Now or Never

Chapter One





Jay



No! Em, no!

Pain radiated from his chest, his head, his gut. Hell, the pain was everywhere, but nothing hurt as badly as the sight of that son of a bitch hauling Em from the room, while he laid there, powerless to stop it.

No. He wasn’t powerless. Not anymore. He’d never be powerless again. He promised himself that two years ago when he’d walked out of that house, and he couldn’t afford to be now. Not when the girl he loved was in trouble. Not when she was so frightened her entire body was visibly shaking and yet she still threw herself on her uncle’s mercy to protect him.

That wasn’t how this was supposed to work. He was supposed to protect her. Keep her safe. Ignoring stabbing pains so acute that they sent white hot light lancing through his skull, Jay dragged himself up off the floor. His legs didn’t want to cooperate and he stumbled sideways into the wall. Too long. This was taking too damn long. He had to catch her. He had to stop her. He had to.

“Em.” His harsh voice rasped through the vacant stairwell as he lowered himself precariously toward the first floor of the crack house he’d been stupid enough to bring Em into, but no one was there to hear him. “Em!”

Time seemed to come in flashes, like the whole world rotating under a strobe light. Jay shuffled down the hall toward the front door, tripping over unconscious and prone bodies along the way. He wanted to scream at them. Tell them to get the hell out of his way, to get up, to do something, to help him. But he couldn’t do any of that. Staying upright was taking all of his concentration and continuing forward one step at a time was demanding more than he was sure he had. Still, he kept going.

Jay shoved outside just in time to see that asshole push Em into the passenger side of a dark blue four door sedan. The street lamp was out so he couldn’t see her face in the shadows, but he heard her sob as the door slammed shut.

“Wait! Em!” Jay lurched down the steps, no longer giving a damn about the dizzying sensation threatening to ground him. “No!”

Feet flying across the small unkempt lot, he hit the sidewalk just as the sedan peeled away from the curb.

Jay tore down the sidewalk after it, feet thumping against the pavement so hard it seemed to rattle his brain. “No. No! Em, no. Please. No.”

As the taillights rounded the corner at the end of the block, the world tilted on its axis. All around him, his surroundings spun into a wild blur of color and nausea inducing pain. Jay barely registered the slap of the pavement against his cheek before everything went dark . . .

***

“Useless. That girl comes out here and you take her in. Tell her you’ll keep her safe. Take care of her.” The familiar mocking of his father’s voice rang loud and clear, and seared Jay to the bone. “What did you think? Doin’ all that. Taking care of that girl would somehow make up for your mother? Stupid boy. You’re the reason she’s dead and no amount of repentance can make up for that. You’re headed straight to hell, boy. And a girl like that? She don’t belong in hell with the likes of you.”

“Em . . .” Jay’s voice was little more than a muffled groan.

“Couldn’t even do that right, though, could you? Never could take care of no one. She’s better off without you.”

“No.” He was wrong. “Em.”

“She don’t need you.”

“Em.” Even if that was true. Even if she didn’t need him. He needed her. “Em.”





Chapter Two





Em



Em jerked awake, scanning the darkened room. She was safe. She was in her home. In her bed. Not out there on the streets. Not back with him. She was safe. A deep breath started to bring her racing pulse back under control.

“Em . . . No . . . Em . . .”Jay’s haunted mumblings had her brain clawing its way out of the muddled fuzziness of waking so abruptly.

“Jay?”

The pain in his face eased at the sound of her voice and he rolled toward it, eyes still shut tight.

“No. Em. Em.” His head rocked on the pillow and Em’s heart clenched painfully.

Another nightmare. He didn’t have them often—or at least he hid them well from her—but when he did, it hurt her to see him in that kind of pain even if it wasn’t real.

“Jay, baby, wake up. It’s me. It’s Em. Wake up, baby.”

He groaned and shook his head. The nightmare wasn’t letting him go.

“Jay!” This time she shook him gently. “Jay!”

Jay shot straight up in the bed, gasping for breath and scanning the room much like she had just done. She knew too well what that split second felt like. That moment each and every time you woke up and didn’t know where you were, still thought you were in danger, before reality settled in.