Chapter Sixteen

She felt his grip loosen, felt the weight of his body on her disappear, and she opened her eyes, watching him as he stood pulling the belt from around his waist. The fear of being raped gripped her and she pushed her feet against the ground moving away from him, and felt the palm of his hand against her cheek as she opened her mouth to scream.

"You don't give up do you bitch?"

Her crying became stronger as he pulled her to her feet and jerked her hands behind her back wrapping the leather belt around her wrist, pulling tightly to secure her bond, and pressed himself behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"I told you before that you wouldn't get away from me so easily. That wasn't very nice of you, running off during the night the way you did to snoop around in places you don't belong. You could get hurt not listening to what I tell you, and we wouldn't want you to get hurt, would we Justin?"

She gasped as Justin stepped from the trees into their sight and stopped a few feet in front of them, his eyes falling on her, inspecting the angry red welts across her face, and the swollen jaw from where Lance had punched her.

"Let her go and fight me like a man the way you should have years ago."

Lance laughed, shaking his head, and raised the shotgun higher as Justin began to inch his way toward them.

"What I should have done was revealed your little secret a long time ago and put your precious girlfriend here in jail, but I've had much more fun through the years torturing you, waiting for this moment when it would all come together. See I knew Emily had come to California and I watched her, waiting for the perfect moment to get my hands on her. With a little persuasion she fell right into my lap though, she's pretty easy, but then you knew that didn't you Justin? Is that what attracted you to her? The fact that she was a whore just like your mother?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"NO...you shut the fuck up. Our family was happy, then your whore of a mother came along brain washing my father and tore us apart. My mother cried herself to sleep every night and I vowed then that you and your mother would pay for what you had done."

Justin took another step forward, eyeing Lance carefully, testing to see how far he could go.

"Your father beat me and tried to beat my mother. It was him who did the brain washing, making my mother believe he was a good man and would take care of us when he was nothing but crazy like you...."

"SHUT UP! Just shut. Up."

Justin could tell the man was begining to get nervous, on the verge of breaking, and he inched forward again as Lance shifted from foot to foot and beads of sweat began to form across his forehead.

"We did nothing to you Lance. I tried to be friends with you, tried to make you a part of our family as messed up as it was, but you always hate me......"

"Because you stole him away. Took away what belonged to me. You killed him....YOU. You and your whoring girlfriend killed him. You deserve to die, Just the way you made him."

"Then kill me Lance. Kill me, but leave Emily alone."

He tossed Emily to the ground, his hands shaking as he held the gun at Justin moving closer to him.

"She killed him, finished the job you were too chicken shit to do. She was there that night and she's the one who stabbed him, finished him off. I saw the whole thing Justin. You let her go, told her to run. She deserves to be punished."

He turned to Emily, aiming the gun at her as she struggled to free her hands, and placed his finger on the trigger slowly begining to pull. Justin moved forward knocking him to the ground, struggling to get the gun free as Emily pushed her feet against the ground once again, pushing herself away from them, and twisted her wrist in the leather trying to get them loose. A shot rang out, and she stilled her movements as the struggle ended and both men laid on the ground, tangled against each other, neither one moving.

She screamed out Justins name as hands took her in its grasp and pulled her to her feet, urging her away from the scene. She didn't know who had her, didn't care at the moment, she just wanted to run to Justin and wrap herself around him, making everything ok. Everything was moving in slow motion, people seemed to come from nowhere, and the voices around her seemed muffled, not clear.

She fell to her knees screaming Justins name over and over and suddenly her hands were freed and arms circles her, pulling her to her feet and against a warm body, helping her up the hill to the road.

Dozens of flashing blue lights blinded her as she toped the hill, and she blinked, looking around to police cars that were as far as the eye could see. She was led to an ambulance and placed inside where two paramedics began checking her over and asking questions her mind couldn't quite register, didn't care to comprehend. All she knew was that Justin was gone and tears filled her tired eyes as she slumped on the stretcher and her body grew numb to the pain.

"Emily.....Emily....come on, talk to me."

Josh squatted in front of her, feeling the pain shoot through his calf, trying to break through her daze, and looked up to the paramedic shaking his head.

"She's in shock. Go ahead and get her out of her. I'll meet up with you at the hospital."

The paramedic nodded, slamming the doors as Josh stepped out them and the roar of the siren filled her ears as the ambulance jumped into gear, carrying her down the road to the closest hospital possible.

"Detective Chasez, we have Joey in custody, we're taking him in."

Josh took a deep breath turning to the officer and gave him a week smile, thanking him.

"Paramedics are waiting to take you to the hospital too. You need to go. We'll handle the rest here."

Josh patted the young man on the shoulder, accepting the help from the paramedic into the ambulance, and stared out the window as the vehicle pulled away, thankful that the long night had come to an end.

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