A Proscriptive Relationship (66 page)

“
This is a one-on-one fight,” Shawn enlightened me, pushing up from the ground again, taking me with him. “No help from bystanders. Or else we turn to dirty tactics.”

I didn’t know what dirty tactics he meant and maybe I didn’t want to know. Shawn pulled his arms out from under him and my back hit the hard ground roughly, knocking the wind out of me. Shawn gave me a knowing look.

“
If you don’t let go of me, I’ll keep doing that.”

“
No you won’t,” a new voice interrupted. “Holly, let go.”

I shook my head. “No, Mr. Heywood, you—”

“
Let him
go
,” he repeated, his tone hard. “Now.”

Reluctantly, I released Shawn from my hold and Mr. Heywood kicked Shawn off me. Shawn rolled, swinging both his legs out, and somehow knocking Mr. Heywood over. He landed half on me, half on Shawn. Shawn got a tight grasp on him, flipping him onto his back. I scrambled out form under his legs, reaching over, and grabbing Shawn’s head. He growled in annoyance, letting go of Mr. Heywood to grab my arm. Mr. Heywood used this chance to right himself. As soon as Shawn shoved me away from him, Mr. Heywood shoved Shawn back to the ground, straddling him. Shawn gave Mr. Heywood a disgruntled look while Mr. Heywood pressed down on Shawn’s collarbone.

“
Are you ready to die?” he asked, moving his hands to Shawn’s throat.

Shawn laughed humorlessly. “You can’t kill me, Chris.”

“
What makes you say that?”

Shawn’s eyes trailed over to me. “Shouldn’t you keep an eye on Holly, too?”

My arms were suddenly tugged behind me, bending backwards painfully. I glanced behind me to see Justin grinning at me. He yanked on my arms harder, making me take a quick inhale of breath.

“
What are you doing?” I heard Mr. Heywood demand.

“
I’ll leave that up to your imagination,” Shawn responded in a wicked tone. “I’ll give you a hint. Remember with the other Holly—”

I turned back to the pair just in time to see Mr. Heywood smash his fist into the side of Shawn’s head. “You’re a bastard,” he growled, grabbing the front of Shawn’s shirt to pull him up, only to punch him down again.

“
Wait!” I called, trying to pull myself free.

He ignored me, continuing to pummel Shawn who lay exposed underneath him. Shawn didn’t even bring up his arms to protect his face. It made me nervous. Why wasn’t Shawn fighting back? Why was he just letting Mr. Heywood batter him? Eventually Mr. Heywood stopped hitting him, relaxing his shoulders.

“
Why aren’t you fighting back?” he asked.

Shawn shrugged, but before he could answer, a loud shout came from behind me. Mr. Heywood’s head snapped towards the noise, but I couldn’t turn to look because Justin still had his hold on me.

“
Shawn! The cops!”

Shawn’s head turned towards the new voice, his face hardening. “What? How?”

“
A little friend named Jeremy,” Mr. Heywood informed him, rolling his eyes. “Did you really think I’d come here unprepared, Shawn?”

Shawn narrowed his eyes. “Shit! We’re out of time. Send out the others.”

My eyes widened. The others? What others? Justin wrenched me around, making me face the old, rundown building. My heart stopped beating when I saw men filing out the broken-down door. There were at least seven of them and they all looked intimidating and ominous.

“
I told you I had backup,” I heard Shawn comment. “I’ll let them take care of you.”

I struggled in Justin’s grasp as the men disappeared from my view, heading towards Shawn and Mr. Heywood. Justin held me tighter, snickering. “I’m not letting you go,” he told me.

I ignored him, twisting as violently as I could. Shawn said something incoherent from behind me, and I heard the first sound of a punch landing in a hand. Then another sound—this time of a punch landing on a chest. I struggled harder, growing frantic. Even if Mr. Heywood was a good fighter, he couldn’t take on eight men at the same time.

“
If you’re that desperate to see your hero get beat up, I’ll let you watch,” Justin said, twisting me around again. “Here.”

My eyes landed on Mr. Heywood, who was being held still by four of the men. The other four men were standing in front of him, looking threatening. Shawn was standing to the side, wiping the blood off his face. I watched in horror as one of the men standing in front of Mr. Heywood brought a fist to his face. Before it landed I turned away, unable to watch.

“
Do you want to count the punches with me?” Justin inquired. “That’s one . . .” There was another smack, making me wince again. “Two.”

Shawn’s voice rose among the noise. “So, Chris, I hope you enjoy jail as much as I did. I’m very aware about the fact that you’ll go back to jail if you were found to be engaging in gang activity.”

My head snapped back to Mr. Heywood just in time to see him get slammed in the face. “Stop it!” I shouted, trying to move towards him. “Mr. Heywood!”

“
Are you going to answer me, Chris?” Shawn asked again, advancing toward where the three men held Mr. Heywood pinned. They moved to the side to let Shawn through. Shawn stopped in front of Mr. Heywood, bringing his head closer to him. He said something I couldn’t hear. Without any warning, Mr. Heywood elbowed two of the men holding him in the face, they both went down, and as they were going down Mr. Heywood smashed them for the second time. Then, before I could blink, he sent his fist straight into Shawn’s jaw, knocking him to the ground. Mr. Heywood then moved forward to attack him again, but all five other men were on him in a flash.

 “
Mr. Heywood!” I screamed as he was knocked to the ground. “No!”

While Mr. Heywood was on the ground, the men surrounding him began to kick him violently. My heart thudded painfully in my chest as I watched him be beaten. I thrashed violently in Justin’s arms, trying to break free.

“
Stop it!” I shrieked again, watching as one of the men aimed a kick to his face. “Please stop!”

No one even glanced at me. Justin chuckled. “You may just get to watch him die.”

“
Shawn! Shawn! Please!”

Still lying on the ground, Shawn turned to me. An amused grin spread across his face. “What? I can’t hear you Holly.”

“
Please, stop them!” I screamed at him, my throat already feeling raw. “Please!”

“
What?”

“
Stop them, Shawn. Please!”

“
What? Hurt him more?” Shawn responded, feigning confusion. “If you say so . . .”

My eyes widened. “No!”

Mr. Heywood let out a groan as someone stomped on his chest. I felt like I was going to be sick.

“
Oh, that looks like it hurts,” Justin commented.

Angrily, I brought back my head to smash it in his chest. He must have had his head down, because I felt my head bang against his jaw. This caused him to relax his grip on me, and I was able to twist out of it. When he went to grab me again, I brought my knee up to his crotch. Instead of him falling down like I expected him to, he grabbed my hair, yanking my head back.

“
You bitch,” he growled, pulling me closer to him.

Once again I forced my head back into him. He groaned in pain, letting me go for the second time. Without hesitating, I burst forward, heading towards the men surrounding Mr. Heywood. I shoved through them, throwing myself on top of Mr. Heywood. One of the men kicked my side, causing me to cry out in pain.

“
Stop it!” I heard Shawn shout. “Don’t hit her!”

Immediately the men backed up, leaving me breathless on top of Mr. Heywood. He stared up at me, his eyes wide. Blood was tricking from the corners of his lips, and there was already a large bruise on top left of his forehead. He shut his eyes for a moment, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.

“
Move,” I heard Shawn order gruffly and a few seconds later there was a pair of legs in front of me. I looked up to see Shawn glaring down at me. “Get up, Holly.”

“
No.”

“
Now.”

I shook my head stubbornly, wrapping my arms around Mr. Heywood. “No.”

Shawn gave me a hard look. “Holly, either you move away from him, or you’re just going to have to get beaten up with him.”

“
I’m not moving,” I told Shawn, holding onto Mr. Heywood harder. “I’m not leaving him.”

Shawn glared at me for another moment before letting out a deep sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell them not to ruin your pretty face. Okay, boys?”

There was a low chuckle throughout the group surrounding us. I shut my eyes, dropping my head onto Mr. Heywood’s chest, preparing myself. The slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed calmed me.

“
Holly,” he whispered in a pained voice. “Don’t—”

“
I’m staying,” I responded stubbornly, feeling my eyes begin to burn. “This is my fault. I’m not letting you do this alone.”

There was the sound of shuffled footsteps as the men came closer to us. I held my breath, waiting for the pain. Before I felt any though, there was a low swear from Shawn. Mr. Heywood turned his head, a relieved expression coming onto his face. My first thought was that the police had come, and I just hadn’t heard their car. I turned too, letting out a sigh of relief. When my eyes landed on Jeremy, Lance, and two other men I didn’t know, my heart stopped.

Each of the men had a gun. Jeremy had his pointed at Shawn, Lance had his pointed at the man closest to me, and the other two men were alternating pointing their guns at the other gang members.

“
Sorry I’m late,” Jeremy commented with a grin. “It took a little time to hunt down the backups.”

Mr. Heywood gave a low chuckle. “You made it just in time.”

“
I thought you said the police were coming!” Shawn shouted at the man closest to me. “Not these guys!”

“
Oh, they police are coming,” Lance assured Shawn with a tough-guy voice. “But we were already five minutes away when we called them.” When Mr. Heywood gave him an annoyed look, he added, “What? There’s bad cell service out this way.”

I stared at Lance in alarm. What was he doing here? Of all the people in the world to bring here, Jeremy brought Lance? Who had been attacked by Shawn before? Who had probably never held a gun before in his life? When Lance noticed I was staring at him, he sent me a small grin.

“
Now,” Jeremy started in an authoritative tone. “Move away from Holly and Chris, or we’ll shoot.”

Immediately the men surrounding us moved backwards, putting up their hands in surrender. Shawn swore again, but also took a few steps away from us. Mr. Heywood gently pushed me off him, climbing to his feet. He then pulled me to my feet, holding me up until I regained my balance. I smoothed out my shirt, wincing as my hand brushed my now bruised side.

Mr. Heywood pulled me to his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me hard. “Holly, don’t ever try to protect me again, okay? I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt again because of me.”

I frowned slightly. “But you were getting hurt because of me . . .”

“
I can handle it though,” Mr. Heywood responded, pulling me away so he could grin at me. “You, on the other hand, are a little more fragile.”

I blushed slightly. Mr. Heywood sighed lightly. “Your blush is so calming, Holly.”

I blushed darker. “What?”

Shawn cleared his throat loudly. “Aren’t you two cute?”

“
I hope you’re ready to go back to jail,” Mr. Heywood said, turning to smirk at Shawn. “Quite the change of events, huh?”

Shawn glared at him. “I should have known you would rely on others to help.”

“
That’s what friends are for,” Mr. Heywood responded with a shrug. “Oh wait. You don’t have friends. You have
followers
. And now your followers are useless.”

Shawn rolled his eyes. “This isn’t over yet.”

“
Yes, it is,” Mr. Heywood responded with an air of finality.

“
Chris!” Jeremy called to Mr. Heywood, his gun still on Shawn. “Do you have anything we can tie these guys up with?”

Mr. Heywood nodded. “Yeah, I have some rope.”

“
Where?”

“
Holly, in the trunk of my car is some rope,” Mr. Heywood told me, nodding towards it.

I nodded, shakily taking a few steps towards his car before bursting into a full out sprint. When I reached the car I quickly popped the trunk, grabbing the rope that was piled up at the bottom of it. I turned back to where Mr. Heywood was, trying to wind the rope up so I wouldn’t trip on it. Mr. Heywood was by Jeremy now, who still had his gun pointed towards Shawn. Lance had moved over to where the two other men I didn’t know were, and together they were keeping an eye on the rest of Shawn’s followers. My eyes swept around for Justin, and I found him passed out on the ground a few feet away from me. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. When had that happened?

“
Holly! The rope!” Jeremy called back to me. “You’re so slow!”

“
I’m coming!” I responded, tossing it over my shoulder and marching towards them. “Jeez! I don’t want it to be tang . . .”

I trailed off, feeling a hand enclose on my upper arm, pulling me to a stop. My eyes widened in surprise, and I turned my head to see Mikey behind me. He sent me a hard look.

“
This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Mikey commented in a low voice. “But now I have no choice.”

Something sharp entered my field of vision as Mikey brought his arm around me. My breath caught in my throat when I felt smooth, cool metal press against my throat. I went rigid, holding my breath tightly.

“
All of you, drop your guns or she gets it,” Mikey threatened.

All four men with guns exchanged concerned looks. I could tell the sight of me being held hostage must have been shocking. Lance lowered his gun a fraction of an inch.