A Redo (Sterling Shore 6)

“You bitch!” the crazy bastard yells, but we’re already to the door, and I’m punching in the code with shaky fingers, tingling all over when it beeps and opens.

Tria falls in, and I go to slam the door, but the psycho shoves against the door before it latches. It takes all my strength to shove it back, keeping him outside, and it becomes a battle back and forth.

“Bat!” I yell to Tria, pointing, praying my adrenaline keeps pumping so I have the strength to hold him back.

Tria grabs Angel’s bat from against the wall, and she finds it in her to run, even though she’s in so much pain. She swings the bat through the narrow crack, connecting loudly with something that cracks.

Another roar of pain sounds out just as the door gives, slamming shut, and I lock it with both locks, praying Ray is right about it keeping out a battering ram. The second the thump hits on the other side, I wonder if it’s his shoulder or his foot.

Then it grows quiet, nothing but my alarm is sounding, but it’s not exactly piercing eardrums.

I glance outside to see him in his truck, trying to crank it. I don’t know if he’s going to drive it through the house or drive away, but fortunately, the thing won’t start. The front end is smashed after destroying the rear of Tria’s car.

Silence outside descends again as he disappears into the shadows. I watch, searching for any movement, but there’s nothing.

“Maybe he left,” I say to Tria, and I go to help her up. She cries out in pain when I try to shift her, and I lift her shirt to see the dark bruises forming on her side where he kicked her.

“We need to get you to a hospital,” I say, cursing when I realize my phone is still in the car and we don’t have a landline.

The alarm is buzzing on the wall, though. That means help is coming.

“Watch out!” Tria screams, trying to tug me down just as the bald-headed menace slams a crowbar against my living room window. I scream reflexively, expecting a shatter.

Nothing. It doesn’t even crack the glass. What the hell kind of glass did Ray Capperton put in here?

He slams the crowbar again, but this time I don’t jump. I just watch him swing over and over, like a bird trying to fly through a sliding glass door, and I take an easy breath.

My heart is pounding, and my wounded head keeps the same rhythm with its throb. “You’re dead!” the asshole yells, slamming the crowbar against the window again as he glares at Tria, murder definitely promised in his eyes.

Each strike has him breathing harder, his cheeks puffing out as he exchanges old air for new air. But the window holds. He moves to the door, slamming the metal against it in quick repetition, but again, nothing happens.

Right now, Ray Capperton is my favorite person in all the world.

Sirens wail in the distance just as several tires screech to a halt. I watch in awe as groups of men leap out of dark SUVs and rush toward Pete. They’re all in tactical gear with Capperton written across their chests.

Pete tries to run, but they tackle him with little effort. More tires scream, and I catch a glimpse of blonde hair before Kode Sterling is suddenly charging across the yard.

“Let me go!” he roars when two of the men start fighting and holding him back. “Let me go! I’m going to fucking kill him. Let me the fuck go!”

Tria limps to the door, unlocking it and swinging it open, and her voice cracks when she chokes out, “Kode!”

The look in his eyes changes from fury to complete horror when his eyes fall on her. She stumbles outside, clutching her side. The men in black release him, and he runs to Tria, scooping her up as he soothes her.

Cops are suddenly everywhere, coming to take over, and paramedics are right behind them. I sit down, letting them do their jobs, and I don’t argue when they tell me I need to go to the hospital.

I’m so numb right now that this time I don’t flinch when my forehead is touched.

In no time, I’m loaded on the back of the ambulance, and my whole body chills as the adrenaline tries to finally leave me to face the trauma of the night on my own.

Chapter 37

WREN

Dane’s number flashes across my phone as I wind around another road, still searching for Tria and Allie. I answer, hoping he’s heard from Kode.

“Dane, have you—”

“Wren, how far are you from the hospital?” he asks calmly.

“About five minutes. Why? What’s happened?” I ask, turning toward Sterling Memorial.

“Don’t freak out. Listen to everything I say without freaking out, okay?”

My blood slowly chills as dread creeps in. “Dane, you’re already freaking me out. What the hell is going on? Did something happen?” I demand, pushing the gas harder and driving through the yellow light seconds before it turns red.