Page 15 of Playing Hardball
I open the glove compartment of my car and pull out my Glock. Then I drive towards them like I’m in a drive-by, but the minute I get close enough, I raise my gun and shoot the man holding her right in the back of his head. I hear them scream as I jam the brakes and roll out of the car. Their bullets rain into my car, but I’m below. From beneath the car, I aim at the foot of one of the remaining two and shoot.
“Oh fuck,” he grunts, falling to the ground. His eyes widen as he spots me, just before I shoot him twice in the chest.
Shots from around the car rain into the ground beside me and I quickly roll the other way. I see Kim’s legs and notice the other man is standing just behind her. Slowly, I rise and see he’s shielding himself with her body and has his gun aimed at her head.
“Don’t do anything stupid. I’ve killed lots of men, and will not hesitate to kill her,” he shouts.
There are ragged slash scars that run down the left side of his face. This is Sloan, the man who raped and killed her best friend.
“What do you want? Let her go,” I say.
“Your friend here knows the passcode to the biggest of her father’s accounts in the Cayman Islands. That’s all I want. For her to tell me,” he says.
“I’m not going to tell you,” Kimberly stubbornly insists.
Sloan sidles closer to her and presses his mouth to her ear.
“You’re going to give me that passcode if it’s the last thing you do,” he growls menacingly.
“Hey Sloan! She’ll tell you. She’ll tell you,” I say, to appease him.
He smiles and makes the mistake of raising the gun away from her head.
“You know my –”
My bullet rips through his palm, sending the gun flying out of his grip. He screams, lets go of Kim and grabs his ripped hand. I’m on him in five steps and crash the butt of my gun into his temple twice. He falls to the ground, unconscious and bleeding badly from his shot palm.
Kim runs into my arms in tears. Her entire body shakes.
“It’s over, baby. It’s over,” I say running my arm soothingly down her back.
“It’s all my fault. Everything is my fault,” she says crying.
“Listen to me. This is not your fault. Sloan is a goddamn son of a bitch. I’ll make sure he never sees the outside of a jail cell again. I promise.”
She nods and looks relieved. Her smile is small and shaky, but it’s there and that’s enough for me.
“Thank you, Ben. For everything. I’m so sorry for putting you in danger. And for getting you hurt too,” she says placing her hand on my injured head.
“This is nothing. It’s a small price to pay for loving you.”
Her eyes widen.
“You love me,” she whispers and I nod.
“More than anything in the world. So don’t even think about ever running away from me,” I tell her holding her tightly against me.
“I love you too, Benton,” she says. But the words are slightly muffled by my shirt.
“What was that?” I ask, holding her away from me.
“I said I love you, Benton Paris Lautner. Despite the fact that you’re a grumpy ass.”
I grin happily. I almost lost her but now she’s here. Safe in my arms. I’ll protect her for the rest of my life.
Epilogue
(Benton)
