Page 78 of One Quick Obsession

Ronin’s fist connected with my jaw, and I twisted, kicking at the man.

“She’s mine. You asshole. Don’t you see? You Cages think you know everything, but now you’re not going to get anything. You have nothing.”

Scarlett screamed again, and fear etched its way onto my soul as I elbowed Ronin in the gut and continued to try to get through him. Flynn was there, pulling Ronin off me, but then my twin froze, hands raised.

“You don’t need to do that, Ronin.”

That’s when Ronin staggered forward, gun in hand.

“But I really do. She ruined everything. She got me fired. My family hates me. Nobody will have me. So now nobody gets to have her.”

I stood up, as Ronin swayed, gun in hand, but I knew if I wasn’t quick enough, we were going to be too late to save Scarlett. And I’d be damned if I lost someone else.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Flynn move. I wanted to tell him to stop where he was, that I could handle this, but Ronin lifted his gun towards me and fired.

Everything moved so quickly, but as the body slammed into me once again, and I rammed into the ground, Flynn let out a shout.

Scrambling, I stood up and slammed my fist into Ronin’s jaw.

The other man staggered back and fell, the gun dangerously swaying from his hands. I took the gun, tossed it away, and continued to ram my fist into Ronin’s face.

When Ronin finally stopped moving, though his chest rose and fell, telling me he was at least alive, I forced myself to stand up and look towards my brother, hoping to hell I hadn’t just lost the other half of me.

Flynn lay on the ground, clutching his leg. “I’m fine. I swear.” He gasped, his face deathly pale.

I reached out, knowing Flynn needed me, as Scarlett’s scream echoed through the air once again, and I turned towards the burning building. As Flynn gave me a nod, I pushed my way through the door, into the smoke, knowing I would be too late. For us both.

Chapter Eighteen

Scarlett

The rope dug into my wrists, as smoke began to fill the side of the house. Ronin had dragged me to the old Ackerman place, and I still couldn’t catch up. My thoughts kept blending, and I knew the blood seeping down my face meant whatever cut he’d added there when he’d hit me, hadn’t stopped bleeding. I didn’t think I had a concussion, but for all I knew, it was worse than I allowed myself to believe.

The place Hudson had bought was still somewhat erect. Though half of it had been destroyed in the mudslide, the other half had been torn apart while they had done their best to save as much of the materials as possible. Ronin had found the dirtiest place of it all and tied my arms around one of the metal poles that were keeping the roof up. At least that’s what I thought the point of those were. Honestly I couldn’t quite figure it out, and as smoke continued to fill the room, everything hurt, and I knew I needed to get out of here soon. If not, I was going to die of smoke inhalation long before the flames hit.

Coughing once again, I tugged on the rope, using whatever strength I had to pull and try to make a way out of here.

Nobody knew I was here. Nobody knew that I was going to die in a place filled with memories that everybody kept burying. And they should. Hudson was going to make this place full of life and love and happiness, now I was going to die within its walls.

And he would blame himself for not being there. Because after everything that had happened, we had needed a moment to breathe, because we trusted and loved each other enough for that. And I was going to die here, weak and unable to protect myself, because I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the tightening rope.

I tugged on the binds again, trying to get myself loose. No one was going to save me. I needed to do it myself.

“Come on. You can do this. Why can’t I be like one of those people in an action movie that always has a knife or a shard of glass on them, even in their pajamas?” I coughed again, the room beginning to heat up. Sweat and blood leaked down my temples as I continued to work on the ropes, rubbing them at the corner edge of the hole. It wasn’t going to be enough. There were no jagged parts of the metal for the rope to snag on, and I couldn’t break my wrist or dislocate my thumb or do anything that an action star would be able to figure out.

I was going to die. Ronin was going to have the last word after all, and I was going to die here.

I would never forgive myself for what this was going to do to Hudson. Because I knew that he would never let himself feel again.

Damn Ronin. Damn this house, and damn everything.

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the room, and the forest, and I froze, smoke seeping through the walls.

I coughed again, my nose itching, eyes burning. “Hudson!” I screamed.

Because it had to be him out there. I just knew it. Who else would Ronin be shooting at in this moment? Maybe I was delusional, maybe it was the smoke, but Hudson had to be out there. We had saved each other before, maybe we could figure out how to do it again. I tugged harder, twisting my arms to try to create friction. A few strands began to unravel, and tears streamed down my face as I continued to pull, kicking at the bottom of the pole to try to get it loose. The flames were getting higher, and the roar of them echoed through my brain.

I wasn’t going to die here. I couldn’t die here. I wouldn’t let Ronin have the satisfaction. I shoved again, pushing and shouting.