Rescue Me (23 page)

“I will not! That prick has my sister and he has taken her away from us for the last time, so unless the three of you want to take me on too, stay the hell out of my way because I am going to make sure he never hurts her or anyone else ever again.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Erin

I can feel the heat from Joel’s glare burning its way through my body. He’s gone crazy, completely off the deep end. Fuck this, if he is going to kill me then I am going to spew words at him to make him suffer until I die. I have been his victim for long enough.

“You know what Joel? Go ahead and kill me.” I shrug and tilt my head to the side. “I will die a happy woman for the simple fact that for the first time in my life I found out what love is.”

He just stands there with the gun in his hand and I can tell he is getting angrier with every word I say as his nostrils start to flare and his hands start to shake, so I keep going.

“Love is a man named Adam Payne. Love is having the man you love worship your body and your mind and your soul in ways you could never imagine.”

“Shut the hell up, now!” Joel screams.

“I will not shut up. Never again. You may kill me, Joel, but you will never take away the love I have for Adam. Never. Do you know what else love is, Joel?” I pour out my hatred in my words. “Love is a little girl named Sierra, who thank God will never know what kind of an evil, sick, twisted excuse for a human being her father is. She will grow up knowing exactly what love is since Adam will be the one who will raise her. She will know nothing about you. You don’t even exist to her.” I lift my head and with a heated gaze I scream at him, “Now pull the fucking trigger you worthless coward.”

He crosses over from the foot of the bed to the side and I feel the bed dip as he places down one knee. He doesn’t say a word as he unties one of my hands and walks around and unties the other one. Both of my hands fall down as they are aching from being tied up for so long. He just stands there and says nothing. His silence frightens me more than anything but I am not going to lie here and let him decide my fate. I move to get up, but he shoves me back down and climbs on top of me, pinning my hands above my head. I kick and buck and claw my way free and shove him as hard as I can. The gun goes flying out of his hand and lands with a thud on the floor.

“I am going to kill you, you whore!” his wrathful voice screams.

“Like hell you are,” I shout back as the heel of my hand connects with the side of his head. I get up and run. I run as fast as I can, not caring at all that I am running through the cabin with only my panties on. I make it to the door and start to open it when he grabs a handful of my hair and jerks me painfully. I land on the floor.

“You actually thought you could get away from me? And you actually thought you could get the last word in?” He leans down and his mouth hovers over the top of mine. “I call the shots here, not you. I will say this, though.” He brushes his lips across mine and I squeeze my eyes shut as I start to gag and dry heave from the feel of his lips on my skin. “With that little stunt you pulled back there, you made me change my mind about dying along with you. I think I want to live.”

He takes his mouth away. “Yes. I want to live and raise Sierra. I think that’s a very good idea, Erin don’t you?” He looks down at me with a smug expression.

“Adam w...will n...never let you have her,” I stutter.

“Despite the lie you’ve been letting her believe, Adam is not her father. I am.” He smacks his chest in anger.

“You will never be her father no matter what you say, Joel. EVER.” I spit.

“We’ll see. Or better yet,
I
will see because you are about to die. Now up you go,” he says as he grabs my arm and yanks me up. He walks us toward the bedroom and pulls me inside, then crosses over to the dresser where he starts to rifle through the drawers until he finds a t-shirt and shoves it in my direction.

“Put this on. Change of plans. We’re going for a little drive.” I take the shirt from his hands, not because I want to leave with him but because I don’t want him looking at me without clothes on anymore. I begin to pull the shirt over my head and in that moment, I see him reach down to the floor to grab the gun. Right as he is nearly bent over all the way, I lift my leg and kick him in the stomach and take off running again for the door. This time I finally manage to get it open and when I run out onto the porch I scream as I see Luke’s Range Rover come to a stop right in front of me. As soon as I see the man I love step out from the back of the vehicle I also feel a gun pressed right into the back of my head.

“Don’t fucking move, or I swear I will split this bitch’s skull wide open!” Joel screams in a voice dripping with vengeance.

“Erin! Are you all right?”

I never thought I would hear the sound of Adam’s voice again and my heart is lodged in my throat as tears silently slide down my face. My vision is blurred as my eye is swollen shut, but I see him. I see my incredible loving man who somehow found me, and he’s here. My legs buckle underneath me but Joel keeps me held upright.

“Tell the rest of your damn cronies to get out of the vehicle now, pretty boy, or you will stand there and watch me kill her. I am not fucking around with this shit anymore.”

I see Luke emerge from the driver’s side and Antonio steps out of the passenger side.

“Adam. Is Sierra all right?” I whimper through my tears.

“She’s fine, baby,” he says calmly.

“She is not your fucking baby. She’s mine,” Joel rages and pushes the gun harder into my head.

Luke intervenes with his calm and cool voice and posture.

“Joel, you need to let her go, man. You’re never going to get away with this. The cops are on their way here.”

“Nice try, asshole. Do you think I give a shit about the cops or any one of you fuckers here? This bitch ruined my life years ago when she called the cops and she never looked back once. I told her and told her to never leave me, but she betrayed me and did it anyway. So I am calling the shots here and this is how it’s going to go down.”

Joel walks us to the edge of the porch and his grip around my waist gets tighter.

“You are going to step back out of my way. I am going to get the hell out of here and I am taking her with me.” Joel’s voice is beginning to sound desperate and I can feel his hands start to shake. This monster of a man is taking over my entire being and I am not about to leave with him. I can’t, not when my future is mere feet away from me. It’s either fight or flight, and this time fight is going to win.

Out of the corner of my eye I see my sister Shelby kneeling down on the other side of the Range Rover. I squint my good eye to double check and make sure I am seeing things clearly. Before I have time to fully register what I’m seeing, she opens the back door and out jumps Muppet in all of his big, fuzzy glory. He moves so fast, Joel doesn’t have time to react as Muppet sinks his teeth into his leg.

Joel immediately releases me, his gun dropping to the ground just below the last step. Everything appears as if it’s running in slow motion as Adam scoops me up in his arms and carries me around to the other side of the vehicle where Shelby waits. He gently places me on the ground and I embrace my sister tightly as Antonio and Luke race toward Joel. I can see it all unfolding as Muppet releases his grip on Joel, blood covering his face and paws.

Joel reaches behind his back and pulls out another gun, pointing it directly at Luke and Antonio just as they reach the bottom of the porch stairs.

“Stop right there,” he yells, wincing through his pain as he hops to the edge of the porch on his good leg. Suddenly, my sister releases me and spins herself around, pulling a gun of her own out of her jacket, and I gasp.

“Shelby! What are you doing?” I reach for her but she moves away, ignoring the sound of my voice.

“Put the gun down, Joel,” Shelby commands in a deadly serious voice.

“Fuck you, Shelby!” Joel turns his gaze and takes aim at my sister. All I hear is the echo of a gunshot before I collapse to the ground screaming uncontrollably.

“SHELBY! NO!” I claw my way through the dirt to reach my sister who has fallen to the ground just a few feet in front of me. I am quickly scooped up and cradled into the strong arms I have become so familiar with. I scream and kick and try to get him to let me loose but he won’t.

“Adam, let me go! I have to get to her, please let me go! Oh, God! No, Shelby, no!”

“Shh. Erin! Listen to me. Stop.”

Adam’s smooth comforting voice startles me and I stop thrashing about. At that moment, I see Antonio helping my sister up off of the ground.

“Erin!” she screams.

“Shelby.”

Adam sets me back down on my feet and I realize that I am not dreaming as my sister cradles my head in her hands. I look her over for signs of a bullet hole but there is nothing.

“I…I thought he shot you! Oh, God! Shelby!”

“No, he didn’t. I shot him. I’m okay, Erin, and so are you. It’s over sissy, it’s over.”

“I...is he dead?” I tremble and put my hand over my mouth.

“He’s dead,” I hear Luke say as he gets up from kneeling beside Joel. The world goes black and the last thing I hear are sirens and the words from Adam’s sweet mouth saying, “I love you.”

************

I wake up feeling groggy, disoriented, and totally confused. I lift my arm to cover my face as the blinding sun shines down upon me. The side of my face is horribly swollen and bruised and I flinch as the day’s events all come rushing back.

“Erin, honey. Can you move?”

I turn my head and stare into the green eyes of the man who owns my heart.

“It’s really you? You’re here?” I cry.

“I’m here, sweet cheeks and I am so sorry. God, I am so fucking sorry.”

I swipe away the lone tear that starts to roll down Adam’s perfect face.

“Adam. It’s not your fault. It’s not my fault either. It’s Joel’s. Is he really dead?” I ask with uncertainty.

“He’s dead, honey. Shelby’s gun went off before his did. She killed him, sweetheart.”

I sit up suddenly and my head starts to spin as I look around for my sister. In spite of the fact that she despised Joel, I have to make sure she is all right.

“Erin, be careful. Don’t move. Let me go get the paramedic to look you over.”

I squeeze Adam’s hand tightly. “No. Not yet. Where’s Shelby? I have to make sure she’s all right.”

“She’s fine. She’s over there giving her statement to the cops and Antonio is with her.”

Adam stands up and calls over the paramedic, who checks me out to his satisfaction before helping me up and guiding me toward the ambulance. I turn just in time to see a big white ball come barreling towards us and I squat down to love on my true hero, Muppet.

“Oh, Muppet! You’re such a good boy!” I coo at him as I check him over and pull him in for a huge hug. He immediately tries to lick my face and even though they have cleaned off the blood he had on him earlier, I just can’t bear him licking my face with the sight of Joel’s dead body still lying covered with a sheet on the front porch still in my vision. Instead, I scratch him behind his ears which he loves so much.

“Come on, Ms. McIntyre. Let’s get you to the hospital so you can get a thorough examination,” the paramedic orders.

“Wait. I need to talk to my sister before we leave here.” I turn to Adam beseechingly. “You have to let me see her.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” He places a tender kiss on my lips and saunters over to where Shelby is standing with Antonio’s arms wrapped securely around her. She quickly turns her head my way and takes off running in my direction.

She playfully swats me on the arm as she climbs in.

“Erin, you scared the crap out of me when you passed out. Don’t ever do that shit again.”

“Don’t joke at a time like this Shelby. God, I’m so worried about you.”

“About me?” She wrinkles her nose. “Why would you be worried about me, for Christ’s sake? You’re the one who went through hell and back today.”

She runs her hand down the side of my swollen face.

“I’m fine. Just a little bruised up. I’m worried about you because you killed Joel, honey. You shot him. I need to make sure you’re going to be okay with that.”

I search my sister’s face for any sign of trouble or worry and I come up empty handed as I sit there waiting for her to answer. She exhales slowly.

“I can’t say what tomorrow, or the next day, or even the next month will be like for me, sis, but the way I feel right now is that I did what was necessary to save my sister from years of physical, emotional, and verbal abuse from a man who never deserved her.” She clasps my hands and leans her forehead up against mine. “I would do it all over again if it meant you would never have to go through anything like that again.”

We both let out a heavy sigh and even though my heart is breaking for what she had to do, I sit there and hold on tight and hope that all of our nightmares are over.

I take one last look at the scene before they close the doors to the ambulance and I see them loading Joel’s body into the back of the coroner’s wagon. My heart breaks for Joel’s family; this is going to tear their world apart. No matter what Joel has done in the past to any of them he was their son and brother. I can’t help but cry as we drive away with Adam by my side. I cry for their loss and I cry for myself, I cry in fear for my sister and I cry for the fact that I will never have to be a victim at the hands of that man again.