Page 70 of Light

The same house I've been to dozens of times before. The one that usually holds laughter and peace. The place I learned what it really feels like to love someone is deadly quiet.

I don't hear Melissa. I don't hear Deke. No one.

Part of me worries that I might be too late, that Deke has already taken out his anger on Melissa and is just waiting for me to show my face so he can kill me too. I can barely force my legs to move. The only reason I do is that I'm praying that he hasn't.

Slowly, I move to the door and test the door knob. It turns easily in my hand.

I push the door open and look in the corners just to make sure I'm not about to be jumped. I feel completely naked. Being a convict, we're not allowed to carry weapons. Especially since I was convicted of a violent crime, if the cops ever catch me with a weapon it'll be a quick trip back to being locked down, but right now I'd give anything for a gun. Something I can use to protect Melissa. I don't even care what happens to me. All that matters is that I get Zeke away from her.

I move as carefully as I can, checking the corners and dark spots for him. There's not many places that he can be. I make my way past the living room and down the hall to the bedrooms. The second I turn my head, I hear her.

"Mmmmm! Mmm!" Melissa is still tied up with the tape around her mouth. Her eyes are wide, and she's bleeding a bit from a cut over her eyebrow, but she doesn't look in too bad of shape. Thank goodness for that.

I can't focus on her for very long because as I take one long step into the room, Zeke stands from where he was hiding behind the mirror and steps behind Melissa. I come to a complete stop when he places the razor sharp knife to her neck.

My whole body locks up.

Melissa’s eyes are frantic, her chest rising and falling in short, panicked bursts as the silver blade presses into the soft skin of her neck. One wrong twitch and he’ll open her up like a fucking letter.

Zeke grins at me from behind her like he’s already won.

“You shouldn’t have gotten involved, Light,” he says, voice smug and shaking at the same time. “This had nothing to do with you.”

My fists clench at my sides. I take a step forward, slow and deliberate.

“Anything to do with Melissa and Tyler is my business now,” I say, my voice low and steady. “And it always will be.”

Zeke scoffs and presses the blade in just a little harder. Melissa flinches but doesn’t cry out.

“She means that much to you?” he asks, his tone somewhere between curious and mocking. “Enough to die over a piece of paper?”

I pull the folded bill of sale from my pocket and hold it out between two fingers. His eyes dart straight to it like a starving man looking at his last meal.

“You want it?” I say, lifting it slightly. “Come get it.”

For a second, the tension snaps taut enough to strangle the air out of the room. Zeke hesitates. I can see the calculation in his eyes. The greed. The desperation.

He lowers the knife from Melissa’s neck and steps around her.

Big mistake.

The second his hand reaches out toward the paper, I move.

I drop the paper and throw my fist forward, catching him hard in the jaw. Bone cracks beneath the impact, and he stumbles back, growling like an animal. He swings the knife toward my face, but I duck and drive my shoulder into his gut, slamming him against the wall.

He grunts, tries to bring the blade down again, but I catch his wrist.

We struggle, limbs tangled, adrenaline pumping through my veins like gasoline on fire. He’s strong, but I’m stronger. I shove him back, punch after punch landing wherever I can find space. His lip splits, his nose shatters under the force of my fist.

But then I feel it.

A hot, searing sting in my thigh.

Zeke jerks back, the knife slick with blood, and I stumble slightly as the pain lights up my leg.

“Fuck,” I hiss.

I stagger, but I don’t fall.

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