Page 49 of Killer Summer
Without skipping a beat, Lisa stuck out her foot and caught Matt by the shin. He yowled and toppled like a stack of blocks, weighed down by his top-heavy frame. His dark eyes bugged wide in surprise as he crashed into the cabin floor, his knife clattering against the boards. Dani lunged on his back, pinning him with her weight as she held her knife high. Before she had a chance to plunge the blade into his spine, he bucked her off.
“Yee haw!” Matt said. “Oh, darlin’. I’ve been looking forward to this!”
Dani sailed through the air into the kitchen, her ribs cracking against the sharp corner of the table. White hot pain radiated at her side as she gasped, the wind temporarily knocked out of her. She still had her knife, but as Matt wrapped his hand around her ankle, she struggled to regain her strength. He whooped and hollered as she wriggled beneath his grip.
“I always loved a girl who could fight!”
He dragged her along the floor, straddling her torso and pinning her with his suffocating weight. She gagged and breathed in his horrible scent as he positioned himself on top of her, his breath hot in her face. He held his knife under her ribs, wheezing droplets of spittle on her lips.
“We can still be happy together, Dani,” he said. “It isn’t too late.”
“Never,” Dani said. “I’d rather die.”
“Suit yourself.” Matt plunged his knife into her side.
Dani screamed as a searing agony tore through her flesh. Pain. Yes. This was what she deserved. After all this time, her pain on the inside finally was met with pain of the flesh. The ominous memory of Matt Vickers had held her back for over two decades, weighing down almost every aspect of her life. He had taken almost everything from her except for her will to keep going andher desire for revenge. Now as he attempted to take her life, he weighed her down again for what would be the last time.
“Hey, asshole.”
Matt turned his attention away from Dani at the sound of Lisa’s voice. In the struggle, he had either forgotten about the older, unassuming woman, or simply didn’t think she was a threat.
Lisa met his gaze down the barrel of her shotgun. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that ‘no’ means ‘no’?”
He let out a full-chested laugh. “Fuck you, bi—”
Matt gurgled as his dark eyes bugged in surprise. The hilt of Dani’s knife stuck out from the side of his throat like a horizontal ‘T’ as he choked on his own blood. Rivers of hot, thick fluid gushed from his neck onto Dani’s chest as she twisted the knife. The sinews in his throat popped against her blade, his trachea wheezing against the wound as he turned to face her again.
Tommy’s hoodie soaked up rivers of red as Matt bled out on top of her. Dani kept her gaze fixed on his, never looking away for a moment. She held on and watched, never blinking as his body convulsed and grew limp. She didn’t even breathe, holding her ground, bleeding him dry until the light dimmed from his eyes. She waited until she was certain that he was really and truly dead before pulling the knife out of his neck and shoving his body off.
“Dani!” Lisa dropped the shotgun and reached down to help her up. “You okay?”
“He stabbed me,” Dani said. “I think he might have punctured a lung. You?”
“Nah. I’m a tough old bird,” Lisa chuckled. “I think my ankle is a little twisted, that’s all.”
“Good.” Lisa helped Dani to her feet. “He’s dead, right?”
Dani delivered a swift kick to Matt’s ribs. He didn’t move. A circle of black blood spread beneath his face. “Yep.”
“Let me see that wound,” Lisa said.
Dani pulled the blood-soaked hoodie over her head, then moved her t-shirt aside to assess the damage. The cut looked bad but could have been much worse. She pressed the hoodie against her bleeding side and winced.
“I think my lucky hoodie saved me again,” Dani said, a ball of regret forming in her throat. “Thanks, Tommy.”
“I almost had to shoot that fucker in the face,” Lisa chuckled. “I knew you would want to finish the job though.”
“Thanks,” Dani said. “I love you, Aunt Lisa.”
“I love you too, girl.”
The wail of sirens echoed through the dawn as the sun rose above the forested mountain range. Dani and Lisa walked, arms linked, out of the cabin and down the driveway to meet the police. Dani knew there would be a lot of questions, a lot of interviews and news cameras. A lot of digging up the past again. But for now, Dani knew that so long as Matt Vickers was dead, she could finally rest. Dani Kincaid was back, and her life could finally begin again.
Nine Months Later
“This gall darn thing. Dani, sweetie, can you adjust my umbrella? It keeps on closing.”
Dani smiled and stood from her beach chair. The air smelled of salt and sunshine, coconut sunscreen and sweat. It had been a long time since she had enjoyed a beach vacation, and she couldn’t have asked for a better travel partner than her aunt.
