bleeding and bruised and it’s our word against yours. I don’t care who you are. This doesn’t look good for you.”
Angelina moved back as if she could run from a bullet. “My daddy will hear about this. He’ll believe me,” she said with a shaky voice.
“Good. My husband will hear about it, too, and he’ll sure as hell believe me,” Blaire replied.
Angelina laughed. “My daddy can buy this town. You have fucked with the wrong woman.”
“Really? Bring it on, ’cause right now you’re looking at a woman with a loaded gun who can hit a moving target. So please. Bring. It. On,” Blaire replied like a complete badass. I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be tough.
I pulled my legs up and wrapped my arms around my knees and prayed this would end without her having to use that gun.
“Who are you?” Angelina asked. I hadn’t realized that Angelina didn’t know who Rush Finlay’s wife was. He was a celebrity because of his father. I thought the whole world knew who Blaire was.
“Blaire Finlay,” she replied.
“Shit. Rush Finlay married a hick with a gun. I find this hard to believe,” Angelina said in her snide, uppity tone. She really did think she was above everyone else.
“I’d believe her. She’s holding the fucking gun.” Rush’s voice came from behind Blaire. I let out the breath I was holding. Thank God he’s here.
“Are you kidding me? This town is insane. All of you,” Angelina said, on the verge of a scream.
“You were the one beating up an innocent woman over a man in the dark,” Blaire replied. “You’re the one who looks insane here.”
“Fine. I’m over this. I’m done,” Angelina yelled, and walked over to the parking lot. I sat in shock as Blaire lowered the gun and put the safety back on before handing it to Rush. She then ran over to me. I just sat there and stared up at her. She’d just pulled a gun on another woman for me. I couldn’t wrap my head around everything that had happened. I felt the darkness around my eyes start to close in on me. I had to fight off the panic attack I knew was close.
“Did you really just pull a gun on her?” I asked, trying to focus on the here and now.
“She was putting a beating on you,” Blaire said simply.
“Ohmigod. She’s crazy. I swear, I was beginning to think she was going to beat me until I was unconscious. I kept thinking I was going to zone out and then she’d really hurt me.” I looked up at her. “Thank you.” Those two words weren’t enough but it was all I could say right now. I was about to lose myself. The darkness was coming.
Blaire held out her hand. “Can you stand up? Or do you want to sit here while I call Woods?” I needed to stand up. I had to fight this. I slipped my hand into hers.
“I want to stand. I need to stand up,” I told her. I didn’t want to tell her I was about to black out. It was a weakness that I was ashamed of. Having her see me like that would be humiliating. Rush would know Woods was in love with a crazy woman. I couldn’t do that to him.
Blaire pulled me up, then asked, “You got a phone?”
I couldn’t talk. I needed to stay focused. I handed it to her. She was calling Woods. I knew that. I wanted her to call him. If he held me I could fight this. Blaire handed me the phone. I would have to talk to him.
“Baby?” His voice came over the line and my fear eased off.
“Hey,” I replied.
“You okay?” he asked. I could tell he was walking. Hopefully he was headed back this way.
“Actually, no, not really. I had an incident with Angelina,” I explained.
“Did she say something to upset you? Is she still there? Put the bitch on the phone.” I heard his truck crank up. He was already heading back.
“No . . . no . . . she’s gone. Uh, Blaire showed up and . . . uh, scared her off,” I tried to explain, though I wasn’t sure how to.
“Scared her off? What the hell did she do to you? Are you alone?” The panic in his voice was nothing compared to
Richard Ellis Preston Jr.