Page 124 of A Violet Obsession

Joey turns back to me with a sneer.

But I’m not on the floor anymore.

I’m on my feet, and my gun is out.

Grip. Breathe. Squeeze.

No buzzing. No whispers. No noise at all.

Just the center of Joey Garza’s chest.

Joey’s expression turns ugly, and he charges.

The sound is deafening. Much louder than it was in the frozen clearing.

Joey drops howling to the floor.

And the front door comes off its hinges.

It’s noise and bodies and shouted commands, and Keith hits the ground without a fight. Someone’s got Dawn, I think. I’m standing in the middle of all of it with the gun still up and my arms not getting the message that the danger is over.

Finn fills my field of vision, and his hands close over mine. Slowly and gently. Nothing like the speed he must have crossed that lawn…

“I’ve got it,” he says. “Let go.” He eases the weapon out of my grip and hands it off to someone.

It feels like everything is moving in half-time.

He glances down at Joey, who’s gray-faced and curled on his side, blood staining the tile beneath him. He holds both hands clamped between his legs and makes a high, thin, whistling sound.

“Good shot, baby.” Finn looks back at me, and there’s a proud look on his face. “Excellent shot.”

I follow his eyes down.

“Not really.” My voice comes out thick, my lip already swelling. “I was aiming for his chest.”

Finn barks out a laugh that sounds too loud for the room.

“Eh.” He looks down at Joey again, entirely without sympathy. “He deserved it, and worse down there anyway.”

Across the kitchen, Rhodes already has Keith zip-tied and propped against the lower kitchen cabinets, and he’s looking at Dawn. “Lily. You get what you need?”

I let out a sigh of relief when my fingers find the barrette still in my braid.

“Every word,” I say.

“Then the locals can have these two.” Rhodes jerks his thumb at Keith, then tips his chin down at Joey bleeding quietly on Dawn’s tile. “Somebody want to call an ambulance for the home invaders. No rush.”

Finn’s hand finds the small of my back, already moving me toward the ruined door.

I plant my feet for just a second. I look up at him, and the wounds that are still healing on his face. Blows he took to save me.

Despite the pain he’d endured to keep me from danger, he waited while I confronted my monsters on my own.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I didn’t know you were close.”

“Sorry it took so long. Rhodes got in my way at the last second.” His lips tip in a small smile.

“I mean it. Thank you for letting me walk in there and confront them. I know it’s not what you would have chosen.”