Page 102 of See It Through
No, this wasn’t happening. I couldn’t die in a filthy alley and never see Remi again. It would break him. Break my family. And I was nowhere near ready. This beautiful life had just gotten started. I wouldn’t be leaving it. Not tonight. Not for a long, long time.
Through crushing waves of dizziness, I bucked the woman on top of me and scrabbled for something to hold on to, coming up with nothing but sludge. I managed to get a handful of it and jerked my arm out from under her bony knee. With the last of my strength, I slammed it into her face, the force knocking her hood off.
The details of her shrill cry and the moon glinting off her blonde hair imprinted into my consciousness. When I could think more clearly, I would be able to home in on those two things, but first, I had to get away from her.
Her hands had loosened when I hit her, so I did it again, aiming the sludge at her eyes as I gasped for breath. This time, I landed on my target, and my attacker had no choice but to let go of me to protect herself. Once she did, I bucked hard enough to dislodge her.
Run.
My instincts screamed at me, but I couldn’t seem to push myself upright. I knew I didn’t have much time. She’d come after me again. This was my chance.
Drawing every ounce of strength my body still possessed, I flipped over, pushed up on my hands and knees, and crawled.
I was almost there. So close to the mouth of the alley. Streetlamps and voices of people walking down the sidewalk were just ahead. All I had to—
My foot was yanked out from underneath me, and what little breath I had whooshed out as my chest hit the pavement.
So close.
So, so close.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Remington
After a day ofworking on the ranch with Caleb and joining him for dinner, he and I were walking toward Joy’s. He was meeting Cormac for a drink, and I was too antsy to wait for Hannah to get to her place.
“Think I’m ready for full-time work yet?”
“Nope,” he replied.
I barked a laugh. “No? Am I ever going to get off the bench, coach?”
“Far as I’m concerned, nope.”
“Hey.” I pressed a hand to his shoulder. “I’m good, man. I only have the occasional headache these days. No dizzy spells. I’m healing.”
“I’m glad, but the answer is still no. I like having you out there with me, but if I take you on full-time, when are you going to be able to work on that book of yours?”
“I—” didn’t have an answer for that. We’d had a fantastic day. There was nothing like being in the saddle, doing hard work while shooting the breeze with the best friend I ever had. And because he was my best friend, he was looking out for me.
“No answer, eh?” He chuckled. “I’ll take you on two days a week, but those other days, you’re going to be working on your book so you have your evenings to spend with Hannah.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“I know you can’t.”
We were drawing close to the bar when movement from the alley caught my attention. Something big was on the ground—an animal?
“What’s that?” Caleb’s voice cracked like thunder in the otherwise quiet night. “What the hell is that?”
Before we could get a good look, a person wearing all black darted out, running in the opposite direction. Caleb and I exchanged a quick glance then moved in unison, booking it for the barely moving…it was a person sprawled on the ground, face down.
Caleb got to them first, crouching over the body. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no,” he cried, falling back on his ass. “Hannah?”
My world stopped. Blindly, I fell to my knees beside Caleb—beside the body. “Is it—?”
“It’s her,” he rasped, moving the tangled, muddy hair off her bloody face. “Hannah?”