Finn’s head jerked around at the statement.
“Are you saying she wants suicide by cop?”
“I have no idea, but if she was so angry and emotional about Tyler that she shot him, I can only imagine what she’s feeling now. Either way, I’m not going to leave Cat in there for her target practice.”
Tate didn’t wait for Finn’s reply, sprinting around the side of the house and into the backyard. As he expected, there was a set of sliding glass doors from the deck into the home. With any luck, they wouldn’t have locked them yet.
If he didn’t have any luck, there were windows as well on the back of the house. He’d try those, too.
Please let it be unlocked.
Creeping up to the sliding glass window, he could see that it had been left open. A gesture to the warmer weather. His heart raced, jubilant with relief that he wasn’t going to have to crawl through a window.
He carefully and quietly climbed the few steps to the deck, pressing himself against the brick exterior, trying to make himself as invisible as possible. He hoped to see and hear what was going on inside. He could make out Winnie, who had her back to him, and Cat, who was leaning against the couch facing him.
From his vantage point, he couldn’t see the gun, but he could see that Winnie’s arm was raised. From Cat’s frightened expression, it was clear that it was pointed directly at her.
The last thing he wanted to do was startle Winnie. He didn’t have much of a plan once he was in the house, other than perhaps tackling her from behind like some superhero from a movie.
The plan is a work in progress.
All he knew was that he had to get to her. The words pounded in his brain, blocking out any other thoughts. If a gun was going to go off, he needed to be between her and it. He’d take any bullet, take any risk, as long as she would be fine when it was all over.
How Winnie couldn’t hear his heart beating like the high school marching band at the Fourth of July parade, he’d never know.
He could hear Cat talking to Winnie, and he paused for a moment, still hidden from their view.
“I know he hurt you,” Cat said. He could hear the strain in her voice, but bless her, she was holding it together better than he could hope. To someone who didn’t know her well, she almost sounded normal and friendly. “But he’s not worth this, Winnie. Yes, you may go to prison for killing him, but you’d have a chance at parole eventually. If you shoot me or Finn, you’ll go away forever. That’s it. You’ll be done. You don’t want that, and I don’t think you want to kill me. I think you’re angry and hurt. You lashed out, but this isn’t who you really are. You’re not a killer.”
“You’ll never understand how much I loved him. He was everything to me. He was my second chance at happiness.”
Winnie’s voice shook audibly, and she was swaying on her feet. He couldn’t see her expression, but he could hear the tears and sorrow in her tone.
Dammit, Tyler. What the fuck? It was just a game to you, but to her…
If his old friend were standing here today, Tate would punch him right in the face. What Tyler had done wasn’t right. He’d played with these women’s emotions as if they weren’t even human beings with actual feelings.
Tate, now crouching just inside the sliding glass doors, moved a few inches to the left so he could get a better line visual on what was happening in the living room. If he was going to tackle Winnie, he needed to make sure there was nothing in the way. He didn’t want to trip over an ottoman trying to be a fucking hero.
But his movement, even though minuscule, must have captured Cat’s attention. Her gaze shifted ever so slightly. She saw him.
Then she gave him a look.
It was the same one she’d given him their senior year in high school when Andy Decker had somehow gotten it into his head that Cat didn’t really like Tate. He’d been bothering Cat constantly in the halls at school, at football games, and everywhere else they all happened to be.
Cat had been tired of it, and Tate, too. One night at the pizza place, he’d had it and was ready to stalk up to Andy and tell him to back off. Cat hadn’t wanted the knight in shining armor act from him. She’d told him she would handle it in her own way.
She’d given him that same look.
Back off. I got this.
Every particle in his body was screaming at him to charge in and take control. Pound Winnie into the maple hardwood flooring and rescue Cat. But…he remembered that look.
I’ll trust you for five more seconds, babe. Five seconds.
“Don’t ruin what’s left of your life,” he heard Cat say. “Don’t let Tyler win again. If you fire that gun, it will be like he’s still controlling you. He can’t do that anymore. He’s not worth it, Winnie. He never was. He was just an asshole playing with youremotions for his own amusement. Men like that aren’t worth spit. Tyler was a total jerk. You know it, and I know it.”
Winnie’s legs were wavering under her, crumbling like a sand castle at the beach when the tide comes in, as she fell into a heap on the hardwood floor. At that moment, the front door flew open, Finn and one of his deputies lunging for Winnie, who had dropped her handgun as she broke into loud sobs, rocking back and forth as she screamed Tyler’s name over and over.
