Crackle smiled, showing crooked teeth.
“Violet?” I asked, lowering my aim to center mass. If I shot this guy, I only had one chance to keep him from coming at me.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “If I call them, they’ll take me away. I don’t want to go to foster care. I’m sorry. Not again.”
I swallowed, my mind reeling. “Okay. Get your stuff. Everything you need since you won’t be coming back. Now.”
She turned and ran back into the apartment.
“Maybe I’ll call the police,” Crackle said, taking a tenuous step toward me.
“Go ahead,” I agreed. “I’d love to tell them all about your attempt to sexually assault a minor. I’d also press charges for battery against me as well as animal cruelty for hitting the dog. My bruises alone will look very pretty to a jury.”
The ugly red stain across his pocked skin made his wide face even scarier. Or maybe it was the promise of death in his bloodshot and dead looking eyes. “This isn’t the end of anything.”
What did that even mean?
Violet ran out of the apartment with the melted laundry basket in her hands. She’d piled the pictures and an older wooden jewelry box onto the clothes, and she had a backpack over her arm and the old afghan over her shoulder.
“Car,” I said as my hands finally stopped shaking. My lungs still weren’t working properly, and my body hurt, but one thing at a time.
“Come on, Bowser,” she whispered, edging past me to the stairs.
Crackle held up a hand. “The dog is mine.”
Bowser stood and limped to the stairs, hustling by Crackle before he could get grabbed.
“He was June’s, and she left you,” Violet yelled back, running too fast down the ice-crusted steps with the dog on her heels.
Crackle glared at me. “I’m coming for you.”
I sucked in frigid air. “Get in line.” Then I backed away, keeping the barrel pointed at him. After taking three icy steps backward and not falling on my butt, I turned and rushed down the rest, running for the car. We peeled out on icy and rough gravel, careening out of there.
Violet had shoved her belongings in the back seat along with the dog, who panted loudly. “What are we going to do now?”
Such a great question. Now that we were safe from Crackle, I had to figure something out. But first, I had to know the details. My stomach hurt as much as the various new bruises on my body. “Violet? You can tell me anything. I have to know, did Crackle—”
“No,” she sighed, reaching above her shoulder to pull down the seatbelt and attach it at her waist. “I managed to avoid the creep, and the locks on the door were installed by my aunt before she passed, so he doesn’t have a key. He’s never touched me.”
But he would have. I hated Crackle with everything I had.
She shivered. “I know we should’ve turned him in, but I just couldn’t.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I said grimly. “We’ll get you figured out, and then we’ll press charges against him. Nobody said we have to do it today.” There was no way I was letting Crackle get away with terrorizing her. Who knew what other victims were out there? “We’ll take care of that jerk,” I promised.
Violet swallowed. “So, what now?”
Through my rear-view mirror, I looked at the soft eyes of the quiet dog. “Now we start with a vet for Bowser to make sure he’s okay and then we’ll go from there.” Truth be told, I didn’t know what I needed to do quite yet, but one step at a time.
I could swear that dog smiled.
Chapter 20
It was well after midnight when Aiden woke me, sliding into bed behind me and spooning his big and muscled body around me.
“Hi,” I whispered.
“Hi,” he whispered back, his minty breath brushing my hair. “Busy day?”
