I believe I was right when I said that Eddie would kill and die for me, and the first trickle of fear begins to descend over me.
What if Eddie protecting me leads to his death?
“Hey, man, I’m not armed.” I can hear the chubby guy say outside in a shaking, terrified voice. I can almost feel his fear as if it were my own. “It’s just Arnold, man. He’s the one that wants your girl. He’s the one that’s obsessed with her.”
My attacker, Arnold, shoots up from where he’s crouched by the door. “That rat bastard!”
He’s gone in a blink. There’s a shot and I can hear a thump on the ground.
My mind screams at me that it's not Eddie, it’s not Eddie,it can’t be Eddie,but I still fling myself back and forth, trying to free myself from my zip tie bonds.
The other two men flee through the back door that leads into the parking lot. It’s ironic that’s where I first encountered them, unwilling, and then there was Eddie.
Eddie shouts to me from outside, sounding wrecked, and I feel an urgency once again to get out and go to him. Now that I know he’s safe, I can fight to get away once again.
I’m still wondering where Chrissy is, but I’m almost sure she’s safe somewhere. Otherwise, Myers would be moving hell and earth to get to her side.
I roll over, and my arms ache, the ties pulling at my skin. Below me, something sticky coats my fingers and my arms. Soon enough, I can smell it.
Below me, on the hard, tiled floor, a pool of blood seeps in from under the door. I can’t help it. I let out a bloodcurdling scream that rips and aches at my throat, but I don’t care. I feel the urge to vomit. I frantically roll away from the hot blood and smack into one of the poles, nearly knocking the heavy metal on top of me.
All of a sudden, the door bursts open, and Eddie falls in on top of Arnold, knocking his body into the hard floor. My heart thumps an unsteady beat.
They roll, throwing punches and hitting skin with bare-knuckled fists. The gun tumbles under one of the maintenance carts, and I think for a moment about trying to grab it. There’s no way it would work with my hands still tied.
They stand, and Eddie slams Arnold into a table, his dark hair flying and his eyes wild. And yes, I’m terrified for the man I love, but I think I can also be forgiven for thinking about how hot he looks beating a man to a pulp.
Arnold hits Eddie in the stomach, though, hard enough that he doubles over with the force of it and stumbles backward. It’s like I can feel the hit, and it hurts my soul to see.
“Eddie!” I screech, struggling to sit up. It’s difficult to do anything but flop around like a dying fish when I’ve only got my legs to work with. “Eddie, watch out!”
Arnold has a metal pipe in his hands, and when Eddie turns and ducks, the pipe slams into a stored mirror instead, shattering more glass over the floor. At this point, we’re just made of bad luck and poor choices. One of the shards flies out, though, and Arnold stumbles backward, rubbing at his eye and screeching in pain.
Eddie slams his body into Arnold’s, making him crumble to the floor close to me. I make eye contact with Eddie and nod.
With my legs, I use my momentum to kick at the tall metal poles. With one great groan like the sound of an impending car crash, the heavy pole falls on top of Arnold, knocking him out and pinning him beneath with the force of it.
We sit there, panting for a moment, and then Eddie throws himself toward me. He wraps his arms around me, holding my head tucked against his shoulder. The smell of leather is overwhelmingly sweet and comforting, but my arms ache, and my body feels like it’s in a vice.
“Uh, baby?” I ask him, leaning back. “Got a knife in that leather jacket?”
“Oh, shit,” Eddie replies, jumping back. “I’m sorry, Kat. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s just zip ties, Eddie,” I tell him, leaning forward to kiss the blooming bruise on his cheek. “No big deal. Nothing something sharp can’t fix right up in a jiffy.”
“No,” Eddie says as he cuts the first one, and my wrists get some relief. “I mean, I’m sorry that I wasn’t watching better. I’m sorry that I let them take you from me.”
“They didn’t,” I shake my head. “They didn’t, and you didn’t. I’m right here.”
The whirl of sirens begins to color the darkness outside.
The first dredges of dawn pull their way into the sky as Myers is taken into an ambulance, and Chrissy, who he forced to run to the nearest gas station, speeds after them in her car. Arnold is taken away, and I fight hard against the urge to give him a kick of my own. The other kid’s body is taken, and I feel some sympathy for him.
“This will make for a good story to tell our grandkids,” I tell Eddie, glancing over at him where we’re both sitting on the back of the remaining ambulance.
Policemen are inside the club, and a dozen reporters wait by the double doors, just itching to see what sort of mayhem has gone down inTheScarlet Lounge.
“A good story?” Eddie asks, laughing wryly. “I think I’ll stick to fairytales.”