Eight Second Angel: The Ballad of Lily Grace (Lonesome Point, Texas Book 7) by Jessie Evans Page B
Authors: Jessie Evans
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leaving you alone. We should both run, I don’t—”
She didn’t have time to finish her sentence before Rudy rushed them with the knife.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lily Grace
The most violent people in the world are also the poorest. And they know it.
They know they have nothing—no love, no creativity, no passion, no tenderness—and are fiercely jealous of those who do. In the dusty, diseased emptiness of their minds a red-faced monster screams in the dark, insisting the only way to stop their pain is to steal from those who still have riches left inside of them.
But you can’t steal light or love; you can only extinguish it.
Sixteen years ago, a man with nothing inside of him but fear and hate had put out Lily’s light and stolen her from the people she loved. Clint had taken her life, but she refused to stand by while Rudy stole Canyon’s. The world needed men like him too much, good men brave enough to stand up to the poor, angry monsters.
“Run!” Canyon pushed her behind him, but instead of running to safety she shot around him and aimed herself at Rudy. She came at him from the side, palms colliding with his thick shoulder seconds before he and his knife reached Canyon.
Rudy roared as he fell. He’d been so focused on Canyon he hadn’t anticipated her attack. It was relatively easy to knock him off balance, but Lily knew it wouldn’t be easy to fight him off once he gained his feet. She and Canyon had to get out of there.
She spun, grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the beach. “Run! We can get one of the lifeguards to call for help.”
Canyon hesitated only a moment before he launched into motion. Lily dropped his hand and they both ran, arms pumping as they cleared the campsite and started down the road toward the beach. She was pushing with everything she had, but she could sense that Canyon was holding back, staying with her instead of sprinting as fast as he could.
She was about to tell him to run faster—to get to safety because his life was the only life that mattered—when a flash of movement in her peripheral vision made her head jerk to the left in time to see a rock the size of a baseball hit the back of Canyon’s head.
He didn’t make a noise as he collapsed, simply crumpled to the ground like a basket of laundry tossed to the floor, his cheek slapping hard against the pavement. Lily screamed, a cry wrenched from the core of her being, and ground to a stop so quickly that she stumbled and fell, rolling painfully across the cracked road. She turned with a sob, scrambling on her hands and knees back to Canyon, the thin skin on her kneecaps tearing.
“Help!” she screamed as she crawled, sensing that Rudy was still coming though she couldn’t pull her eyes away from Canyon’s limp body. “Someone help me please, my friend’s hurt! Help!”
She reached Canyon’s side just as a loud male voice shouted across the parking lot. “What happened? Did he pass out?”
Lily heard footsteps approaching from her left and glanced up, seeing an older man in a khaki fishing cap and a fit, older woman dressed for hiking hurrying toward her from the trailhead. A younger couple, carrying a swim bag and towels, were not far behind them.
“He was hit with a rock,” Lily said, shifting her attention to Rudy, who had reversed direction, backing away as the other people headed toward her. She jabbed a finger his way. “That man threw it at him and he has a knife.”
The man in the fishing cap stopped a few feet from her side, fixing Rudy with a sharp look as he reached into his pocket. “I’m calling the police,” he said loudly, clearly trying to sound threatening, though he had the kind of sweet old man voice that reminded Lily of the grandpa who played Santa every year at the church.
Thankfully, Rudy had the sense to realize that the sweet old man wasn’t messing around. He turned, jogging back toward the van, clearly deciding avoiding arrest was more important than dishing out more
She didn’t have time to finish her sentence before Rudy rushed them with the knife.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lily Grace
The most violent people in the world are also the poorest. And they know it.
They know they have nothing—no love, no creativity, no passion, no tenderness—and are fiercely jealous of those who do. In the dusty, diseased emptiness of their minds a red-faced monster screams in the dark, insisting the only way to stop their pain is to steal from those who still have riches left inside of them.
But you can’t steal light or love; you can only extinguish it.
Sixteen years ago, a man with nothing inside of him but fear and hate had put out Lily’s light and stolen her from the people she loved. Clint had taken her life, but she refused to stand by while Rudy stole Canyon’s. The world needed men like him too much, good men brave enough to stand up to the poor, angry monsters.
“Run!” Canyon pushed her behind him, but instead of running to safety she shot around him and aimed herself at Rudy. She came at him from the side, palms colliding with his thick shoulder seconds before he and his knife reached Canyon.
Rudy roared as he fell. He’d been so focused on Canyon he hadn’t anticipated her attack. It was relatively easy to knock him off balance, but Lily knew it wouldn’t be easy to fight him off once he gained his feet. She and Canyon had to get out of there.
She spun, grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the beach. “Run! We can get one of the lifeguards to call for help.”
Canyon hesitated only a moment before he launched into motion. Lily dropped his hand and they both ran, arms pumping as they cleared the campsite and started down the road toward the beach. She was pushing with everything she had, but she could sense that Canyon was holding back, staying with her instead of sprinting as fast as he could.
She was about to tell him to run faster—to get to safety because his life was the only life that mattered—when a flash of movement in her peripheral vision made her head jerk to the left in time to see a rock the size of a baseball hit the back of Canyon’s head.
He didn’t make a noise as he collapsed, simply crumpled to the ground like a basket of laundry tossed to the floor, his cheek slapping hard against the pavement. Lily screamed, a cry wrenched from the core of her being, and ground to a stop so quickly that she stumbled and fell, rolling painfully across the cracked road. She turned with a sob, scrambling on her hands and knees back to Canyon, the thin skin on her kneecaps tearing.
“Help!” she screamed as she crawled, sensing that Rudy was still coming though she couldn’t pull her eyes away from Canyon’s limp body. “Someone help me please, my friend’s hurt! Help!”
She reached Canyon’s side just as a loud male voice shouted across the parking lot. “What happened? Did he pass out?”
Lily heard footsteps approaching from her left and glanced up, seeing an older man in a khaki fishing cap and a fit, older woman dressed for hiking hurrying toward her from the trailhead. A younger couple, carrying a swim bag and towels, were not far behind them.
“He was hit with a rock,” Lily said, shifting her attention to Rudy, who had reversed direction, backing away as the other people headed toward her. She jabbed a finger his way. “That man threw it at him and he has a knife.”
The man in the fishing cap stopped a few feet from her side, fixing Rudy with a sharp look as he reached into his pocket. “I’m calling the police,” he said loudly, clearly trying to sound threatening, though he had the kind of sweet old man voice that reminded Lily of the grandpa who played Santa every year at the church.
Thankfully, Rudy had the sense to realize that the sweet old man wasn’t messing around. He turned, jogging back toward the van, clearly deciding avoiding arrest was more important than dishing out more
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