Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, I brush my teeth and throw on a little deodorant. I think I’ll take Sierra out for a nice dinner then have her for dessert. Humming to myself, I walk out and lock up behind me, then make my way through the complex to Derek’s unit. As I approach the door, I run across Monty, who is sitting on the walkway looking up at me. Monty isn’t allowed outside. He’s never outside. Perplexed, I pick the big cat up.
“What are you doing outside, big boy?”
I approach Derek’s door and feel a cold chill rush through my veins when I see that it’s open. Not just open. The frame looks splintered, like somebody forced their way in. Something close to panic filling my heart, I rush in and set Monty down, closing the door as best I can behind me. The sound of Sierra’s voice coming from the bedroom rings in my ears. What strikes me the hardest is the sound of fear in her voice.
Rushing from the main room, I burst into the bedroom to find Sierra in the far corner of the room, a butcher knife held out in front of her in both hands. She’s shaking so hard that the point of the blade is bouncing from side to side. And standing in front of her is Stu Hopper. He turns when I come through the door, and I see that strange, creepy expression on his face I first saw when Sierra came into the bar for the first time.
After that first night she came in with Moni, Stu asked me a lot of questions about her. He mentioned her several more times and seemed interested in her. I didn’t like how he looked at her when she was in, but I recall not thinking much of all the questions at the time. I honestly hadn’t really thought about it.
But seeing him standing in the bedroom after having obviously broken through the front door, Sierra’s tear-streaked cheeks, and the terror on her face, I see that I should have. He’d clearly been harboring some sort of dark obsession. As he looks from Sierra to me, he suddenly looks scared. It’s then that I notice Sierra’s hair is mussed. The anger boils inside me, superheating the blood in my veins and filling me with rage.
“What the fuck, Stu?” I shout.
“I—I just wanted to talk to her,” he stammers.
“You need to get the fuck out of here right now, or I’m going to beat the shit out of you,” I say. “And after that, I’m going to call the cops.”
“You don’t understand, man. I was just trying to talk to her.”
“So, you broke into her place? Nah. It doesn’t work like that.”
“Sierra,” Stu says. “I just … There’s something about you I like. I just want to—”
“Get out! Leave me alone!” Sierra shrieks as she brandishes her knife.
“Sierra—”
I don’t give Stu time to finish his thought as I grab hold of him and deliver two quick punches to his face. His head snaps back, and blood spatters the wall behind him, a pained groan bursting from his mouth. He’s not a small guy and starts to come at me, but I’m younger and faster, and I hit him with a quick flurry of punches that rock him. Stu grimaces, his expression darkening and his eyes filling with anger. He launches himself at me, his momentum carrying me into the wall behind me. Sierra cries out and looks at me, her face etched with fear and horror.
Keeping me pinned to the wall, Stu delivers a flurry of blows to my stomach. There isn't much behind his punches, so I’m able to break his hold pretty easily, and when I do, I drop my hand to the back of his head and push it down hard. At the same time, I raise my knee with some real force behind it and connect with his nose again. I hear a sharp crack that’s satisfying, but the agonized wail he lets out is even more so.
I give him a solid punch to the side of the head that drops him to the floor. He curls into the fetal position and absorbs the burst of kicks I deliver to his body. When I’m confident he’s going to stay down for a minute, I look up.
“Sierra, are you all right?” I ask.
She’s sobbing but nods.
“Good. Go call the cops.”
“But—”
“Call the cops. Now.”
The knife hits the floor with a sharp clatter, and she rushes from the room. When Stu moves, almost as if he’s going to attempt to rise, I deliver another brutal kick to his midsection, driving the air from his lungs. As I stand over him, watching him carefully, I hear Sierra’s trembling, terror-filled voice in the other room as she talks to the cops.