pleasant voice cracking with desperation.
Ben’s eyes fix on the gun, wide and terrified. Then he looks at me, and they go even wider. I can see it; he doesn’t know what to do.
My heart breaks for him, my mind racing for a way out of this that will keep Ben and Penny alive.
“Come to Daddy, okay?” Gary says. “Come on. Come to me. No one’s going to get hurt.”
Half of me screams to tell Ben to stay where he is, but I know I can’t do that. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee he’s safe with him either. He’s his father, but he’s also desperate and dangerous enough to beat his wife to within an inch of her life.
Helplessness claws at me. I can’t do anything except stand there and watch this situation play out.
Looking terrified and shaking, Ben flashes me a look of panic. Then he slowly climbs off the bed. With Gary in front of him and me behind him, he walks tentatively toward his father.
Penny moans softly, and I see her jerk out of the corner of my eye. Her body stills, her face losing its color.
“Gary! How the hell did…” Her mouth drops when she sees Ben. “Ben, no!”
Ben stops. Gary’s gaze shifts to hers, and she jolts.
“You thought you could keep me away from my own son?” Gary hisses at her. He takes another step toward her, the gun shaking in his grip as it points to her when she tries to sit up.
With his focus no longer on me, I draw a breath and lunge forward. I grab Ben, ignoring his cry of fright, and yank him behind me. Ben lets out a sob and presses against my back, clutching my leg. I reach behind me, keeping him close.
“I see how it is,” Gary snarls, looking from Penny to me. “You bitches want to keep me from my son.” He trembles with rage, the gun shaking in his grip as he points it between me and Penny, as though trying to decide who he should shoot first.
“You’re all the same,” he spits as he glares at Penny. “I provide for you, I give you everything, and you run off with my boy? I should have finished you off when I had the chance.”
Penny’s hand moves, catching my eye. She’s reached for the call button lying on her bed. Gary lunges forward, grabbing the button from her and tossing it aside.
He’s also put himself almost in front of me, leaving an unobstructed path to the door.
I whirl around and push Ben toward the door. “Run!”
Ben cries out in fright and races for the door.
Gary rounds on me. “You fucking bitch.”
Before I can back away, he raises his hand and slams the gun into the side of my skull. Pain blazes through my head, and I fly backwards. I slam into the floor, landing on my side with a cry and a groan.
Across the room, Ben is trying to open the door, but it’s too heavy, held back by the springs that are meant to prevent anyone being caught in it.
“Boy, get back here,” Gary roars. He starts after him.
A wild impulse strikes me. Buying Ben time, I stab my foot out in front of Gary. He trips and falls on his belly with a loud thud and a grunt. The gun skids across the floor to the wall on the other side of the room.
Ben whips through the half open door and it begins to slowly close, slow enough that I see him run down the hall.
Gary’s snarling and cursing at me, but I only half hear it.
“Whoa, Ben, what the fuck?” Pip bursts out.
Gary scrambles to his feet and bolts for the door. Outside it, I hear him curse. He’s just seen the biker with his son.
“Oh, fuck,” Pip shouts. “Ben, get off me, I—Spider, shit’s going down here! Ben get off…”
Footsteps—Pip’s or Gary’s or both—pound down the hall. Gary shouts something I don’t catch, Pip curses, and I hear one of the hospital staff yelling at someone to call security.
I try to sit up, try to reach the call button on the floor, but my head feels as if it’s going to explode, rendering me motionless. All I can do is groan. I’m dimly aware of Penny shouting for help for me, and trying to reach for the call button too.
The rest of what happens is a blur. Time becomes an ineffable thing as someone—Pip?—helps me to a chair. My stomach roils violently. Dee’s voice