The Way Beyond by Eliana West

Author:Eliana West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781954894532
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2021-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

It was the gunshot that made him jump out of his chair. The sound of breaking glass had him running toward Mae’s apartment a second later. He didn’t bother to see if the door was unlocked, ramming his shoulder against the wood.

Mae was standing in her kitchen, staring at the window with wide eyes.

“Get down!” he shouted, charging toward her. He pulled her to the ground just as another shot rang out.

“Stay down,” he ordered.

His senses heightened, his ears straining, listening for another shot as he crawled to the light switch and plunged the room into darkness. Moving back to Mae, he grabbed her and held her against his chest, shielding her with his body while he slid them both across the floor to the door and out of her apartment into the hall. Her entire body trembled against his as he pulled her into his lap, checking her over for any sign that she’d been injured.

Reid came flying down the stairs. “Are you okay?”

“Can you grab a blanket?”

Reid nodded and started back toward the stairs.

“And call for backup, call Isiah,” Jacob called out.

“Got it.”

Jacob trusted Reid would understand and reach out to Dan. He turned his attention back to Mae.

“Are you hurt anywhere, baby?”

“I… I…” She looked at him with wide eyes, her lips pale.

He rubbed her arms. “You’re in shock.”

Reid came back with a blanket and tucked it around Mae. That’s when Jacob noticed she was wearing his shirt. He fingered the worn flannel, somehow grateful that she was wearing it as if it protected her when he wasn’t there. He closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath, refusing to think about what could have happened if he hadn’t been there or worse if he hadn’t gotten to her in time.

“I was just making dinner, I heard the window break, and then I saw a bullet hole in the cabinet.” She shuddered and buried her face in his chest.

Petunia poked her head out of Jacob’s apartment and crept down the hall toward them and climbed into Mae’s lap, forcing her head under her hand. Before he could shoo her away, Mae petted her and sighed. Her trembling body relaxed just a bit. Good job, Petunia, he thought.

When he heard sirens in the distance, he jerked his chin toward Reid. “Go downstairs and open the door for them, will you?”

Reid ran down the stairs, and a few seconds later, Nate rushed down the hall carrying his kit.

“Any injuries?”

“I don’t think so, just mild shock.”

Nate gently took Mae’s arm and started taking her pulse. “Isiah should be here any minute. He called me while he was on his way.”

Before Nate finished, Isiah reached the top of the stairs.

“Two shots fired. Check the kitchen cabinet for one bullet,” Jacob said.

Isiah nodded and stepped over them into Mae’s apartment.

Mae sat up with a gasp. “Is it safe? Isiah, get out,” she shouted, struggling to get up.

“It’s okay, sweetheart, let him do his job,” he said, pulling her back down into his lap.

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