Twelve

A teenage girl stood several feet away from us. She came prepared for the rainy weather, although the jacket she wore looked a little large for her small frame. Then Taylor found her voice. “How could you do this to me—you ungrateful, spoiled brat!”

“Taylor,” I said, taking her arm again. “Be quiet.”

In the next instant, Beth reached in her pocket, and without saying a word, pulled out a small automatic gun.

“Beth—” I held out my hands and took a step in front of Taylor. I inched closer to the girl, glancing at the gun in her hand. “Just take it easy…”

“Take it easy?” Beth said. “I’ve done nothing but wait on her. She takes and takes—” She waved the gun to her right but brought it back, pointing it between me and her sister. “Did she tell you how she borrowed money from me to move to California? It was part of my scholarship money. She got her big break, but she still wanted more from me. She said, ‘I’m your sister’, she guilted me into it. Now she’s successful and I’m forgotten—again. I’m always forgotten.”

Beth yelled at Taylor, “You said I’d be a contestant last time, promising me a prince, and then tell me crap. A conflict of interest? You put Lemon on the show—she’s your sorority sister. And now you dare use that same lie on me again?” She stepped closer, leveling the gun at Taylor’s chest. “Not any—”

I grabbed her wrist and pulled. When I twisted around, I threw Beth off balance, smashing her against the wall with my body. A shot exploded, sending a bullet into the adjacent wall inches away from her sister. Taylor screamed, and I yanked the gun from Beth’s hand.

Beth was crying as she shoved me away. I tripped and fell. Before I could get up, she pushed Taylor on top of me and opened the elevator. “I hate you—I just want to die!”

I had a sick feeling she was headed for the roof. I stumbled toward the doors, but they closed before I could get a hand between them. “No—”

I picked up the gun. “Taylor, take the other elevator up to my office. Tell Jace what happened, and then stay there. I’m going after your sister.”

I didn’t wait to see if she’d moved before hitting the stairs at a run. The first flight wasn’t too bad, but after I reached the elevator doors—they didn’t open. I punched the ‘up’ button in case I’d run faster than it had risen. It still didn’t open. I rushed back to the stairs and started to climb. After checking the doors on the third floor, I knew I was lagging behind it.

I had no choice. The building had fifteen floors before the roof. I took each step swiftly—as if Beth’s life depended on it. Five more floors and I was breathing hard. Five more and my legs felt like cooked spaghetti—horribly weak and ready to give out. My heart pounded, my pulse thudded in my ears. “Come on, Max,” I said wheezing with each breath. “You can do…this.”

The fifteenth floor didn’t have an exit directly to the roof from inside the building. It could only be accessed from inside the stairwell. Beth wouldn’t know that. While my run up the stairs was slower than a ride up the elevator, Beth being lost for a couple of minutes searching for the way out might work in my favor.

When I made it to the fifteenth floor, I heard the heavy metal door to the roof bang closed. Beth had left the building. I struggled my way up the last flight while taking out my phone from my jeans. I was ready to dial Jace, to tell him I needed help, when I noticed several missed calls from him and Bullet. I’d had it on vibrate only and didn’t feel it go off in my rush.

I touched Jace’s number to redial it as I pushed through the door, but as soon as I stepped outside I saw Beth heading for the south edge of the building. It overlooked the normally busy street. Friday nights were just as busy the weekdays, with people headed for a concert or nightlife.

“Beth—” I called out rushing toward her, my heart beating so wildly in my throat, I thought I’d pass out. “Stay away from the edge,” I pleaded.

Beth stopped a few feet away from the raised, two-foot tall stone embankment. I felt sick seeing her that close. Lightning split the sky. I shuffled closer to her as the thunder clapped the air together.

“Don’t come near me,” Beth yelled. I could barely understand her, she was crying so hard. She held out her hands like she could push me back, while taking another step to the low wall.

I thought I’d heard Jace’s voice from my phone. “Jace—Jace, help me. I’m on the roof. I need you—I need you now!” I set her gun and my phone down to free my hands and inched a little closer to the distraught girl. But what I really wanted to do was collapse down on my hands and knees and crawl as fast as I could back to the staircase.

“Beth, please, please come away from there. Your sister wants to work things out.” I wriggled my hands. “Please come over to me.”

Beth didn’t listen. She remained about three feet away from the edge of a three hundred twenty foot drop to unforgivingly hard concrete.

“Taylor’s a liar,” she screamed. “I should’ve known she wouldn’t change. She used me. She uses everyone to get her way. No more!” Beth turned around.

Lighting flashed close enough that I could see her drop her head and shoulders. Oh no! With my heart hammering hard enough I thought it would explode, I leapt forward, closing the distance between us. I grabbed her around her chest, clamping her arms down at her side. Beth’s scream was lost in the reverberation of the thunder cracking

“Jace! Help—” I yelled. She was strong. I was able to hold her for a few seconds before she twisted around and broke free. Beth shoved me, but I had my feet solidly planted. She stumbled backward and tripped on the ledge. Her eyes went wide as she fell.

We reached for each other. I was able to catch her hand just as she went over the edge.

We both screamed as she pulled me across the two-foot wide stone embankment, still clutching her hand. Our fall stopped when I grabbed a metal vent pipe. I had one knee hooked on the inside of the short wall, but Beth’s weight made it impossible for me to lift her. “Stop struggling—”

Lightning sizzled horizontally and thunder boomed simultaneously. I felt a burning tingle in my hand. I was holding a lightning rod! My fingers twitched in pain and my hand slipped from the pole. I screamed as the inside of my arm scraped across the sharp side of the stone while Beth pulled us down farther. I caught the inside edge with my fingers.

“Jace—” I screamed. “Help—” I stared down at Beth’s figure. She had hold of my arm—I felt that, but it was dark outside. With every lightning flash I could make out her terrified face staring up at me through the ends of my dangling hair. She didn’t want to die. It was the opposite. She was fighting to live.

My arm began to shake with the strain. I was slowly losing strength. Most of my upper body hung over the edge. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t witness the young girl falling to her death—or watch me being pulled down after her. “Jace…” I whimpered. “Where are you?”

A heavy weight pressed against my back, suffocating me. A moment later I felt myself falling. No, not falling—being lifted. I landed on my back in intense agony. When I opened my eyes I saw Jace kneeling above me. I looked around. Taylor and Beth were hanging onto each other and crying. Bullet and Pierce stood next to them.

It had started to rain. I moved to sit up, but blinding pain seared through my chest, and I screamed.

“Max, don’t move,” Jace said, as he stripped off his shirt. “Your shoulder’s dislocated.”

“We need to get off the roof,” Willow said. I hadn’t noticed her and Lia standing near the door. “The lightning—we’re going to be electrocuted.”

“Bullet, get everyone inside. I’ve got to stop Max’s bleeding. And call for the paramedics,” Jace shouted.

“I already did,” Willow said.

“Bleeding?” I whispered, watching him wrap his shirt tightly around my arm from my hand to the inside of my elbow. I’d felt it scrape, but with the feverish way Jace worked, it must be more than a few scratches.

After he tied it off, he moved my hand around and rested my arm on my chest. When he picked up my other hand he leaned down and put his face very near mine. It was too dark for me to see him clearly, but he was breathing quickly—like he’d run up six flights of stairs as if my life depended on it. “Max, I’m going to move your other arm and it’s going to hurt.” Worry laced each word.

He didn’t wait for me to respond before he had my hand tucked up next to the other. I groaned, but it immediately turned into pitiful crying as he picked me up and held me close with my face pressed against his neck. Each of Jace’s heavy steps down the stairs to the elevator tortured my shoulder.

“Shh, baby, I’ve got you.”

“The gun,” I whispered, too spent to lift my head.

“I have it, Max,” Bullet said. His voice was nearly as close as Jace’s.

When Jace took several deep breaths in close succession, Bullet’s tone changed. “She’s okay, Jace man. You saved her.” His words softened as he repeated, “You saved her.”