Page 35 of Escape

I raced down the street, slammed on the brakes, and sprinted to the front door with Greyson on my heels.

Just as she’d suspected, the front door was closed but unlocked. And when I opened it, I was sick at what I saw. My body ground to a halt. The broken and overturned furniture was enough of a shock, but the blood on the floor and the walls had me feeling a mix of devastation and anger.

“Fuck,” Greyson hissed behind me, taking the scene and communicating my exact sentiment.

“Josie,” I called out, stepping farther into the house to find her. The living room was a disaster, but she wasn’t there, so I continued forward into the kitchen.

That’s where I found her. She was twisted at an awkward angle, mostly on her side, her face pressed down on the floor, the phone by her head with splatters and streaks of blood everywhere. Her clothes, a matching pair of cotton pajama shorts and a top, were torn, askew, and speckled with blood.

I was going to kill the guy who did this to her.

I swallowed down the anger threatening to spill out of me and moved to her. Gently, I placed my hand on her arm and said, “Josie, I’m here. Can you hear me?”

“Huck,” she moaned in pain.

Without knowing the extent of her injuries, I didn’t want to move or jostle her. I brushed her hair back from her face and saw a nasty gash on her cheek. Her eye was swollen shut, and blood had trailed down from where her bottom lip was split.

Seeing what he’d done to her, I believed there was a special place in hell for him. And if anything happened to her, I’d make it my life’s mission to be the one who sent him there.

“I know you’re in pain. Can you move?”

“I crawled here.”

Thank God she could move.

“It hurts everywhere.”

“I know. I know it does. We’re going to get you all fixed up.”

“I’m tired, Huck.”

“You’ve got to stay awake, Josie. Keep talking to me.” She started to move her limbs, another promising sign. “What do you need?”

Gingerly, wincing as she did it, she twisted her neck and allowed her shoulder to roll back toward me. I scooted myself back to give her room, but her body suddenly tensed.

My eyes went to her face, where I was relieved to see her other eye was not swollen shut. She was looking straight ahead, beyond me.

Glancing in that direction, her reaction made sense. “That’s Greyson, Josie. He’s my best friend, and we work together. He came here with me. You don’t have to be afraid. I’m not going to let anything happen to you ever again.”

“I should have listened to you,” she whispered.

I brought my hand to the top of her head and gently stroked the hair back. “Don’t worry about that right now. Tell me what hurts the most.”

She moved her head from side to side. “I don’t know. Everything.” She paused, took a breath, and added, “My shoulder is messed up. My face hurts. Breathing is painful. And I’m so tired.”

At that moment, I heard the sirens in the distance.

“I’ll flag them down,” Greyson declared.

The second he took off, Josie whispered, “Thank you for coming. I feel safe now. You’ve always made me feel safe.”

It was a good thing Josie had her eyes closed, because I didn’t think it would have been good for her to see the regret etched into every feature on my face. Fuck, I never should have left her. Not all those years ago, and certainly not yesterday.

“I’m going to make sure you stay that way from now on,” I promised her.

Silence fell over the room, the approaching sirens the only sound.

“Huck?”