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He closed the gap.

I raised the bat and swung. He let go of the box cutter to grab it. The sock slid off in his hand, he staggered backward. I swung again, aiming low, and cracked him right across the kneecaps. I heard the bones break, and he dropped like a screaming sack of rice. Then I did it again for good measure.

And that was it.

It was almost anticlimactic. Five seconds, tops.

I stepped back, panting, my attacker neutralized. Kicked the box cutter out of reach. Dropped the bat. My ears started to ring, I began to shake, then Seth was there. He was calling 911. I was being taken back up to my apartment. Sirens. Police arrived. An ambulance came. Izzy’s car screeched into the parking lot. It was over.

And I was free.

Seth Chapter 10

There was chaos in the half hour after the incident. John came, Gabe next, and the cops showed up. They took my statement. Izzy got there and ran up to Charlotte inside, where the police were getting her account of the events. When I knew Charlotte was in good hands, I used the moment to make my way outside and over to the ambulance.

“Hey, do you mind if I talk to him for just a sec?” I asked the EMT, loading the gurney with George on it into the back of the rig.

“His knees are shattered, we really need to get him—”

“I only need a moment,” I said. “It’s important.”

The EMT looked at his partner. His partner looked at me, just a harmless guy on crutches. He shrugged. “Whatever. Make it fast, though.”

I leaned over the man who had been terrorizing the woman I’d been falling in love with.

He didn’t look like a monster. But then monsters rarely do.

“Who are you?” he rasped, clearly hurting.

Good.

“I’m Seth,” I said. “I live here across from Charlotte. Have you ever heard of the western sycamore tree?”

He grimaced in pain. “Huh?”

“They’re a protected species in California, so once one’s in the ground, it’s staying put. They can live up to six hundred years, so if you were to bury something under one of them, chances are that thing would never be discovered. At least not for a few centuries.” I leaned in. “If you ever come back here,” I whispered, “you won’t find her, you’ll find me. And then no one will ever find you.”

I held his wide-eyed gaze for a long, purposeful moment. Then I straightened. “All done with him, boys, thanks.”

He yelped in agony while they pushed him the rest of the way into the ambulance.

The police were coming out with Izzy as I made my way up the stairs. The cops jogged past me down the steps, and Izzy paused on the landing. “We’re heading out to see if we can find George’s car in the neighborhood,” she said. “You got this?” She nodded over her shoulder to her best friend’s apartment.

“I definitely do.”

She studied me.

“You’re a good one, Seth.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll still kill you if you hurt her, though.”

“You still think you need to? Looks like she could just kill me herself.”

She tried to look serious, but she couldn’t. We shared a proud smile. She gave me one final nod, then she walked past me down the steps.

I came in and shut the door behind me. Charlotte was sitting at her kitchen table, clutching tissues. When she saw me, she got up. I set my crutches against the wall, and she closed the space between us and threw herself into my arms.