Theo's eyes narrow. "Not likely."
I act like I'm offended as my mind whirrs with thoughts, trying to sort out a way to get him to follow me, leaving her alone. As long as she's okay, I don't care what happens to me. "How would you know? You been spying on me, now, too? Looking at my junk?"
"You're an idiot. I don't understand what she sees in you." His lips are pursed, and he's glancing between her limp form and my ripe, eager one. If he lunges for me, I'm a goner, but if I can trip him up, make him bail on the gun, I might just stand a chance.
Maybe if I keep poking the bear, he'll do something drastic.
"I bet you fight like a bitch," I try out the words one of my characters threw at an opponent in a fight once, hoping they hit the mark. Unfortunately, Theo and the character I fought are as different as night and day, so I don't think it's working. "You've got that gun, so brave. Bet you couldn't land a single punch on me bare-handed."
His grin falters as he contemplates the possibility that I'm trying to trick him. I hold my hands out, palms up, as if to saylook, here I am, unarmed, and I'm not afraid of you."You're a whole lot of stupid in a short ass package, buddy," he mutters,but he's stepping toward me. "Why would I fight you if I can just shoot you?"
Both our sets of eyes fall on the gun again, and he grins, while I frown.
"See, that's the problem with you, the difference between us that gets me what you want, what you can't have," I point at him, take a step forward, "your'e a coward. You let others do your dirty work?—"
"Nobody does my dirty work for me," he snarls, swinging wildly with his free hand. He misses, but only just. "I did itallby myself. I'm the one who made all those phone calls. Not someone else,me!"He storms around in a circle, fuming, and I realize that I might have a chance if I can just unsettle him enough to make him move further away from Denali. "It wasmewho stalked her at the dance studio.Mewho cornered her at the gala while you were getting sloshed at the bar."
Sothat'swhy Denali was so torn up at the gala that night. Why she was so unsettled even before we made it to her house. "You wrecked her place on your own?"
"Hell yeah I did. Enjoyed every minute of it. I knew how bad it would fuck with her. I trashed it, end to end. She's lucky that cat of hers ditched me before I could grab hold of him, or I'd have ripped his head off and painted her door with his blood." He smirks, all the evil a man can possess on full display for me to see, to analyze, to shrink away from in horror. "Iwantedher scared. Wanted her to remember who she belonged to."
He aims that gun at her head, and I lunge forward, wrapping my hands around his arms, trying desperately to keep the gun pointed anywhere but at her.
It goes off, and in a rush of adrenaline, somehow I manage to get hold of it and knock it out of his hands. Unfortunately, it skates so far across the floor, I lose sight of it in the scuffle. I canonly hope Theo lost it, too, because that'll mean we're both at the same disadvantage. That I stand a chance.
My luck doesn't last long. Theo's meaty fist comes right up and lands in the side of my jaw, kocking me sideways as I reel from the recoil.
Come on you stupid asshole. That's right. Walk away from her, come get me. Pick on a man, not a helpless female.
I laugh, channeling the ex-military detective gone rogue from the last series I guest starred in. "That's all you got, you pussy? No wonder she didn't want you. You hit like your wrist is made of cooked noodles." Another step toward me as I rub my jaw, so I take one more back, toward the door, hoping he doesn't see through me to the ruse beneath. That he won't see my hands shake as I try to steel my spine and prepare to quite possibly die for this woman I'm madly in love with. I just wish we'd had time to enjoy life together. More than a week of it.
"Fuck you," he spits, and then he's stumbling toward me as Denali roars to life, sweeping him with her foot. As he goes down, she shoves him at me, screaming for me to intercept him.
"Kai! Now!"
I don't know what to do, so I pull out a Sunday morning special and grab him by the head, twisting it sideways with all the effort I can muster as he staggers past me, snarling like a rabid dog.
The sickening pop it makes when his head stops moving and his body keeps going will live with me in my head for the rest of my life.
I groan and drop him immediately as Denali scrambles for the gun, holding it aimed at him, but I don't think that's necessary anymore. I inch toward her, slowly, carefully, hands held out in her direction as she watches Theo like she expects him to get back up and come for her again.
"Denali? Hey, hey there sweet girl," I soothe, hoping she's not in shock. "Why don't you hand me that, and I'll take care of it, yeah?"
She shakes her head, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "No. I—I wanna make sure he's dead, Kai. Hehasto be dead. Thishasto be over. I can't—Kai, I can't do this anymore,please?—"
I take the gun from her and she collapses into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably, like someone's just rammed into her floodwall and broken the damn thing. All I can do is hold her, hoping it's enough, showing her without words that I'm here, I've got her, I'm not going anywhere.
After awhile, she stops sobbing, and starts thinking. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like I can hear her brain whir to life, running a mile a minute like it does when she faces down a problem at work.
Her hands tighten in my shirt, the first sign that she's stable again—or as stable as she's going to get.
I chance a glance down at her, and see she's already looking up at me. "Hey there,kara.How you feeling?"
"Better." Her eyes trail across the room to the dead man lying on the floor, and her whole demeanor shifts from timid and scared, to angry, resentful, and furious. "I wish I'd killed him with my own hands, though."
I can understand why she feels that way, but I'm glad it didn't come to that. "I'm glad I could be of some service to you, at least." My eyes trail down her body, and I realize now what I missed in my haste to ensure her safety earlier—she's wearing lingerie, and nothing else. "Denali, where are your clothes?"
"I was planning to seduce you when you came home," she reminds me, "remember the photos?"
