“Hurry!” Cal yelled to Troy. She took a sideways step as if she meant to turn around, but reached for the gun.
Now or never. “No! Troy, watch out!” Julie screamed and launched from her hiding spot. Using the stairs as a springboard, she flung herself at Cal. But even those precious seconds hadn’t been fast enough. Terror gripped Julie’s chest as Cal whipped the gun out and fired a shot. Julie slammed into her and they both fell hard to the unforgiving gravel. The gun bounced out of reach.
Julie had never been in a fight in her life. She’d done a few of her own stunts over the years, but she’d never thrown a real punch. She might’ve been a few inches taller, but Cal was solid and strong as hell. Cal rolled and instantly pinned her. When Cal’s fist connected with her face, white hot rage burned up through her middle, and Julie slammed her palm under Cal’s jaw, throwing her back. Julie scrambled to her feet as Cal did the same and they faced off.
Cal’s eyes glowed with rage and hate. Blood stained the side of her blue tank top. Troy’s shot had hit her, but not enough to drop her.
Julie heaved in gulps of air. “Cal, this is crazy. We need help.” Every muscle tensed, waiting for Cal to strike. “You’re bleeding.” She glanced in Troy’s direction and saw him sprawled on the ground. Her heart lurched into her throat.
“Crazy?” Cal mocked her, her hair wild and her gaze murderous. “I’ll tell you what’s crazy. My dad was crazy. And because of you, my brother is crazy. How hard would it have been to talk to him more, see him more often? I fucking see him all the time, but you’re always too busy. Look what you made him do? You made him a fucking lunatic!”
Look who’s talking! But Julie kept the words buried in her head. “I didn’t make him do anything! What are you talking about?”
“The fucking Sporties!” Cal screamed. “He was the one at the Sporties! He was the shooter! And he planted the car bomb!” Cal didn’t give her a chance to process the information before she attacked.
“Carrie Ann!” Julie tried to dodge the weight of her, but Cal wrapped an arm around her waist and brought her down. Julie threw a punch to her face, but the contact barely fazed Cal.
Cal wrapped her hands around Julie’s neck with deadly force, her jaw clenched tight as she squeezed. “What the fuck, Julie? You think you can beat me?” she gritted out. “Not in this lifetime. You might get my TV roles, my movie roles, my fame...but you will not win this fight. And you will not make my brother miserable. Not as long as I’m alive. I guarantee it.”
Julie struggled to find a wisp of air, something to feed her desperate lungs. The words of her friend—and stuntwoman—Ellie Reynolds echoed in her head. “Sometimes you have play dirty. When it’s life and death there is no right and wrong.” Julie grabbed a fist full of dirt and heaved it in Cal’s face. Cal reared back and Julie gasped for air as she pushed Cal away and rolled. Cal came at her again, but this time Julie lunged for a nearby rock and fisted it. She flipped over, struck out and connected with Cal’s head once, twice before Cal fell sideways.
Heaving for air, sweat stinging her eyes, Julie rolled to all fours. She wasn’t sure her legs would support her. Cal lay in a ball nearby, her hair matted with blood. Julie moved back, gaining distance, but Cal didn’t move.
Oh, God. Now what?
Julie swallowed back bile. She glanced at Troy’s body on the ground ten yards away and fresh despair crashed in her chest. She had to help him, but she didn’t want Cal anywhere near the gun still on the ground. Julie crawled toward the gun, and Cal sprang out with her hand. Adrenaline shot through Julie’s veins as a burning pain sliced her arm. She recoiled as a four-inch blade peeked out of Cal’s hand. Cal lunged again and Julie pushed backward toward the house, the nightmare not over, crawling on all fours—a dead lobster—trying to get away.
Blood dripped down Cal’s hairline as she staggered to her feet, her smile evil and intent. “You honestly thought you could beat me? That shows true grit, girlfriend. It’s the only thing I can honestly