The Final Arrangement (36 page)
“Back off! Just back off,” Brad yelled. Danny backed up with his hands up. Brad held the gun with both hands, his arms straight out in front of his body. He pointed the gun at the partygoers and arced the gun from left to right like a swath cutting a barrier between him and them.
“Allie, I told you we were leaving." His voice sounded crazy. He'd lost the icy cold, in-control tone I'd heard and hated before. "You shouldn't have left my apartment. I told you that you would regret it. Now lets go." He reached for Allie with one arm, while still pointing the gun with the other.
“Brad, just calm down. We can work everything out,” said K.C.
“You shut up!” Brad yelled as he swung and pointed the gun at K.C. “I’ve been waiting to pay you back. You and Allie's bitch sister. Where is she, Allie? I’ve been waiting for my chance to beat the living shit out of her and then put a bullet in her head. And now's my chance. Where is she?"
That was the last thing Brad said before he hit the ground. I had crept behind him and knocked him upside the head with the fire extinguisher I kept in my kitchen. It didn’t have any spray left in it from when he set the bag of poop on fire on my porch, but it had been very useful, all the same. “Always keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen.”
Best advice ever
.
###
“I leave for ten minutes…” Alex exclaimed, as he stood at the back gate. He looked at me, mouth agape, as I stood with Brad’s gun pointing at Brad’s head while five people sat on top of him. I shrugged and grinned sheepishly at Alex.
Sirens grew louder as the police approached the house.
I relaxed my stance once I saw Alex. I pointed the gun down then pinched it on the very end of the handle, trying not to have to touch it anymore than I had to. I held it out to Alex, who had apparently forgotten his arms were wrapped around four bags of ice.
“I’ll trade you.” I said.
Uniformed officers appeared behind him in the open gateway.
“Cooper,” said one of the officers, who nodded at Alex then looked at the scene. He looked back at Alex. “What the hell, Cooper?”
"I have no idea," Alex said. His mouth fell open again.
The other officer peeled K.C., Danny, Allie, my Mother and my other sister off of Brad, checked to make sure he was alive, then handcuffed him and rolled him over. Then the officer called an ambulance.
After the police and the ambulance left with Brad inside, we all decided we should still have our party. Not even an armed crazy man could cause the wasting of perfectly good food as far as any of us were concerned.
We had a grand time despite the rough start. Eventually everyone cleaned up, gathered their things and trickled out.
Alex and I lingered in the backyard until the last person left.
He stepped behind me and sweetly caressed my hair away from my neck, then massaged the muscles in my shoulders. I could feel the tension I had stored there from holding the gun at Brad. Alex must have read my thoughts. I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks as I imagined him reading
all
of my thoughts. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “How are you feeling?”
Exquisite!
I shuddered with goose bumps when his breath hit my neck. I was at DEFCON 3.
Warning, Core melt down imminent!
I hopped around on my good leg to face him. He placed his hands outside my upper arms to steady me.
“I’m doing
very
well, considering all things. Especially now. Actually, I could really use some pain relief. I went in to take a pill at the same time Brad crashed the party, so I never got to take it.”
“Hey, that hop you just did reminds me—how did you manage to sneak down the stairs with that boot of yours, and not draw Brad's attention?” He looked down at my foot. I wiggled my sock covered toes, sans boot, at him, and then wished to heck that I hadn’t.
“Ouch,” I said.
"Poor baby."
He looked down at me and his eyes locked with mine. Just like that, I was back to DEFCON alert, but this time there was no use trying to resist, the defenses were not even switched on. He gently touched my nose with his index finger then kissed the same spot. Then, he barely brushed the last, determined remnants of my black eye, on the very ridge of my cheekbone, with his thumb. His other hand wove through my hair and teased at the back of my neck and he feathered his lips over the sliver of purple on my face.
He swept me off of my feet, literally, when he picked me up as if I weighed no more than a child.
The feeling of electricity that flared up in my chest could have lit up the whole city.
He kissed my mouth, hungrily, matching what I felt inside. In a low, breathy voice he said, “I’ve been looking forward to that since we were interrupted at the hospital.” He smiled at me and the tiny lines around his eyes crinkled, framing the melting drops of chocolate.
I bit my bottom lip. “Me too. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Let’s get you inside and feeling better.”
I couldn’t wait to see what that entailed.
I hope you enjoyed THE FINAL ARRANGEMENT.
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DEADLY ARRANGEMENTS
Planning a wedding is murder.
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