Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

She shook her head. “You almost had me killed.”

“That was a mistake. Those responsible had mistaken you for Willow. You were never the intended target. I’d never harm you, Mia. I’ve wanted you ever since I first laid eyes on you.”

“Where is Willow?” She asked, sudden realization dawning.

Elijah’s face went blank, then he rubbed his forehead before looking her in the eye. “Willow crossed the line, Mia. She had to pay the price for her betrayal.”

Mia placed her hand over her mouth to cover her sob. He had killed Willow. Oh, God, she felt sick to her stomach.

He took a step toward her, and she moved back. She didn’t have much more room.

“Mia, don’t test my patience. Come with me now.”

In a surprise move, he stuffed his gun in the waistband of his pants then held his hand out to her. Without a gun being pointed at her, she felt a little reprieve.

Suddenly, Stitch’s voice echoed through the trees.

“Mia!”

“Stitch!” She shouted, and Elijah ran toward her. She braced herself for the impending hit. He tackled them both to the ground. She swung her fists, hit him in the face, then got to her hands and knees and tried to crawl away. Elijah grabbed her foot and dragged her backward as he flipped her over onto her back. He straddled her body, and she cried out from the pressure on her still healing ribs.

“Stop fighting me!”

“Go to hell!” She told him and dragged her fingernails down his cheek, drawing blood. He cried out and grabbed her arm and slammed it against the ground. She felt the bone in her forearm crack, and she screamed. He latched onto her throat and squeezed until she could no longer breathe. Her lungs began to burn, and black dots started forming in her vision.  It was the telling moment that she knew she was going to die. Her eyes started to close as death pulled her under its spell. Just as she took her last breath, a gunshot sounded, and then everything went silent. She felt free.

◆◆◆

Stitch knew the direction Mia was in when he heard her call his name.

As he and the others charged up the trails, the group had started to fan out to surround the area. There was no way he was letting this asshole go.  But Mia was his first priority. One of the deputies had taken out the other guy.

Stitch got to the clearing where he believed Mia was, and he became enraged when he saw Elijah on top of Mia choking her. He could see Mia was without a fight and losing consciousness. He raised his gun to take the shot, but suddenly, another shot came from another direction, and a bright red bloom appeared on Elijah’s chest, and he fell over.

Stitch raced to Mia’s side.

“Mia?” He said frantically as he shook her. Not getting a response, he checked her pulse—nothing.

“No!”

He started CPR as the others all came running towards him from all different directions.

Ace knelt beside him and took Mia’s hand.

“He was choking her,” Stitch said before giving Mia another breath of air.

“Got a pulse,” Ace said right before Mia started sputtering and coughing. Stitch pulled her into his arms and held her close. He buried his face in her hair and cried.

He felt Mia move, and when he looked down into those brown eyes staring back at him, he almost lost it again. The others had all taken off their coats and laid them over Mia to keep her warm until help arrived.

The paramedics arrived and secured Mia to a backboard and loaded it onto one of the deputies ATVs.

Stitch never once let go of Mia’s hand. She was quiet through the whole process, probably in shock and exhaustion. The paramedics splinted her arm, but other than her arm and bruising, she appeared to be okay. She squeezed his hand, and he bent down, so he was face-to-face with her.

“The others…are the others, okay?” She asked him. Her voice was rough and raspy.

He smiled. “Everyone is good.”

“What about Bailey? I think she followed me.”

Stitch’s smile faded as he looked to Ace.

“Ace, did anyone confirm Bailey’s whereabouts?”

Ace looked at the Sheriff, and he radioed down to some of the deputies who were at the cabin processing the crime scene.

When one of the deputies radioed back saying no, that she was not there with the others, Stitch saw the panic in Irish as he pulled his phone out. Stitch knew he was trying to call her.

Ace tried to calm him.

“Irish, if she is up here, she may have just gotten lost.”

“Yeah, I’ve my deputies starting to search. We’ll find her.”

The Sheriff then looked over at Elijah’s body that was now covered with a white sheet.

“Who fired the shot?”  The Sheriff asked, turning back to the group.

The guys all stood there looking at one another as if waiting for the other to confess. Stitch knew the shot couldn’t have come from anyone on the team because of their location.  The shot had come from the other direction.   He looked at the Sheriff.  “Are you sure it wasn’t one of your guys?”

The Sheriff shook his head slowly, then as if right on cue, there was rustling in the bushes to the right of them, followed a woman’s mumbled curse.

“God damn, fucking thorns. Jesus, by the time I find my way out of here, I’m going to look like freaking cactus.”

They all stood there wide-eyed as Bailey emerged from the thick brush, shaking her hair out and pulling out vines that were stuck to her clothing, all the while carrying a huge ass rifle that was slung across her small frame.

Stitch looked closer. If he wasn’t mistaken, the rifle resembled Irish’s sniper rifle.

When she had finally pulled the last vine from her shirt, she looked up, and Stitch wanted to laugh at the look on her face and the faces of the others.

“Oh, thank god. Can someone please take this thing?” She asked as she pulled the strap of