Taser.
Maureen Ford was pulling a Taser from inside her jacket.
A Taser she aimed at Lucas’s back.
“No!” I ran. At Lucas and Fluffy.
I slammed into them, knocking them both sideways. Pain erupted in my shoulder, neck and head, but I’d deal with that later.
Regaining my footing, I threw myself at the judge.
“Bitch!” she yelped as I drove her—and myself—into the wall.
We fought. It wasn’t pretty. For a matter of seconds, we wrestled. When girls fight, we get nasty. There’s nothing glorious or elegant or honorable about a bitch fight, and Maureen Ford and I were in a bitch fight.
I don’t know how many seconds it lasted, but we used every weapon at our disposal. She scratched at my face. I bit her arm. She pulled my hair. I kneed her in the groin (just because there’s no dangly bits down there, doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt when it’s hit hard).
A distant part of me waited for Lucas to break us up. Expected it. I didn’t want him to. This bitch had come into my home, had brought her shit into it… No way was I letting her off. Fuck that.
At some point, she dropped the Taser. I heard it clatter to the ground. Relief swept through me. Made me relax.
For a split second.
A stupid split second.
She took advantage. I don’t know if it was luck on her behalf, or if she was a better fighter than me (and let’s be serious here, until a few weeks ago, I’d never been in a fight in my life, and she was the secret money boss of a violent gang, so it was probably the latter), but as I dropped my guard to search for the Taser, she smashed her fist into my jaw and sent me reeling.
I crumbled sideways. Distant barking sounded over Lucas’s roar and Fluffy’s groan. Where they still okay? I couldn’t tell. My head was full of black, swirling pain.
“Put it down, Maureen,” Lucas yelled.
I blinked. Shook my head. Tried to clear it of the painful fog. Put what down?
“I will shoot her!” Maureen screamed back.
Groot barked at my feet.
“Put it down,” Lucas ordered again.
Finally, my head cleared and my stomach dropped.
Oh God, no.
Maureen had her gun again. Gripped tightly in two hands, pointed straight at me. Blood and sweat trickled down her face and terror swam in her eyes.
Cold glee surged through me. Good. Be scared, bitch. Be very scared.
“Put. It. Down,” Lucas growled.
I flicked him a look, and my gut—already a tight, sinking pit—rolled.
Lucas held Maureen’s Taser. Was aiming it at Maureen. On the floor, slumped but fighting to stand, was Fluffy.
“Put it down, Trip!” Maureen yelled. “The bullet will hit her before you can even move.”
I stood. Frozen. What should I do? Groot growled, small body pressed to my calf. He trembled. Or maybe that was me?
“So that’s it?” Lucas’s calm voice chilled me. “You’re going to kill me, kill us? To keep your connection to Trinity a secret? So you can, what? One day become president?”