I watched him draw a switchblade from his pocket as he walked over to one of the paintings on the wall.
“How far along are you? Seven and a half months?” Ben asked.
“Y-yes,” Hailey said. “I am.”
“Why aren’t we going in now?” I asked.
“We don’t have enough to incriminate him on the stop. We need more. She’s going to have to pull why he’s here out of her,” the police officer said.
“Old enough to survive in a hospital stay if something were to, you know, happen to the mother,” Ben said.
I watched him thrust his knife through one of Hailey’s paintings as she ran from behind the counter.
“Please! Please don’t ruin any of my paintings!”
“I’m going out there,” I said.
“Not if you want this man in jail for extortion, you won’t,” the police officer said. “At best, we’ve got him for a misdemeanor vandalism charge. He could easily get off with community service.”
“Better than hurting Bryan. Or Anna, I would think,” Ben said.
“Please don’t hurt anyone,” Hailey said.
“You promised me my money,” he said.
“And I told you I would get it for you,” Hailey said.
“Then where is it? Huh? Where’s the money I need to pay off my boss?”
“Pay off your boss?” she asked.
“Good girl,” I said. “Bait him.”
“Yes, you idiot. My boss. The man who killed my brother for the drugs he lost on that drug-head girl in your class! You’re responsible for those drugs. You were then when my cousin dragged your ass out of bed, and you are now.”
“What about the girl selling the drugs, huh? Why isn’t she responsible for all this?” Hailey asked.
“We tried to hold her responsible, but she tried to run. So, she figured out what happens when people run from us,” Ben said.
“Wh-what happens?” Hailey asked.
The man approached her with the knife outstretched, and I watched Hailey back away. He backed her all the way to the register before she grabbed her taser and then held it out in front of her to defend herself. I could see her shaking on the screen as the police officer was muttering into his radio. I didn’t know what the fuck they were waiting for, but I had seen enough.
“Their blood spills on this knife,” the man said. “Now, where’s the money you owe me for the drugs that were lost in your fucking art studio?”
I couldn’t stand by and watch this any longer. I didn’t know what the hell the police were waiting for, but this wasn’t going on a second longer than it needed to. I barged out of the shop and stood in front of Hailey, my eyes piercing the man as he held the knife out in front of him. He smelled disgusting, full of mud and dirt and everything else you would find in a sewer. The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and his hand was trembling, but he moved quicker than I could’ve ever imagined.
He thrust his knife into his pocket and pulled out a gun just as the policemen from the shop came out with their guns drawn.
“Drop the weapon,” the police officer said.
But Ben kept his gun trained on my chest.
“Look, man, my brother is dead,” I said.
Ben’s eyes grew wide as the gun trembled in his hand.
“He’s dead, this girl’s dead, and your cousin’s dead. Hasn’t there been enough suffering? Are you really going to point a loaded gun at a pregnant woman to get money you’re not entitled to?” I asked.
“Someone has to pay,” Ben said.
“Sir. Drop the weapon,” the police officer said again.
I saw the man’s trigger finger tick, but the police must not have. They were standing there like lunatics, allowing this man to point a gun at us. What the hell would it take for them to shoot his man and get it over with? What would it take for someone to reach for their fucking handcuffs and end this damn nightmare? Part of me wanted revenge. I wanted to watch the cousin of the man who killed my brother bleed out right here on the gallery floor, but the other part of me wanted this to be over. I wanted him walking out in handcuffs and out of our lives forever.
“This is for your brother,” Ben said.
He squeezed off a round, and I threw Hailey to the ground. I flung myself on top of her as the police officers charged the man. Gunshots went off, and Ben started to groan. I covered Hailey with my entire body as I shielded her from all the commotion.
“Bryan,” she said breathlessly. “Bryan, we’ve, uh, I’ve-I’m ...”
I pulled myself away from Hailey’s body, and all I could see was blood. She was clutching her stomach, blood pooling on the beautiful white and blue dress she had worn to work that day. I looked down at my body, wondering if I was the one who had been shot. But there were no holes in my shirt or any pain ricocheting through my body.
“She’s been shot! Hailey’s been shot!”
I could hear myself screaming as I stood to my feet.
“Get me a fucking ambulance! Hailey’s been shot!”
I felt something warm and damp clamp around my wrist as I looked down. Hailey’s hand was wrapped around me as she tried to stand. I wrapped my arms underneath hers and lifted her to her feet as the blood started trickling down her leg.
“No, no. I’m, shit, not shot,” Hailey said.
“What? What did you say?” I asked.
I helped Hailey sit down on the stool as I bent down to inspect the damage. She was groaning in pain as her body hunched over. I peeled up the fabric of her dress, trying to figure out what the fuck was happening to her. Blood was everywhere, and fluid was trickling between her thighs.
Hailey hadn’t been shot.
Hailey was in labor.
Chapter 26
Hailey
I felt a nauseating pop as I hit the floor of my gallery. People were shouting, and someone was fighting back. Gunshots were going off, and my head was spinning. Everything happened so quickly that I wasn’t really sure what had gone on. All I knew was that a gun had been leveled at Bryan before his body was thrown into mine.
As he covered me on the floor, I felt a gushing sensation between my legs. I grimaced as the pain became overwhelming, robbing me of my breath. I tried to breathe as Bryan continued to cover me, fluid leaking out onto the floor. I could feel my abdomen warming with something as I squirmed underneath him.
I tried to call out his name, but I couldn’t catch my breath. My head was spinning, and my back was beginning to ache. My legs were trembling, and my vagina felt like it was on fire. It wasn’t until Bryan removed himself from me that I could sit up and evaluate what was going on.
And the moment my eyes saw the fluid between my legs, I knew what had happened.
Everything sounded so far away. The police officers. Ben’s voice. Bryan’s body. I felt like I was spiraling as my back contracted without my permission. I groaned as my baby began to shift, my pelvis feeling as if it was grinding together. I was in labor, and I couldn’t even catch my breath to tell anyone.
But Bryan’s voice pierced my hazy thoughts.
“I need an ambulance! Hailey’s been shot!”
Shot? I was shot? I looked down at my stomach, my hand and dress covered in blood. I didn’t feel like I had been shot, though my back wasn’t happy with me. No, I hadn’t been shot. But this amount of blood during labor wasn’t normal. It couldn’t have been. With all the books I’d read, there wasn't supposed to be bleeding. Just a trickling of clear fluids if my water ever broke.
“I need help! My wife’s been shot!”
Bryan’s voice was getting closer and closer as my haze began to clear. I reached up with my hand and tried to feel for him, wrapping my fingers around his wrist. I got him to shoot his gaze down toward me before he helped me to my feet.
“No, no. I’m, shit, not shot,” I said.
My back pain was getting worse and it was wrapping around to my stomach. I almost buckled to my knees, but Bryan’s strong arms caught me. I could hear him trying to murmur something in my ear as people surrounded me, their hands lifting up my dress as they began to speak in terms I didn’t understand.
“What was that? What did you say?” Bryan asked.
There was too much going on at once. Did the police officers have Ben? Was it all over? My back pain started to spread again as another gush of fluid ran down my leg. It felt like I was peeing myself, but I didn’t have to pee.
I felt Bryan’s lips against my ear as he kissed me repeatedly. The foreign hands I was trying to push away were lowering me onto something. My vision was blurred with tears as pain continued to ricochet across my abdomen, rendering my legs useless as I collapsed.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart,” Bryan said. “I’m right here.”
“Labor. I’m in ... labor,” I said.
“I know. I know. The paramedics are going to load you into an ambulance and get you to a hospital,” Bryan said.
“Is it over?” I asked.
I lobbed my head over and looked into Bryan’s worried eyes. He was staring at my abdomen. At the sheer amount of blood that was caked on my dress. This was too early. Too soon to be doing this. The doctor told me I had to make it to thirty-seven weeks. Thirty-seven was the magic number.
Not thirty-five.
“Is what over?” Bryan asked.
“Ben. Is it over?” I asked.