Category: Flash Fiction

Relief flooded over her like a tidal wave.

It was over.

Jax stood above her and Sarisa, his gun squarely trained on the crazy woman who had tried to kill them.

There was a blazing fury in his eyes like she had never seen before.

He wanted to kill his ex.

It was written all over his face, but Mackenzie knew he would regret it if he did. He had loved Sarisa, been planning on spending his life with her, if he killed her now in anger one day he would realise it was a mistake. She belonged in prison but she was clearly crazy, she needed help.

“Don’t do it, Jax,” she said in a ragged whisper.

“She got her stepbrother to rape you, she shot you, she was going to kill you, she deserves to die,” he spat.

“She’s sick. I don’t want you to regret it, Jax.”

“I won’t.”

In that split second before he pulled the trigger the door burst open, and cops burst in.

Mackenzie relaxed, allowed the world to go blurry around the edges now that she knew that she and Jax were going to be okay.

People began to poke and prod at her, medics she presumed, but even when they began to check out the bullet hole in her leg she didn’t feel any pain.

She was floating.

It wasn’t until strong arms wrapped around her, cradling her against a hard chest.

Jax.

“I’m here, baby, I’m not going anywhere.”

That brought a smile to her lips.

She didn’t want him to go anywhere.

Ever.

Jax landed with a crash, the body of Mackenzie’s rapist landing on top of him and whooshing the air from his lungs.

Sarisa stood in the doorway and from the look on her face she obviously thought that her bullet had taken both of them out.

Had he not pivoted at the last second it probably would have.

Instead the bullet had sliced straight through the other man, piercing his heart, and from the amount of blood soaking through his clothes and the complete and unnatural stillness, the other man was dead.

“You were really getting on my nerves, Raymond, step-brother or not, you had to go. Sorry, Jax, I didn’t mean to take you out too, but I can’t think of a more romantic ending to our love story than to go out like Romeo and Juliet.”

Sarisa stood in the doorway and Jax forced himself to play dead. As soon as her back was turned he would take her out.

“Before Jax and I can get our happy ending, you need to go,” Sarisa said as she tossed the gun on the bed and rounded it, walking over to Mackenzie.

Quietly as he could he rolled Raymond’s body off him, and stood, creeping to the bed he scooped up the gun. As he walked around the bed he saw that Mackenzie fought with everything she had as Sarisa tried to wrap her hands around her neck.

Anger burned brightly inside him. How had he ever thought he was in love with Sarisa? Mackenzie was everything he had ever wanted in a woman and there was no way he was losing her.

“Its over, Sarisa,” he said as he aimed the gun at her head.

Pain.

She was floating on a bed of pain.

Something cool blotted at her face, and gentle fingers stroked her cheek.

“Honey, can you hear me?”

The voice was worried and she didn’t want anyone to worry about her, so she tried very hard to open her eyes and reassure them.

“Honey, I could really do with some help right about now.”

Jax.

It was Jax’s voice.

Since she didn’t want to disappoint him she managed to force her eyes open. “I’m awake,” she croaked weakly.

“Do you remember what happened?” Jax asked, his worried eyes watching her like he was afraid she might leave him again at a moment’s notice.

“Sarisa was here, and the man who raped me, they shot me.”

“They knocked me out and put us both in your bedroom. I raided your bathroom when I was getting a wet cloth and something to used to wrap your wound, and I found two pairs of scissors. I know you’re weak and hurting but I’m going to give you one, you get a chance you don’t hesitate to take it.”

He pressed the scissors into her hand and she managed to curl her fingers around it. She wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to use it but she would do her best, she wasn’t going to leave Jax to handle this alone.

“I’m going to put you in the bathroom, the best thing we have going for us right now is that they think I’m tied up. I heard sirens earlier, the cops are here but they’re barricaded themselves in here. Once you’re safely tucked away I’ll wait and make my move as soon as they come back in here.”

“”Kay,” she whispered.

“You just hold on, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

“You’ll do better than try,” he reprimanded firmly. Then he smoothed a hand over her hair, leaned down and kissed her. “You have too much to live for, so you fight okay, you don’t give up.”

Mackenzie could read the promise of their future in Jax’s eyes and it was enough to strengthen her. “I won’t give up,” she promised.

He bent down to gingerly lift her from the bed when they heard a door opening behind them.

Jax moved at lightning speed. He set her on the floor on the other side of the bed, and then he was gone.

She could hear him collide with another body, the sounds of a scuffle, grunts and groans, and then the sound of a gun going off.

Something fell to the floor with a thud.

A shadow fell over her as someone rounded the bed.

Mackenzie clutched the scissors Jax had given her and waited to see if it was Jax or one of their attackers who was coming towards her.

As he came round there was an eerie silence all around the apartment.

Jax bolted upright, unsurprised to find that his wrists were bound behind his back. He had a raging headache but no memory of how he lost consciousness.

There was only one thing on his mind.

Mackenzie.

She’d been shot, he remembered that much, her shriek of agony was something he would never forget.

The gunshot would rouse neighbours, who would no doubt call the 911, but he had a feeling that Sarisa and whoever the man with her was would more likely to hole up in here with him and Mackenzie as hostages than they would open the door to the cops when they arrived.

Scanning the room he saw they were in what he assumed was Mckenzie’s bedroom. He was sitting in an armchair by the window and Mackenzie was lying on the bed. Her eyes were closed, blood soaked her leg and the quilt beneath it

Panic flooded him, washing away his pain.

Had she already bled out?

Her skin was as white as snow, but he could just make out her chest rising and falling.

She was still alive.

Holding his wrists apart as far as he could he lifted his arms above his head, then brought them down hard against his bent knees. He repeated that twice more and the plastic zip ties

As soon as he was free Jax ran to the bed. His fingertips touched her neck, finding a pulse that was weak and thready. Her skin was cold and clammy, her breathing quick and shallow. Jax had enough first aid training to know that she was already in hypovolemic shock.

He had to get her out of here, she needed a hospital and she needed one now.

There was no she was going to be able to help him get them out of here. It was all on him. He had to keep Mackenzie alive and he had to find a way to get through two armed assailants.

Jax prayed he was up to this monumental task.