

“A black eye is nothing. Wait ‘til I use my knife on her.”

“I dare you to use your knife. You don’t have the stomach for it.” Jill laughed.

What the fuck is she doing?

“Don’t you see what I’ve done to that bitch Lesley? I guess you need a lesson. Listen to this, Angela.”

Law rushed the van. He had the back door yanked open in a heartbeat, and then his heart stopped beating. Tim was straddling Jill, blood was on her shirt, and Tim had the tip of his knife pointed at her stomach. Tim looked up at the back of the van. Law took three shots—head, heart, head.

Jill screamed.

Lesley screamed.

Tim never made a sound.

“What’s going on?” A man’s voice he didn’t recognize came through his earbud. He yanked it out of his ear and skidded on his knees to Jill.

“Why the fuck did you taunt him to use a knife?”

* * *

Why is Law yelling at me? She hurt bad. And the man she loved was yelling at her. She couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She knew she had blood and brains sprayed all over herself.

“You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“I was saving us,” she whispered. She wanted to wipe the gunk off, but Law’s arms were holding her down as he searched her for injuries.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Woman?”

“I’m fine. Call an ambulance.”

“Ash and Kane are on it. Where are you hurt? There’s so much blood, I can’t tell.”

“Not my blood and guts.” Jill heaved up and lunged for the bag of rags. She wiped her mouth and spit as she pulled out a rag.

“Hey, I’ve got that,” Law said softly, as he gently wiped her face and neck clean. When her eyes were clear and she could finally see into his, Jill saw that beneath the anger there was fear.

“Law, he had a gun. I had to get him to put it down so you could save us. I knew that you and your fancy friends were behind Angela calling Tim. I knew it.”

Law nodded. “That’s true.”

“That also meant you were listening in to the conversation.” Jill took another rag out of the bag and wiped her tongue.

“Yeah, we all were listening.”

“So, how were you going to know when it was safe to come and rescue us? Tim had just talked about shooting us. He couldn’t hold the gun, knife, and the phone. You’d know that. So, I had to taunt him into using his knife, and then you’d know you could come to the rescue.” She heard sirens. She wiped her tongue again and started to gag. Jill turned her head and vomited onto the floor of the van. When she was done, she turned back to Law.

Jill gave Law a watery grin. “See? Easy peasy.”