“Fucker!” I hear screamed and then the pressure of Jack is gone. There’s a thud, but it takes me a second to get the strength to push the pillow off my face. The bedside lamp is on the floor next to Jack’s head. Green’s on top of him just beating the literal life out of him. I’ve never witnessed that kind of rage before.
“Green, honey…” I manage to call out through my raspy, pieced-together voice, but he doesn’t even look my way. Jack’s gurgling. There’s blood everywhere. “Green—stop. Honey. Stop.” I roll myself to the floor, grabbing a hold of the man I love and I hold on.
His knuckles are busted and his blood mixes with Jack’s. “Please, Darry…please.”
That lastpleaseactually gets him to stop. Jack is still alive, but only just from the look of him. Green, he never let up. Jack never had the chance to strike back.
The way Green squeezes me so tight—I don't have the heart to tell him he’s hurting me. He presses his face to my shoulder and I feel his tears dampening my shirt. We’re both shaking from the adrenaline crash when the police rush in. They assess the scene and try to force Green away from me.
“He saved me,” I tell them. “Jack Dunham—” I point to his prone body. “He broke into the apartment and tried to kill me… Green got home in time to save me.”
“This is your home?” one of the officers asks.
Green wipes his face. “Yeah. Danni and I live here. I had to take her sister to the airport because she’s flying home today. Danni was injured and is in a wheelchair. We have a hard time getting her up and down the stairs, so she stayed home. She had her doctor coming to check her out while I was gone.”
“Is she here? Is someone else injured?”
“I don’t know,” I say, honestly. Every word cuts against my throat and my head throbs. “She got called away for a medical emergency while we were visiting after my exam. She’s… um… She’s a friend.”Shit.I feel on the verge of tears. I breathe out to clear my head. “I tried to call the garage where our friends work, but the call wouldn’t go through to their office, then I got no cell service at all.” Then I look to Green. “Where is the bodyguard?”
“You had a bodyguard?” the officer asks and I nod.
“He was outside watching the place when I left.Fuck,” Green shouts. “I didn’t even check for him when I ran in here.”
The officer talks into the walkie attached to his shoulder. “Possible man down outside.” But my head continues to spin and I sort of check out of whatever else he says. Thankfully, I hear the sirens from the ambulance.
Green looks between me and staring off outside. “Go,” I rasp, giving him a soft shove to his wrist which is all I can manage. “I’m safe now.”
“Call Special Agent Anna Sandoval,” Green says. “Jack Dunham is the Bible Belt Killer.” A collective gasp echoes around the room from the officers.
Then Green gives my hand a squeeze before running out of the apartment. It’s over. For my mom, for Misty, for me, Rae, her sister Dela, for all the scared women trying to live their lives across the Bible Belt, and for all those who lost theirs by his hands.
It’s finally
Fucking
Over.
22
GREEN
Six months later…
“You look very handsome,” Danni says while straightening my tie.
“Yeah, well, you look fucking gorgeous,” I reply while wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her in close for a kiss. The dress she picked out is made of—what did she say it’s called?—oh, silk crepe, I think. The cut drapes slightly off each shoulder because of the loose bodice that becomes fitted right under her tits and it’s fitted the rest of the way down to her calves, where it stops. It has a slit that rides up her leg to her thigh. I had no idea a dress could look sexy, sophisticated, feminine, and even a little professional all at the same time. She has on these sexy heels that match the pinky-rose color of the dress.
Her hair has been swept up in this artfully messy bun thanks to the extensions I paid for. She wanted them but argued about spending the money.
“Will it make you feel better about yourself?” I’d asked. She smiled and nodded. “Then I don’t care what it costs.” And I didn’t. I had her make an appointment at one of those ultra-fancy salons down in Nashville where the music stars go to get their hair done.
The woman takes my breath away with all those tendrils of loosely curled hair falling down around her neck. I fucking hated it when she had that buzz cut from the hospital, though I never told her that. I’m not super hot on bitches with their heads buzzed, but I think it’s more what it represented. I couldn’t think of anything else when I saw her. Hair or no hair, Danni will always be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Even on a day like today when most bitches would go way overboard, the only jewelry she chooses to wear is this delicate gold chain that belonged to her mother. It has a locket with her and Misty’s baby pictures in it. Then she has on the pretty diamond studs that Carlos bought her for this occasion, and then the giant rock I wasted no time putting on her finger.
She looks like a goddess, whereas me? I probably look ridiculous in my dress slacks, dress shirt, and tie, but wearing my boots and my cut. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I replace my cut for a suit coat. Danni wants all my groomsmen to wear their cuts for our wedding. I love the gesture, but I wasn’t planning on wearing anything different before she made her wishes known.
“Okay, they’re ready for you.” The woman—I jokingly call her our “handler”—makes sure we don’t have any wrinkles because God forbid we meet the President not fully pressed, like her in her navy blue business suit with a skirt rather than slacks, and her hair that reminds me of a football helmet kept in place with a can and a half of spray, I swear. Then she ushers us out of the room where we’ve been waiting to take the stage opposite the President. Yeah, of the United States.