When Stars Collide (Light in the Dark #2) (33 page)

My mom’s footsteps sound on the steps behind me, and I immediately turn away from the window. Too late, though.

“What were you looking at?” she asks, trying to see behind me and out the window. 

She looks better than she has in a long time. Her hair is fuller and bouncy, her face isn’t so sallow, and her eyes have a brightness in them now. She looks
happy
.

“Nothing,” I say quickly. She gives me a look, so I quickly lie. “The woman across the street is watering her plants.”

Apparently, this explanation still isn’t good enough, because she pushes around me and moves the curtain to peer out. She immediately hisses and rears back like she’s been burned. 

“What’s he doing here?” she seethes. “Why can’t he leave me alone?”

I snort. “Probably because he likes control and he’s lost all of it, so he’s trying to gain it back.”

She lifts her chin defiantly. “I’m going to talk to him.”

“No, Mom, please don’t.” I grab her arm, but she shakes out of my hold. “He’s not worth it.”

“I want him to sign the damn papers so I can be done with this.” She makes a cutting motion through the air with her arms 

“That’s probably why he’s here. I’m sure getting those didn’t go over well.”

“He needs to let this go.” She reaches for the door. 

“Mom,” I plead again. “Don’t.”

She doesn’t listen, and I let out an exasperated breath.

I step out on the front steps and watch her head to his car. When he sees her, he steps out and stalks forward, looming above her. I always thought he used his height to his advantage in trying to make us feel afraid. It’s funny, because Xander’s tall, but he’s never made me feel anything but protected.

“I want to talk to you about these. This is fucking bullshit,” he spits, holding out the stack of papers. “A
divorce
? We’re not getting a divorce. You’ve made your point, now come back home.”

“I’m not coming back home, Malcolm,” she says softly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Anger flares in his eyes. Beside me, Prue slips out the half open door and sits next to me.

“Get in the car,” he snaps. “We’re going
home
.” He grabs her arm, his fingers digging into her skin.

“No,” she argues. “I told you, I’m not going back. Sign the damn papers,” she snaps, fighting back as she tries to wiggle out of his hold.

I move down another step, edging closer and closer.

“Stupid, bitch, you—”

I’ve heard enough and I stalk over to where they argue by his car. 

“Let her go,” I say coldly.

His head whips toward me and his nostrils flare. “
You
,” he hisses. “You caused this. You ruined everything.”

Before I see it coming, he backhands me across the face. My jaw throbs and my skin stings as my eyes water.

My mom lets out a squeak. “Go in the house,” she tells me.

“Not without you.” I grab her hand. To my dad, I say, “You need to leave.”

“Like hell.”

Mom and I start back for the house, our feet moving quick enough that we’re practically sprinting. 

We’re not fast enough.

Before we can close the door he’s
there
, pushing his way through. I scream when he forces the door open and it rams into my back, shoving me into a wall. I fall to the floor, my head banging against the wall as I go down, and my mom looks at me with a horrified expression. 

“Run!” I yell at her. He wants her, not me. 

Thankfully, she does, taking off through the kitchen and around the corner. I pray that she can get into a room and barricade herself from him. 

He spares me a glance as he takes off after her and that look? It promises a hell of a lot of hurt and pain. 

I hear my mom scream, and I wince, but I have to pick myself up off the floor. This isn’t the best place to be. 

I need to hide.

My whole body hurts from the fall, though, and now there’s a ringing in my ears from where he hit me.

My heart pounds like a vicious drum, like it’s counting down how many beats I have left and that
terrifies
me. This can’t be the end. 

I crawl up the steps and drag my body into my bedroom. 

“Phone,” I mutter. “Where’s my phone?”

Downstairs. It’s downstairs on the couch. 

“No, no, no, no,” I chant.

I pick my body up off the floor and lock my door.

From somewhere in the house, I hear a scream again, and a bang that sounds all too much like a gun shot. 

I drop to the floor and everything disappears.

Fear holds me prisoner the whole drive and my knuckles are white where I grasp the wheel. When I reach the house, I park half on the driveway and half on the street and immediately jump out of the truck. I was exhausted only an hour ago, but now my body is hard-wired with adrenaline, and I feel like I could take on anything.

It’s obvious that my gut instinct of something being wrong was, in fact, right.

Malcolm’s car is still here, but he’s not.

The tinkling of a dog collar has me looking down and I find Prue staring up at me, and that’s
definitely
not normal. 

I take off running for the front door, which is
open
.

Each of my heartbeats seems to be chanting
Thea, Thea, Thea
and I know I have to get to her. 

I pause, listening to the soft sounds of the house. Everything is eerily silent and that’s the scariest part and I hope to God I’m not too late. 

I head down the hall and glance in the kitchen. A bowl is knocked on the floor and fruit is scattered around, but other than that, it seems undisturbed.

Further down the hall I go, my steps as quiet as possible.

I poke my head into the bathroom. 

Empty.

The wave of panic grows even bigger inside me.

There’s only one room left.

The laundry room.

The door is cracked open slightly and I place my hand on the cool wood and push.

It swings open.

I brace myself for what I might find.

Malcolm Montgomery lies on the floor in a pool of blood and Lauren stands above him, the gun shaking in her hands. She raises it, pointing it at me, and I lift my hands in surrender.

“Lauren, it’s me, Xander,” I say softly. Her face is wet with tears, her hair matted from struggle, and there’s blood coming from her arm. I can’t tell whether it’s a cut or she was shot too.

“Is he dead?” she asks, her voice wobbling.

I bend down and the blood makes a squishing sound when I step in it. I’ve never been one to be queasy but my stomach is rolling.

I bend down and press my fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse. “He’s still alive for now.” I stand back up again and hold my hand out to Lauren. “Give me the gun.”

“I’m not going to go to jail, am I?” she sobs. “H-He came after
me
. I-I did what I had to do.” 

“You’re not going to jail,” I tell her, even though I have no idea when it comes to this kind of thing. “Did he shoot you?” I point to her bleeding arm.

“I-I don’t remember,” she sniffles, and finally,
thankfully
, gives me the gun.

“Come on,” I tell her, trying to take her hand. “You don’t need to stay in here.”

“I shouldn’t have gone outside,” she mumbles, chin shaking as she holds back tears. “He hurt Thea.”

My body goes cold. “Where is Thea?”

After walking in on this bloody mess I completely forgot that I haven’t found Thea.

“I don’t know,” she sobs. “She told me to run, so I did. I messed up again. I’m a bad mom. I never do the right thing. I should’ve protected her. I should’ve—” She buries her face in her hands and sobs and anything said after that becomes gibberish. 

I give up trying to get Lauren out of the laundry room and my sole mission becomes finding Thea. 

I drop the gun on the kitchen table and head upstairs, straight to her room.

The door is locked. 

“Thea?” I bang on it, shaking the knob.

No sound.

Oh, God
.

I feel like I might be sick, but I have to keep my head on straight. I go to my room, and the door is open, so is the one to the bathroom. I head straight through and grab the knob of the one leading into Thea’s room. If she was smart she locked this one too.

But the knob twists beneath my hand and I open the door to find Thea lying on the floor.

I rush to her, expecting to find her covered in blood, but she’s surprisingly unscathed.

I shake her slightly and her eyes flutter open. She doesn’t realize it’s me at first and screams, trying to get away from me.

“Thea,” I whisper her name, and she recognizes my voice. “Everything’s okay.”

All the fight goes out of her and she breaks down crying, crawling into my arms and wrapping her arms around me.

“I thought I was going to die,” she confesses against my neck and my heart stops.

Hearing the person you love say they thought they were going to die feels like a kick to the gut, coupled with the fact that she could have. I hope she knows I’m not letting her leave my sight ever again.

I wrap my arms around her and inhale the scent of her shampoo. 

“I almost lost you,” I mumble. Tears burn my eyes. I can’t even remember the last time I cried, but if there was any moment that warranted tears it’s this one. 

“I heard a gunshot,” she says. “And I thought this was it. I thought he was coming for me next and I was going to die and kept thinking about how much I love you and how this wasn’t enough time and how I do want to have your baby.”

I laugh and pull her back so I can see her face. “Faced with death, you think about a baby?”

“Well, yeah. I might not want one now, but someday, and I thought I was going to be robbed of that experience. What happened?”

I shake my head. “All I know is your mom shot your dad, but I don’t know the details.”

“Wow,” she whispers. “I didn’t know she had it in her.”

“Me either,” I agree, brushing my fingers through her hair. I don’t want to stop looking at her or touching her. It reminds me that she’s here and she’s safe.

“I love you,” I tell her. 

“I love you too.” Her eyes fill with tears and she kisses me. Our tears mingle together, but neither of us mind. She’s okay—she’s
safe
, and that’s all that matters. 

Downstairs, I hear Cade and I call to him that we’re up here.

His feet pound loudly on the steps and then he curses when he tries to open the door and can’t.

“Open the door,” he yells.

“Go through my room.”

I can hear him hurry to my door and I see him through the open bathroom doors.

“Is she okay?” he calls, looking us over for any signs of harm.

I nod. “She’s fine.”

Thea lifts her head from my shoulder and looks at her brother. “I’m okay, promise. Just shaken. It all happened so fast, but it felt like forever,” she mumbles.

“Where’s mom?” Cade asks. “Did you check downstairs? Is he still in here?” He suddenly crouches down like he thinks his dad is going to come flying out from somewhere at him.

“Your mom’s downstairs. She’s pretty frightened. She … she shot him. I don’t know anything other than that.”

Cade’s lips part with shock. “She
shot
him? My scared, meek little mother
shot
him?”

“Hey, just telling you what I saw.”

Cade shakes his head, baffled. “How’d she even get a gun?”

“Dude, I don’t know. And we need to call the cops.”

“Right.” He nods. “I’ll do that and I’ll check things out with Mom. Was … was he dead?”

I shake my head. “Not while I was there. There was a lot of blood, so that might’ve changed.”

Cade swallows thickly and nods. “I can’t believe this happened,” he whispers.

“Believe it,” I say. “Men like your dad are capable of anything. Breaking into a house and terrorizing people is nothing to someone like him.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He shakes his head again and unlocks her door. His boots pound against the stairs as he runs down.

Thea’s hands are ice cold where they touch my skin and she begins to shake uncontrollably. I’m pretty sure she’s going into shock.

“Thea?” I rub my hands up and down her arms, trying to create some friction. “Are you okay?” She nods woodenly. “You’re scaring me,” I tell her.