Page 62 of Phantom
The resolve was painful to watch. Taylor would never stop.
Almost as if he knew it was happening, too, Lockjaw released Taylor’s leg and lunged at the arm that held the gun. With Taylor’s arm pulled away from his face, there was only one option left. I swallowed hard, pointed my gun at Taylor’s head, and fired. Almost in slow motion, I watched the bullet leave the gun. As Lockjaw pinned down the arm that held the gun, the bullet from my gun pierced through Taylor’s forehead, and his arm fell to the dust, sending the gun in his hand clattering to the side.
His body went limp, but Lockjaw continued to claw at him until a hollow whistle filled the air. “Lockjaw!” Colin bellowed.
Finally, Lockjaw released Taylor’s motionless arm, ran over to me, and looked up. He whimpered and whined, looking almost apologetic. I dropped to my knees and hugged him. “No, it’s okay. You were a good boy.”
Boots shuffling through the desert brought my attention up, but it was just Colin, having gotten to his feet. Though he was limping, he looked okay.
“I didn’t want to kill him,” I said, tears filling my eyes. “He was gonna kill you.”
“I know.” He set a hand on my head. “I know.”
We both looked over at Taylor’s lifeless body, and though I should have been sad, the relief coursing through me was almost sickening. Never again would I have to look over my shoulder. Never again would I have to fear him taking away someone I loved. He was my brother, but he was also my greatest nightmare.
Both were gone now.
“I need to call my dad,” I said. “Can you figure out how to deal with… that?” I pointed at the shattered window on the car.
“Yeah.” Colin tapped his leg, and Lockjaw obeyed the command, following after Colin as they both made their way to the car.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my dad’s number. As it was trilling, I walked over to Taylor and kicked the gun further away from his hands. I folded his arms over his chest, which was probably far more than he deserved, and closed both of his eyelids.
“Tess?” my dad answered. “Are you okay?”
“I am,” I responded. “Taylor is not.”
My dad sighed. “CJ killed him.”
“No, Daddy.” I swallowed hard. “I did. I had no choice. He was gonna kill Colin. He was gonna kill Lockjaw.”
“Where are you?” he asked.
For a while, I hesitated. Who knew what my dad’s level of discernment would be without Taylor looming behind him, but regardless of it, I was leaving to start a new life with Colin in Germany. If the club still wanted Colin’s head, we couldn’t stay, and though I loved my dad, I didn’t want to risk it.
“We left already. If you drive west along Highway 40, about thirty minutes out of Hoppa, you’ll find him. I’m sorry.”
“Val,” my dad said, and there was a crack in his voice that immediately brought tears to my eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Squared.”
The line went dead immediately after that. I stood staring down at Taylor long enough for the sun to set and the stars to begin peeking out. It was only once Colin came and covered him with a blanket from my trunk that I could drag myself away. He pulled me into a hug and held me in place for a few minutes.
“I’m sorry. We have to go.”
“Yeah,” I replied, sniffling in my emotions. “Are they gonna let us keep a pit bull at our side in the airport.”
“I have no idea,” Colin responded, “but somehow, that seems like a really trivial problem.”
I nodded. “It does, doesn’t it?”
“To Germany?” he asked before kissing my lips.
A smile found my face without my permission. “To Germany.”
Epilogue
Phantom
