Page 76 of Revenge At Raleigh High
Silver makes a choking sound, her face turning redder and redder as the seconds slip by. She doesn’t have long. If I don’t cut her down from there in the next few seconds, she’s going to fucking die, and I’m going to have to watch it happen.
I don’t have time to fight Jacob. Fuck, there’s no time for anything.
The captain of the Raleigh Roughnecks isn’t going to let me just slip on by him and rescue her, though.
“Get out of the way, Jake. Right fucking now!”
Jacob pouts, casting a quick glance over his shoulder. “You’re kinda spoiling my night, y’know. I wanted to watch this. More than anything, I’ve been waitingreallyfucking patiently to watch this stupid cunt breathe her last. You’re fucking annoying, Moretti. Has anyone ever told you that before?”
I take three steps, then another two. I’m close enough, now. Jacob’s head cants to one side, his eyes slitting like a snake’s. “What are you gonna do, Moretti? You’re big, but I’m bigger. Who knows, maybe you can take me, but I’m not gonna go down easily. She’ll be fucking worm meat long before then. You’re fucked. And so isshe.” He jerks his thumb over his shoulder at Silver.
Her face is purple.
One of her fingernails has snapped back, and blood is running down her hand, down her forearm, dripping from her elbow as she frantically claws at the rope.
Jake wants me to bicker with him. He’s expecting me to beg and plead for him to release her. Releasing Silver isn’t an option, though. Not for him. He’s leaving me no choice.
“Well? What’s it gonna be, motherfucker? You gonna tackle me or wh—”
The sound of the gunshot is deafening. The recoil punches up my arm, slamming into my shoulder, throwing my hand up in the air. Monty said a gun like this would have a mean kick on it, but the shock of the unexpected force almost throws me off balance.
Jacob frowns, confusion marring his smug expression. He looks down at his chest, just as the first ribbon of scarlet blood unfurls down the front of his shirt.
“You—you shot—” He looks up, his skin white as a sheet, and then staggers, holding out a hand to steady himself.
I don’t waste another second. I hear the thud and tumble as Jacob collapses to the floor, but I don’t stick around to watch. I race to Silver, grabbing her around the waist, not bothering to try and find something sharp enough to cut her down. Lifting her, the rope loosens, but the loop of the noose is still firmly fastened around the column of her throat.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I hold her in one arm, using the other hand to yank and pull at the noose, and fraction by fraction it begins to work free.
Then she’s breathing, pulling in a wheezing, painful breath that makes me want to drop down onto my knees and fucking cry tears of relief. “Alex?” Silver’s eyes meet mine, and for a moment I think everything’s going to be all right. Then those beautiful blue eyes of hers roll back into her head, her spine bows, and she begins to seize.
“No.No, no, no, no, no.”Using every scrap of strength I possess, I rip the noose free from her neck and pull it over her head, hurling it away. Silver shudders violently in my arms as I carry her past Jacob’s prone body where he’s lying on the floor. I’m as careful as I can be when I place her down on the boards, making sure not to let her hit her head.
“You shot…me,” Jacob gasps. “You fuckingshotme.”
“In the stomach,” I remind him, through my teeth. “You’d better hope she doesn’t die, otherwise I’m gonna be shooting you right between the eyes next, you fuck.”
“My father…”
Come on, Silver. Come on. Please be okay. Let her fucking be okay. Come on!
She’s still shaking, her body trembling, the whites of her eyes showing. I lower my face over hers, positioning my cheek in front of her mouth, waiting to feel somet—wait, yes, there it is. Shallow, uneven…but she’s breathing. At least she’s fucking breathing. Relief courses through me, but it’s tempered by fear. The convulsions aren’t stopping; they seem to be getting worse.
Silver’s head snaps back, her teeth grinding together as she shakes in my arms.
Behind me, Jake’s breathing is a wet, unhealthy rasp. “Are you…listening? My father…”
I ignore him. His father isn’t going to be able to shield him anymore. Not from behind bars. He’s probably going to spend the rest of his life rotting in some prison cell, ruing the day he ever crossed Q and the Dreadnaughts Motorcycle Club. I’m pretty sure Jacob will be the last thing on Caleb’s mind by tomorrow.
With an unsteady hand, I reach out and stroke a matted, blood-soaked tangle of Silver’s hair out of her face. Her lips are split, her jaw bruised, her temple oozing blood, her nose obviously broken. She looks like she just went ten rounds with a UFC fighter, which says a lot. It says that she’s a fighter, herself. She didn’t give up. She didn’t give in.
“So don’t give up now,” I whisper, holding her to me. “Don’t give up now, Silver. Come on. Fuckingfight.”
I call an ambulance. I barely hear what the guy on the other end of the line says. I tell him where we are, what’s happened, and that the girl I love needs help, then I hang up the phone. A long, brutal minute passes. I don’t know anything about seizures, but I do know they probably shouldn’t go on for this long. Eventually, as quickly and abruptly as it started, the seizure just…stops.
I bite the inside of my lip, watching her face, waiting for some sort of sign that she’s going to be okay. “Silver?Silver?”
