Austin hit the gas and tapped the back-right corner of the other truck. It became less stable. On the next bump, the truck lost control and began to spin. Is it going to flip? My eyes were glued to it. Finally, it stopped, but the constant screaming didn’t.
Austin touched my hand. “It’s okay, Scarlette. It’s almost over.”
I realized the screams were coming from me, and I struggled to pull myself together.
“Stay in the truck.”
All I could do was nod numbly.
Angie stumbled out of the vehicle, holding a gun.
A gun. The next scream died in my throat. But when she made eye contact with me, I saw the malice. She wanted me dead.
4
Austin
Fuck. I grabbed my pistol from the door of the truck and glanced back at Scarlette. “Stay in the truck.”
She nodded again. Shit. What a mess. First, I needed to neutralize the threat. The police were still farther away than I would have liked. There were no discernable sirens in the distance. Angie stumbled out of the truck, holding a gun in front of her. Her eyes fell on Scarlette and rage contorted her expression.
Get the focus off Scarlette.
The safety was off, and my gun was ready, if need be. “Angie, let’s think about this. You don’t want to do anything you’ll regret. There’s no reason for anyone to get hurt. Especially you.”
Hopefully my show of concern would break her focus. She blinked once, twice, three times before shifting her gaze.
Now, get her to drop the gun.
I began to speak, but she beat me to it. “Why? Why do you want to keep us apart? What we have is real!” Angie screamed as tears ran down her face.
“I don’t want to keep you away. I want to help. Kevin loved you, Angie.” Hopefully, using her name helped. “We can talk this out. You and me.”
Finally, the screams of sirens pierced the air.
Her eyes widened. “You called the cops!”
“I’m sure someone reported our chase. Drop the gun, Angie. Kevin wouldn’t want this.”
She sniffled and wiped the tears away with the side of the hand holding the gun. “No, no! Kevin didn’t love me. He wanted to break it off. I told him I was pregnant to keep him. I even got myself knocked up by someone else. But he died!”
That must have been what they’d argued about the night I’d overheard them. A surprise baby would have cluttered his mind. Now I understood why Kevin was more reckless that day. The rage boiled inside me. His death had been unnecessary. Things could have been handled differently. The world lost a hero because of this pyscho bitch.
Angie stared at Scarlette again, and her cold detachment scared me. Maybe the baby was a way to get her to see reason. She hadn’t mentioned it, but it was something to try.
“So, you have a baby? I’ve always wanted children.” It was cruel to play into this, but I wanted everyone to leave here today unharmed.
She gave a wicked laugh. “No, I got rid of it. With Kevin gone, no one would take me with a kid in tow. You don’t want kids with me. I can tell. You want them with her.”
Shit. She wasn’t buying it. What a sick bitch. Her movements were becoming more erratic.
“Kevin loved you. I know he did.”
“No, he wanted to end things. And I thought it was over for me until you showed up.” She shook her head and cried out, “We’re supposed to be together! She tricked you, Austin. Can’t you see it? Things were going good between us until this whore came into the picture.”
We’d talked and texted maybe once every few weeks. That was it. I’d only seen her once. Once. I held my free hand up. “Angie, let’s talk about this calmly. Drop your gun before the police get here. We can sort this out between us. Figure it out.”
Before anything could be done, she held the gun to her head.