The notes? Oh fuck. The cryptic notes. Of course. She’d gotten one? She’d never told me.

“You thought I was after your sister. Well, she’s a pretty piece and all, and I would’ve if I hadn’t seen this one, but yeah. I want her. Bexley, right? So here’s the plan, Frat Boy. You’re going to take us upstairs to a room you’re going to rent at the hotel. You’re going to watch as she pleases me, and then as I fuck her. After that, I’m going to put a bullet in her brain and then in yours. It’ll be beautiful, like a murder-suicide. I walk away getting my revenge on you, and you’ll both be dead.” He shrugged, the gleam in his eye enough to make my blood run cold.

“Let her go. Your beef is with me,” I said, stepping forward.

“One step closer and I blow her brains out right here. You’ll even get some of her pretty face splattered on you.”

“She didn’t do anything to you,” I argued.

“This isn’t your fucking game, Johnny,” he spat. “Call upstairs and get a room. And don’t try anything funny like calling 9–1-1. You’ll both be dead before you even get out of your mouth that you need police here.”

Goddamn, where was Cal? He had to be in his office with the door shut. It was slow; thankfully no one was in the beach bar right now. It had just rained which had cleared everyone out, and the dinner rush wouldn’t start for at least another hour.

We were alone.

Which was both a good thing and the most fucking disastrous thing that could happen.

My eyes met Bex’s, and I tried to reassure her without words. I’d do whatever it took to get her out of here before he did anything. I didn’t care if I lived to see another day, but she wasn’t going to be dragged into it.

I walked to the phone, trying to decide how I could clue in the girl at the front desk at the hotel that we needed police. The guy stepped closer with Bex as I pressed the number for the front desk. Come out, Cal. Come out. If he walked out now, he’d see the back of this guy with the gun pressed to Bex’s head. That was good for me. Cal was strong. Or at a very minimum, he could go back to his office and call the police.

The phone rang and rang. I looked out of the corner of my eye at the freshly washed chilled glasses in a stack under the bar. I nudged it just enough with my foot that it toppled over, making the most deafening crashing sound as the glass broke all over the floor. It was a risky move, but one that would for sure send Cal out here to see what happened.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Sorry,” I said, trying to act sheepish and not like I wanted to castrate the fucking guy. “I accidentally bumped the stack of glasses.”

Asshole swung around, shifting Bex so she was facing the other way. When he was satisfied that no one else was coming in, he moved back around to face me. “Don’t you try anything smart, asshole.”

Just as I heard the girl at the front desk answer, I saw Cal out of the corner of my eye. I tried to signal to him to back off without showing Asshole that someone else was in the room, but it was too late. He turned and saw Cal, and that’s when everything happened both so fast and in slow motion. I was opening my mouth to shout to Bex to run when she slammed her head back into his nose. I heard the deafening crack of breaking bones as he dropped the gun to hold his gushing nose. Bex took the moment to knee him in the groin, making him fall to his knees on the ground. The gun laid two feet from him.

I should’ve known Bex wouldn’t take what he was doing lying down. If there was any female on this Earth that could take down that thug, it was her. She reached for the gun just as I stepped up to get it off the ground.

“You thought you were going to fucking use me as a bait to come in here and get him?” She screamed, kicking him in the stomach. He fell, groaning again. “You fucked with the wrong woman.” Bex waved the gun. I wanted to step up and take it, but I was afraid to interrupt her.

She looked back at me. “What’s he doing here, Johnny? A drug deal gone bad? Was I just a pawn in your game all along?”

Pawn? Drug deal? What the hell was she talking about? “Bex,” I said. “Give me the gun.”

“Fuck you,” she seethed. “Oh wait. I did that. I was stupid, wasn’t I, Johnny?”

She was upset, that was understandable. But I didn’t understand what the rambling was about, and I didn’t have time to figure it out right now. “Bex.”

“Don’t Bex me.” She grabbed the guy by the collar and pulled him up. I would’ve been impressed at how strong she was if I wasn’t fucking terrified of what she was going to do next.

“Police are called,” Cal called. “You guys okay?”

I nodded, afraid to take my eyes off of Bex.

“Guess you aren’t so brave now that your balls hurt and your nose is broken, huh, you worthless slug?” Bex pressed the barrel of the gun to his temple. “How does it fucking feel to have a gun to your head, motherfucker?”

I would’ve laughed if this wasn’t so serious. “Bex. Let him go. It’s not worth it.”

“He was going to fucking kill me,” she said. “Because of you. What did I do to deserve that? Fall for you?”

We both realized what she said milliseconds after it came out. Her eyes widened, and she turned back to the guy. She clicked the safety, and I found myself wondering again what Bex knew that I didn’t.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t fucking pull this trigger right now and end your sorry life.”

“Don’t do it, Bex,” I warned. “You’ll never be the same.”

She turned to look at me. “And you know this how, Johnny?”

I caught movement from Asshole a second too late. He grabbed the gun and pointed it back at her.

“NO!” I shouted, jumping on him. I closed my hand over his, trying to turn the barrel away from her chest. Between her fighting to get control of it and him, it was harder than it should be. “Let go, Bex!”

We struggled for what seemed like forever before I heard the sound I dreaded ever since she’d walked in here with him. A gunshot echoed through the empty space, and Bex fell backwards, Asshole on top of her.

Police infiltrated the area. “One of them was shot!” I screamed, lifting Asshole off of her. Her eyes were closed and blood covered her chest and abdomen.

“NO!” I screamed again. “Call a paramedic!” I lifted her to me. There was so much blood. Her head lolled and her eyes blinked open as I moved her. “Bex, can you hear me? Are you shot?”

Her mouth moved but nothing came out. I laid her on the bar and was just about to lift her shirt when a paramedic appeared. “Let me check her out, sir.”

“You have to help her,” I said, my bloodstained hands holding onto hers.

He nodded. “I’ll do everything I can.”

I watched helplessly as he cut her clothes off, searching for the source of the blood. “You said the gun went off?”

“Yes.” For the first time in years, I wanted to break down and sob. But I couldn’t. She needed me to be the strong one. If she died in my arms they might as well take me, too.

“She’s not shot,” he announced. He looked down at the ground, where his partner was working on Asshole. “Must be blood from him.” It was then that I saw the puddle of blood under his body.

“He’s DOA,” the other paramedic announced. “Shot clean through the heart.”

Fucking hell. Bex was okay. “Why isn’t she talking then?”

“Shock,” he said. “It happens a lot to victims. We’re going to take her to the rig and check her vitals and clean her up. If she’s able to talk by then, we won’t transport her. If she isn’t, we’ll take her over to the hospital for a psych eval. Do you have some clothes we could put on her?”

“I’ll get some from the gift shop,” Cal said.

“We’re going to need your statement,” one of the police officers said.

I nodded, watching as they moved Bex onto a stretcher to take her out to the ambulance. “Can we walk outside first? I need to be with her.”