Rock Chick 03 Redemption (32 page)

Indy and I looked at each other, and, in unison, our heads moved and we looked over our shoulders at the chainsaw man who was coming toward us.

“Run!” I shouted.

At that point, it was every woman for herself.

Indy and I pushed off each other. She went to one side, I went to the other. I was watching her when I felt my feet hit something soft. The edges of the field were made out of foam rubber. I bounced off it and fel to my knees jarring my ribs, my breath stil gone but nevertheless, I was twittering like an idiot. I got up and ran, hel bent, toward Indy.

She’d made it a lot further, but then a monster jumped in front of her. She went sideways to avoid him, hit another patch of rubber and bounced off it, went down rol ing, straight into the monster.

He toppled over her and it looked like they started wrestling. Indy was out of control screaming and struggling, half-terrified, half-laughing. The monster was hindered by a big costume that was a lot of shredded material. They swiftly got al tangled up, a flurry of arms, legs and costume.

I stopped dead and bent over laughing, holding my stomach, giggling so hard I was pretty certain I was going to pee my pants. I should have helped but I couldn’t. It was simply too damned funny watching Indy and the monster rol ing around in the dirt like that.

Then I was tackled.

I went down, hard.

I was stunned and winded, the fal jarred my ribs and it hurt. The arms around me were strong and not messing around. I couldn’t imagine the monsters were al owed to touch you, much less tackle you. Maybe we were in trouble for running around like crazy people. Maybe we were being ejected.

I struggled, turned and stil ed at what I saw.

Bil y had me.

Shit!

I screamed, not a giggly scream, a real one and it pierced the night, fil ed with genuine terror.

“Shut the fuck up,” he got up, yanking me with him.

No way.

No fucking way.

This wasn’t going to happen to me again.

And anyway, he’d screwed my chances with Hank. I
wanted
Hank. Hank was the best thing that had ever happened to me in my whole, stinking life.

Fuck Bil y.

I reared back and punched him in the face.

It hurt my hand, like a lot but, when he staggered back, I didn’t hesitate.

I turned and ran.

Indy had come untangled with the monster but he was rol ing around, stil tied up in his costume. Indy was on her hands and knees, looking up at me, face pale. She’d heard my scream.

She looked back toward where Bil y was.

I skidded to a halt next to her.

“Bil y!” I yel ed, hauling her up. “Let’s go!” We ran, together, holding hands. We got around a corner, another one, into another scene with some hay bales.

Bil y caught up with us and did another flying tackle. We al went down and rol ed around in bales, both Indy and I fighting, kicking, scratching.

“Hey! What’re you doing?” A monster came up and yanked Bil y off of us.

Bil y whirled around and nailed him in the nose.

“Hey!” the monster shouted again, but it was muffled as his hands went to his nose.

Indy didn’t wait, she tugged me along and I heard a scuffle behind us as the monster kept on Bil y.

We ran through more trail, straight by monsters and entered a house. Bil y caught up with us there. He pul ed Indy away from me, threw her aside and she went flying. He picked me up, starting up some dark stairs, half-carrying me, half-pushing me.

When we were halfway up, Indy attacked him from behind. He took the blow of her body hitting him ful force, his body jerking forward. He dropped me and I fel on the stairs, my lower back crashing against the edge of a stair, my elbows slamming into a stairwel .

Bil y spun around and caught Indy with his arm. She fel back down the stairs and I watched her tumble down.

I got up, clawing at Bil y to get around him to Indy.

“
No!
” I shouted.

He kept pushing me up the stairs.

We entered a scene at the top with strobe lights, a surgical table, fake blood everywhere, fake severed hands and legs dangling from the ceiling on chains and a man in a bloody lab coat. He came at us to scare us but stopped when I planted my feet and rushed Bil y, catching him in the bel y with my shoulder and sending him sprawling back against a wal . I pul ed back and started pummel ing him.

“You…” I hit him in the face, “Are…” I hit him with my other hand, “Not…” I hit him again, this time, in the body,

“Gonna…” I hit him again, “Hurt…” I punched him in the jaw,

“
My friends!
”

I was wild.

Bil y was cowering to try and protect himself from my raining blows.

The bloody surgeon yanked me off him.

“What the heck…?” he started to say but didn’t finish.

Carl came barreling up the stairs at the same time the head of security came into the room through the exit.

Bil y saw them, pushed off the wal , tore through the bloody surgeon and me and took off, not back to the stairs, not through the doorway at the end, but he threw himself out a window.

The bloody surgeon ran to the window, Carl and the security guy ran to the door, I ran to Indy.

She was halfway up the stairs. Al y was with her.

“Are you okay?” I asked when I got to her.

“Fine,” Indy replied.

I stopped, realizing my body was in ful tremble and I was struggling to catch my breath.

“Are you okay?” I asked again, staring at her.

She took me into her arms. “Honey, I’m fine.” I kept trembling.

“You sure you’re okay?” I asked again, tears in my voice, tears burning my eyes, tears crawling up my throat.

Al y’s arms came around us both.

“I’m fine, perfectly fine,” Indy assured me.

I kept trembling.

“Shh, girl. You’re safe,” Al y whispered.

The lights came on and we stood there. We heard footsteps and then the others were there. Annette joined the huddle then I felt Jet burrow in. I don’t know how we did it but we managed to do a group hug on the narrow stairs.

Al except Daisy and Jason.

“God fucking
dammit
,” I heard Jason yel .

“What the fuck good are you!” Daisy shouted at her bodyguard.

I ignored them and held on to my friends, crying and trembling.

trembling.

* * * * *

Shamus came at us but before he could do his doggie welcome, Hank commanded, “Stay!”

Shamus skidded to a halt and sat, his doggie head swinging in confusion back and forth between the two humans.

Hank pul ed me inside, locked the door and walked me into the kitchen. Only then did he drop my hand.

He went to the light switch.

I went to the freezer.

I grabbed a towel and put ice in it and then put it on my hand.

After he turned on the light, Hank shrugged off his jacket and threw it over a dining room chair, gave Shamus a head scratch and then walked to me. He stopped close, then his hand came up and he pul ed something from my hair. It came back down and there was a piece of straw between his fingers.

“Wrestling in the hay bales,” I said, staring at the piece of straw.

When I looked to Hank, his mouth was tight.

Bil y escaped. It wasn’t hard. It was pandemonium; people everywhere, mil ing about and not knowing what was going on as the lights had come up. He’d easily slipped away.

They closed early and the cops came. I talked to the people who ran the haunted house, including the guy who was head of security. Carl had already told them my story and they were kind and understanding. It was close to closing anyway, they promised me, no harm done. They seemed more worried about me than anything. The monster who got hit in the nose had only had it bloodied, not broken.

Malcolm and Detective Marker came together and got there quickly, using a Kojak light.

Malcolm walked right up to me, kissed the side of my head, then put his arm around my waist and didn’t let go. I was leaning into him when Hank arrived.

Hank came up to us interrupting our conversation, pul ed me away from his father, turned me into his arms and held me, tight. “How’re your ribs?” he asked.

I nodded that they were okay but didn’t answer verbal y. I was lost in his arms, taking what I could, wrapping my own around him.

The rest of the interview went on with Hank’s arms around me and my cheek resting against his shoulder.

Lee and Eddie showed simultaneously. There were a lot of meaningful glances with glittering angry eyes between the men.

Indy went home with Lee, Jet with Eddie, Al y went back with Carl. I gave Indy, Jet and Al y hugs before they went.

Daisy took Annette and Jason back. Hank and I walked them to the limo. People were standing around it, staring at Daisy like she was an unknown rock star, likely mistakenly thinking this fuss and muss was about her. I gave out more hugs and they left. Daisy and Jason stil looked pissed.

Annette looked worried.

Hank put me in his 4Runner and we drove home without a word exchanged between us, both of us lost in our thoughts.

There, in his kitchen, I looked at Hank.

“He could have hurt Indy,” I said.

“Yeah, but he didn’t,” Hank replied.

“He could have.”

“He didn’t.”

“Hank –”

“Let me tel you something about Indy.”

I closed my eyes and looked away.

“Look at me, Sunshine.”

I opened them and looked back.

“You said you’d die, you’d go with him, before you let anyone get hurt. Remember that?” Hank asked.

I nodded.

“There’s no way in hel India Savage would let that happen.”

“I barely know her,” I whispered.

“You’re wrong about that,” his arms slid around me. “You know her because she’s just like you,” he said.

That was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me.

Tears fil ed my eyes.

“Whisky,” my voice broke on his name and I shoved my face in his chest. I dropped the ice on the floor and clutched onto his sweater at either side of my face.

Then it hit me and it hit me hard. I pushed away, out of his arms and stomped my foot. “
That fucking asshole!
” I screamed.

Shamus woofed.

My eyes turned to the dog. He was standing at the edge of the cabinets, his body tense, staring at me.

“Sorry Shamus,” I said.

At his name, his tail started wagging and he came and pressed against me. I leaned down to give him a body rub and picked up the ice. I tossed it underhand into the sink and kept rubbing Shamus’s body but looked up at Hank.

“I’m going to fucking
kill
that motherfucker,” I announced.

Hank stared down at me.

“He pushed Indy down the stairs,” I continued.

“Roxie, calm down.”

“I’m not going to fucking calm down. I’m going to hunt that bastard down and murder him.”

“Oh fuck,” Hank rocked back on his heels, his eyes went to the ceiling, his hands went to his hips.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothin’.”

“What?” I asked, louder.

His eyes came back to me. “You aren’t huntin’ anyone down.”

“Wel … no,” I said, staring at him like he was crazy. “I was just saying that because I’m mad as hel . I wouldn’t begin to know how to hunt him down.”

“Let me handle it,” he said.

“Okay.”

“Seriously.”

I straightened from the Shamus Body Rub and Shamus sat on my feet.

“I said okay.”

“Indy comes to you with any bright ideas, you say, I’m handling it.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Jet, Daisy, my fuckin’ sister, come to you with grand schemes, you tel them I’m handling it.”

“Okay,” I repeated, my brows drawing together, thinking maybe he’d gone a little round the bend. “Whisky, are you al right?”

“I know how those women work. You want to get even with Flynn, you’re angry and they’l talk you into it.”

“Hank, I said I wasn’t going to –”

“It won’t even seem that way. They’l make it seem like it’s
your
idea.”

“Whisky.”

“Tex either.”

Good God.

“Hank, I said
oh…kay.
”

“Promise me.”

Jeez!

“Hank!”

“Just do it, Sunshine.”

I sighed. He
had
gone round the bend.

“Okay, I promise.”

He stared at me a beat then he took in a breath. Then, his fingers slid into my hair on either side of my head and his fingers slid into my hair on either side of my head and he did a little shake. Pieces of straw came out, not a lot, four or five and I watched them float down.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I watched the straw settle on his tiled floor.

He used his hands on my head to tilt it up to face him. “I don’t want to hear you say you’re sorry again.” He didn’t say this nice or sweet. He said it angry.

I swal owed and stared.

Then I said, “Hank?”

His hands went to the sides of my neck. “You aren’t the cause of this, Flynn is. Got me?”

I nodded.

“I’m not angry at you. I’m just angry,” he said.

“Okay,” I said, for like the bil ionth time in the last five minutes.

He moved on to another subject and I had to admit, I was relieved.

“How’s your hand?”

“It hurts like a mother,” I told him.

I watched as his anger slid away and he smiled at me. I smiled back. We shared a moment of happiness at the thought of me getting my own back, even a little bit, with Bil y. His arms came around me and he pul ed me to him, his hands drifting down my back, fitting my body to his.