Common Areas, page 16
I was so relieved, but I still didn't think.
“He’ll live,” a voice said from behind me. “But will you?”
I looked up to see Jeff taking up the expanse of the hallway, blocking the door. He looked like an angry pitbull ready to pounce. I sat on the floor trying to process what I was seeing all the while a voice in the back of my head just screamed Run! But I was landlocked, I couldn’t go anywhere.
“There's a restraining order,” I said dumbly.
“A piece of paper,” he said as he approached slowly. “Just a piece of paper.”
His hand caught my hair and like an idiot I just let him grab me. The pull at my scalp was enough to make me realize that this horror was real. I dug a hand into my purse just as he tugged me to my feet, the can of mace was what he saw when he tugged me around to him. I hit the button and sprayed it into his face, trying my best to aim for his eyes.
He roared and reared back, but didn’t let go. I could feel a give in my hair as he jerked me backward. I hit a wall and dropped the can of mace. His eyes were clenched close, but he still swung at me, catching me in the chest. Air was shoved out of my lungs and I felt a crunch. I tried to crumble because it hurt and there was this struggle to breathe now, but that hand in my hair kept me upright.
Jeff stepped on Tyler and tugged me along as he went forward into the kitchen. He threw me across the island and bounced my skull off the granite. My vision swam, and I heard the water cut on as he released a string of curses.
“I was just going to come to take you home.” His voice was like fuel set to flame. I could feel his anger in my swimming consciousness. “But now…” he broke off to rinse his face, blinking rapidly. “Now, you had to go be stupid.”
“Stop,” I managed.
“You,” he had my hair again, and I was tugged to him, “you do not get to tell me what to do.” His face was close to mine, red from the mace and anger. “You belong to me.”
I was mostly on the island and he was bent over me. I had to get away. I had to get him to let go. I wouldn’t let him hurt me anymore. I kicked out, trying to push him away, and by some good fortune, I managed to hit him hard enough that he gasped out. The hand in my hair loosened and I grasped onto that. I kicked out again, this time aiming to get him away.
There was a breath between us and I slipped off the island and made a mad dash for Chase’s door. My vision swam, but I had enough in me to slam the door closed behind me and twist the lock. I struggled to breathe and to clear my vision. I couldn’t pass out. I couldn’t let fear panic me to the point where he would get to me again.
The door shook, and he roared my name. “You’re just making it worse for yourself,” he snarled through the door and it shook again.
I got up, deciding against turning on the light. I had to find the closet. Feeling along the wall, knocking things over until I found another door. When I felt the tile wall I nearly cried, it was the bathroom. I felt around for the light switch; finally, light cut through the darkness and it made it so much easier for me to find the closet. But it also seemed to renew something in Jeff. He slammed into the door and I could hear the wood buckling under his weight.
I found the closet and just what I was looking for sat innocently on top of the safe. I took it out of the case and turned towards the door as it quaked. I tried to remember everything from that day. The technicals were a blur, all I could remember was Chase at my back helping me take aim. The smell of him flooded me as I was surrounded by his clothes, and his voice rang in my head as he gave the instructions. That he dared me to do this.
The door slammed open, the lock finally giving out. Jeff stood in the mostly darkened room like a monster that I wished would just go away. Then he stopped, he saw the gun in my hands pointed at him. My hands shook as I flipped off the safety.
“Put it down,” he commanded. “We both know you don’t have it in you to hurt anyone.”
“Pretty sure I just maced you and kicked you in the balls,” I retorted.
“Yeah you did,” he acknowledged. “But shooting a gun is something different.” He crept forward. “And you don’t have what it fucking takes to hurt someone like that.” His voice went darker. “Couldn’t even break up with me properly, baby. You had to sneak out like the scared little bitch that you are.”
“Kind of like the little bitch that snuck into my house,” was snarled behind him. I spared Jeff a glance away to see Chase standing in the bedroom doorway. “Knocked out my friend to face off with a woman. And you have the nerve to call her a bitch.”
Jeff wheeled around as if he were going to throw a punch in Chase’s direction, then stalled when Chase flicked on the light to his room. He had a pistol in his hand pointed at Jeff with more surety than what I held in my own hand.
“Try me,” Chase dared. I lowered my hands and released a breath, it seemed like it was over. “Keep that gun on him,” he demanded. “Pull out your phone and call nine one one.”
“It’s in my purse,” I started lamely as I leveled the gun at Jeff’s back.
Were we at an impasse now? Unable to move forward because I opted to have my phone in my purse instead of in the pocket of my slacks?
“Keep your gun on him,” Chase instructed as he pulled out his phone.
That’s when things went into slow motion. One moment Chase had his phone in hand, looking down at it as he dialed such a simple number. The next Jeff sprang before then the gun in my hand kicked back as I reacted. The sound of the shot echoed through the house and I could do nothing but stand there dumbly.
I fired the gun.
There was no grunting of a struggle, neither of them cried out as they fought. There was just the ringing aftermath of the gunshot in my ears. I hit someone, someone.
“Chase!” I called out, it sounded muffled with the ringing. “Chase!” I called out again, desperate now for some sort of affirmation that everything was okay.
There was a noise, almost like a groan through the ringing and I stepped forward. I held the gun in my hands still, trembling out of my control. The two of them took up the doorway, Jeff over Chase and both looking prone. I began to panic.
That’s when I heard a voice, it was like I was in water. I couldn’t understand what was being said. A hand shot up from under Jeff and it held a phone.
“Emily.” I was able to discern.
I took the phone and looked at the screen. He’d managed to dial nine one one before Jeff tackled him. I took a sharp breath.
“I can’t hear,” I called into the phone. “My ex came into our house and attacked me. I shot him.” I then recited our address, watching Chase and Jeff worriedly.
Then I sat down on the floor of Chase’s bedroom to wait.
27
The moments that happened after the gun went off were a complete blur. The ringing faded, and I heard voices, though I was unable to decipher them. A crew of police officers came in, their voices were loud and they came to me with guns drawn and made demands that I could understand. So, I put the gun down and my hands up. A hand waved from under Jeff, Chase was okay and I immediately relaxed.
Everything bled together from there. I was questioned, without being able to really understand them. EMTs followed the police, and at some point Tyler had gotten up and he held what looked like an ice pack to the back of his head. His attention was focused me, the worry was evident in his blue eyes.
They ended up carting Jeff away and that gut-wrenching feeling hit me hard. I had shot him. I had fired a gun at a person. It didn’t matter that he hurt me and was intending to do worse. I shot him. A hand fell on my shoulder and I looked up to see a female officer beside me, her face was gentle and she spoke, the voice was soothing even though I couldn’t discern what she was saying.
It didn’t keep tears from gathering in my eyes.
Chase was sat up, and though he was covered in blood, he looked well enough. His expression was just tight with pain. His hand went to his chest, and he looked at me, His mouth moved exaggeratedly and it was easy enough to tell he was saying, “Okay.”
I just couldn’t tell if it was a question or not, but I nodded anyway.
A man in a suit came in and his started talking in a raised voice. He spoke with authority and everyone listened. He held out a hand to Chase and carefully helped him up. I watched as they talked with one another, it wasn’t a conversation between strangers. It went on for a moment until they shook hands, causing Chase to grimace in pain. He gave me a cautious look again, eyebrow raised.
Eventually, the officer beside me helped me up. I was led out of the house and to an ambulance. Tyler was already in it, relaxed back on the gurney. He caught my hand as I was given a tiny seat beside an EMT that gave me a slight smile after he closed up the door behind him. We left the whirlwind of activity behind at the house and bounced around in the back of the ambulance.
Once we got to the hospital we were separated in the ER. I was taken to a semi-private examining room with the curtain closed. It wasn’t long before the female police officer from before at the house poked her head around the curtain to check on me.
“You okay?” She asked and for the first time since I fired the gun, I could understand the words. There was still the residual sound as if I were under water.
I still latched onto it. “I…” emotion trembled my voice a little. “I survived.”
“Can you hear me?” She stepped into the room and eyed me carefully.
“It’s like my head is in water,” I clarified. “Before it was like I was deeper. I could hear your voice but not what you were saying.” I fidgeted with the buttons on my blouse as I spoke, I could only imagine how the conversation would go from here. She was probably waiting for me to be cleared by a doctor so I could be arrested.
“Can we talk about what happened?” she asked as she pulled a notepad from the heavy looking belt around her waist.
I swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tears that I felt threatening to spill. “Yeah.” I looked away from the police officer as I tried to find something to distract myself with so I wouldn’t break. “I came home from work to find my roommate Tyler on the floor.”
“Was the door locked when you went inside?” Her voice was gentle and coaxing as she asked her question. A glance at her showed that she was busy writing down what I said.
I shook my head. “It wasn’t. It was open. N-not wide open, but enough that I could tell.” I choked then, on my words. “I saw him on the floor and I walked right in.” I was such an idiot.
“I would’ve done the same,” she confided. “What happened after that?”
That didn’t make me feel better, though I didn’t doubt that she wasn’t telling me the truth. “Jeff.” I took a breath and slowly released it. “He came out of the living room.”
“Did he have keys to the house?”
I shook my head again. “I had a restraining order against him.” A sob broke then, making my chest ache. “I never wanted to see him again.”
She nodded as she wrote that down. “So, you had a restraining order against him and he didn’t have a key.” She looked up at me, “Where did you get the gun?”
I blinked rapidly, this was where I got into trouble. “I uh… it was Chase’s. Chase Stewarts. He has a safe in his closet with a collection. When I first started having problems with Jeff, he showed me how to use it,” I felt the quiver of my lips. “It was supposed to be just in case. I wasn’t ever supposed to actually use it.”
She put a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay.”
A doctor walked in, his brows drawn together at the sight of the officer. He cleared his throat and only spared me a glance. “This is for an assault case?”
“Yes.” the officer’s voice hardened. “Physical, not sexual. We got lucky on that part.”
“Thank God,” came from outside and the doctor pulled the curtain back to show Patton waiting on the other side.
“I thought you went home hours ago,” the doctor said to him. Confusion showed on his face as he looked at the other man. “What are you doing here?”
“She’s my roommate,” Patton explained quickly then shouldered his way into the room. Worry was evident on his face. Then he winced as he got a good look at me. “Baby, are you okay?” He carefully cupped my face and I could see the distress.
Seeing him upset was like opening the floodgate. I broke down, and I was immediately engulfed in his arms. His hand was in my hair until I hissed when the tenderness only seemed to exacerbate things. Still, despite the onset of aches and pains, I was able to draw comfort from him.
The doctor allowed him to comfort me until he got impatient and cleared his throat. Patton pulled away reluctantly.
“Now, if you like, he can leave.” He gave Patton a pointed look. “But we need to make sure there’s not serious damage here and you’ll need to undress.”
Oddly enough, I didn’t want him to leave me. While it might have made the examine awkward, Patton held my hand during the majority of it.
“Are they okay?” I had to know, even while the doctor’s sharp fingers prodded my torso.
“Tyler probably has a concussion,” Patton said as he kissed my knuckles lightly. “Chase has bruised ribs, but he’s in better shape than Tyler.”
“I didn’t shoot him?” I hiccupped, it had been my main worry the moment I reacted and pulled the trigger.
“No.” He gave me a weak smile. “Chase is gonna be fine.”
“Thank God,” I heard myself echo Patton.
The doctor ordered an x-ray that just proved that I had two fractured ribs. There was also the concern that I had a concussion, too. My ears, on the other hand, appeared to be fine. I was lucky that I didn’t rupture an eardrum. I got a lecture about firing a gun in a small enclosed space from the officer. In hindsight, of course.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t arrested. I didn’t question it until after I got dressed and the doctor decided I wasn’t staying overnight. I was prescribed pain medication and released. While the officer lingered in the hallway, she didn’t do what I expected her to. Instead of putting cuffs on me, she gave me a card.
“I wrote the number to a crisis hotline, this is to help cope.” She didn’t need to specify what I needed to cope with. “The other number is mine.” She gave me a light smile. “In case you need someone to talk to about it. Off the record.”
“We got her,” Patton grumbled. I couldn’t tell if it was jealousy or just the fact that he was tired. It had been a hell of a long day.
Tyler was in the waiting room, looking just as exhausted as I felt. Someone called us a taxi to which we all piled into. Somehow, I ended up between them. I wasn’t going to argue, it gave me the opportunity to hold both their hands and be thankful that somehow everyone ended up walking away from this.
Except…
“What happened to Jeff?”
“Don’t tell me you’re worried about that asshole,” Tyler grumbled.
“I shot him,” I pointed out, earning a look from the driver. “I don’t know that I can face myself if… if…”
“You got him in the left shoulder,” Patton supplied for me. “Barely missed anything vital, but definitely shattered his scapula,” he started to say more when he noticed my confused look. “Shoulder blade. He’s going to go into surgery to have that taken care of and will probably need some physical therapy after which is probably going to take six months or longer.”
“Is he going to be able to file charges against me?” I felt dumb for asking, but I’d heard a number of horror stories involving people breaking into other people’s houses getting hurt and suing.
Tyler snorted. “You seem to forget that he attacked us. If anything we need to make sure we move forward with filing charges against him this time and make sure he gets it into his dumbass that shit’s over with him.” His voice was hoarse with fatigue and when I looked at him I wanted to do nothing but curl up with him. “Chase said he’s gonna take care of that when he can. You might want to call in sick tomorrow.”
“I’m going to,” Patton admitted. “Just to make sure the three of you take it easy.”
“Don’t get in trouble.” I tried to wave off the idea of him staying home for my sake. “I’ve caused enough trouble as it is.”
“Nope, already done.” He opened up the door as the taxi pulled up to our curb. He took the time to pay the driver before coming around to help Tyler then me out of the car. “Besides,” his voice twisted as he started walking the two of us to the door, “I can only imagine what might have happened. God,” he sounded strangled. “My girl and my best friend.”
“Our girl,” Tyler corrected as Patton unlocked the door. “And we’re lucky that he didn’t break a window or anything. We can just lock the door.” He started upstairs without giving either of us a second look, his shoulders hung low and his footsteps were heavy.
