40. Brandy

40

Brandy

M y ears rang from the shot as I dropped to the floor, not sure where the bullet had come from. Did it hit me? My dad? I hadn’t seen Reed lift his gun, so if it wasn’t him who fired, then who?

Strong hands grabbed my arms, pulling me up and away from where my dad lay on the floor. As the ringing in my head subsided, his angered shouts filtered in.

“Fuck! You fucking shot me!” my dad screamed.

Reed finally stopped once we were back where he was standing before, his gun in his hold and pointed to the floor, finger off the trigger. My gaze moved to my dad, and I froze when I saw blood gushing from the bullet wound in his leg.

Right as I opened my mouth to ask if Reed shot him, my mom came out from the hallway with a gun trained on my father.

“I should have done that a long time ago,” she said, eyes trained on where he lay writhing in pain.

His face was redder than I’d ever seen it before, and I knew his ego was hurt. The woman he did his best to instill fear in, the one he always took the upper hand on, fought back. And she fucking won.

“You two okay?” she asked, nudging her chin in our direction while keeping her eyes on my dad.

I nodded as Reed said, “We’re fine.”

“Police are on their way,” she stated, not moving the barrel of her gun away from him.

“You’re a fucking bitch,” he spit, barely able to catch his breath through the pain of the wound. “They better be bringing a goddamn ambulance.”

My mom crouched, her hair swinging to reveal the bruise over her eye. It was clearly healing, but still looked swollen and painful. “Oh, are you in pain, sweetie?”

He stared at her, nostrils flaring. Reed’s arms tightened around me, his body fighting the urge to protect her, too. He’d do it in a heartbeat, and it only made me love him more, if that was even possible.

“Sucks when all you want is to not feel that pain, and it just keeps fucking coming. It’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

He ground his jaw, his face somehow getting even redder. “Just you wait. Once I’m healed, I’m not going easy on you anymore.”

Reed moved, leaving me standing there alone as he stormed over and landed a punch right in my dad’s face. For anyone else, I would’ve felt bad, but he had that coming.

Reed stood over him, flexing his fist. “You ever even think about touching my family again, and I’ll remove every fucking organ from your pathetic body and feed every last bit to you, including your fucking tongue.”

My heart clenched with the use of the word family. No matter what I felt or how much we tried to avoid these feelings, Reed and I were endgame.

Five minutes later, the police showed up and took my father away in an ambulance. He was being admitted for his wound, and then he’d go straight to the county jail. My mom wanted to go in for a statement of all the things he’d done in the past, to which I agreed to do the same. It was time to stop being scared of the man that tormented us for so long and put an end to this cycle.

After tonight, he’d never come back.

As she talked to the officer, I found Reed sitting at the kitchen table after getting done with his questioning of the events that took place. I’d already given my statement, though it was much shorter than his.

I approached him, taking a seat on his lap and draping my legs over his. I wrapped an arm around his neck, resting my elbow on his shoulder as he set a hand on my waist.

“You left me,” I said quietly.

His thumb stroked my side. “I know. I’m sorry. I just— I had to do something.”

I bent to kiss him, quieting him before he had the chance to come up with some excuse. I knew why he did it. I didn’t have to agree with everything he did to understand that he’d do anything to protect me. I pulled back, meeting his gaze. “I know. But the last thing I want you to do right now is apologize.”

His brows furrowed. “Really?”

I nodded. “Really. If you hadn't come here tonight, I don’t know if any of this ever would have stopped.”

He frowned, tugging me closer. “As risky as it was, I’m glad I did it, then.”

I leaned into him, resting my forehead against his. “I’m glad you did, too.”

“He’ll never hurt either of you again,” he murmured, his fingers digging into my side.

I nodded against him. “I know.” I pulled back, trying to harden my gaze. “But if you ever scare me like that again—”

“Scare you?”

“You left me in the middle of the night,” I reminded him. “I thought you were going to get yourself hurt, or worse.” My throat constricted, hating even the thought of something happening to him.

He pressed his forehead to mine again, closing his eyes. “Never again, Little Devil. I’m yours for the keeping.”

I choked out a laugh, the sound ending on a sob. I set a hand on his chest, gripping his shirt and tugging it. Words wouldn’t form on my tongue, but I knew he was telling me the truth. Tonight proved how far he’d go for me, and while he didn’t have to do what he did, he did it anyway.

Reed Bronson was my big, broody protector, and I was finally accepting that. But even more importantly, he was mine.