“I know exactly what this is all about. I’ve been watching you, and don’t you fucking lie to me. I know the fucking truth. I put cameras in your house, Jules. And I saw him . . .” He shakes his gun toward Mack again. “I saw this fucking freak walk in here like he fucking owns the place! Touching you and . . . and . . .”
“You put cameras in my apartment? Jason, what the fuck?” The reactionary words come out of me before I can stop them.
Jason scowls. “Yeah, that’s right. I can do whatever the fuck I want in this city, and what’re you gonna do to stop me? Call the police? I’ve got the law on my side. I got a key to your place too. I’ve been coming in and out of here for years now. Keeping an eye on you. And everything was going great until . . . until you started leaving.”
It never occurred to me that my locks were only keeping me locked in. They weren’t keeping others locked out.
I shake my head and grasp Mack’s hand when I feel him shifting to move.
I know Mack is strong, but there’s not a chance I’m going to let him try to take on a crazed man with a gun.
“Okay, that’s a lot of information to process,” I say, trying to keep things light. New strategy. “Why don’t you put the gun down, and we can talk about it?”
But Jason shakes his head. “Nah, we’re not gonna talk about shit. Move the fuck out of the way, Jules. Because I’m about to blow this fucking monster’s head off. You’ll thank me later.”
Then, Mack touches my hand, giving me the most imperceptible shake of his head.
He’s going to fight.
“No!” I shout.
But he’s already jumped into action, his muscles rippling as he springs into the air. The graceful arc of a shark taking out his prey.
He lands on Jason, and they slam to the ground, a struggle for the gun.
Shots fire, and I fall to the ground.
I lift my arm from over my eyes. He’s hit him.
“No . . .” I whimper.
He’s laid out. Blood splattered. Mack with a bullet right through his chest. Jason with his gun.
I always knew he would use that gun.
I’m shivering. Shattered inside.
But I’m not fucking going out this way.
“Jason.” My voice is like nails on a chalkboard. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.”
When I stand as if I have no fear, he looks surprised. He wasn’t expecting that. He lifts his gun, hands shaking, but then he thinks better of it, drops it, and runs.
“You’re not getting away!” I yell.
I run past the table and grab something off it. Before Jason can even get to my door, I leap on top of him, colliding with his body, my arms tight around his neck like a vise.
I really am stronger than before.
It’s the transformation. I know it is.
I tighten my hands over the little keychain I grabbed from the table, the one with the spike.
He trips off balance, and I kick the side of his ribs until he’s on the ground.
The next moves are purely on instinct. There’s no time to weigh the pros and cons of my actions.
There’s only life or death.
And I choose life.
But for him, it’s going to be death.
With all the force I can muster, I swing my hand back and then bring it down against the side of his neck, hitting hard. The tip of the spike on my keychain punctures his neck. I yank it back out. The sensation makes me sick, but blood spurts from him.
“Ugh . . . ghmmm.” He makes gurgling sounds, a rattle, actually.
I’m out of breath. I stare at the keychain in my hand.
Fuck. But it doesn’t matter. None of this matters. What matters is Mack. Mack bleeding out on my bathroom floor, filled with bullets.
I snatch up my phone from the table and give one little goodbye glance toward Bug, my crab in my fish tank. I hope I see him again someday but somehow I doubt it. I rush back to Mack in the bathroom. He’s trying to get up, but he can’t. Red blood trickles down his wounds, his thigh, his shoulder . . . his heart. Visible. God, it better not be his fucking heart.
I’m no longer afraid. I’m not a coward. I’m going to save him.
I kneel down to him. “We have thirty-five minutes and”—I look at my phone—“twenty-three seconds until the portal opens.”
He weakly shakes his head. “It’s over, Jules. We’ll never make it in time. I’m not gonna—”
