Page 14 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
Reaching for her gun, Hallie spun around in that direction, but Reed was faster, already moving in front her.
“You bitch,” someone yelled.
It was a blonde haired woman that Hallie didn’t recognize. With a knife clutched in her hand, she charged right toward them.
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Chapter Six
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Reed’s instincts kicked in the moment he saw the flash of the silver blade in the woman’s hand. His eyes locked on the knife, every muscle coiling tight, ready to act. But it was obvious the woman was ready to act as well.
Her wild gaze flicked between them, her movements erratic, but Reed could tell—this wasn’t a random attack.
She was aiming for Hallie.
Reed didn’t shoot her. Neither did Hallie. Though they would have been justified in stopping her with a bullet, but Reed didn’t think that’d be necessary. He waited for the blonde to get closer, and when she drew back her arm to lunge the knife at Hallie, he grabbed onto the woman’s wrist with his right hand and used his left to knock the knife out of her grip.
Hallie rushed in to kick the knife away and help him restrain her. Good thing, too, because the woman was fighting like a wildcat and was now trying to bite and scratch them.
“Enough of this shit,” Reed growled when her teeth sank into his arm.
He rolled her over, face first on the ground and pinned her there so she couldn’t do any more damage. Including to herself. The way she was thrashing around, she could end up breaking a bone or two.
“No,” the woman shouted. “I have to stop her!”
But there was another shout, too. From a man. “Charity,” he called out, racing across the yard to get to them.
Hallie shifted toward the newcomer, and while she didn’t take aim at him, Reed saw her get ready to do just that.
Then, Hallie cursed.
“It’s Jay Warrington,” she muttered.
And that made Reed do some cursing as well, but it was indeed the asshole ex-cop who’d botched the investigation of Hallie’s parents, gotten fired and then had tried to make Hallie’s life a living hell.
As if her parents hadn’t already managed to do that.
Jay didn’t appear to be armed but he did have his phone clutched in his hand. It also looked as if he’d dressed in a hurry. His shirt was only partly buttoned, one side hanging lower than the other, and his jeans had been crammed into his boots.
“Charity,” Jay called out again.
“Stop right where you are,” Hallie ordered, again not using her gun to get her point across, but Jay no doubt saw the Glock she had gripped and ready in her hand.
“Hallie,” Jay blurted, and while there wasn’t exactly venom in his tone, his expression conveyed that he despised her.
But that expression changed when he shifted his attention to the blonde on the ground. “Charity,” Jay muttered on a rise of breath. “What the hell have you done?”
“You know this woman?” Hallie snapped. And Reed was certain that would be the first of many questions.
Jay sighed and nodded. “Charity Marlow. She’s, uh, my girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend,” Reed repeated. “Did you put her up to trying to kill Hallie?”
“No,” Jay snapped. “Of course not.”
“The bitch has to die,” Charity moaned out. “She ruined Jay. She destroyed his life. He lost his badge because of her.”
