He considered me for a second and cocked his head to the side before stating, “That might work.”

I exhaled slowly and told myself to stay steady. I could do this. I could fix it. “It’ll work, but you have to trust me and we have to go, right now.” The gun wobbled a little and his eyes shifted back to Church and then slid over to Elma.

“They’ll be able to tell the truth.” Shit! He had far better reasoning skills than I expected for a lunatic.

“But they won’t. They just want me to be happy and if you leave with me then I’ll be happy.”

“Dixie.” My name had never held so much meaning as it did when it was ripped out of Church’s broad and bleeding chest. He would die before he let me go and it was my job to keep him alive at all costs.

“Joe, Church and I aren’t real. This is all just a fantasy. He was never in your way. He told his family that the reason he couldn’t go home was because of a girl. It was a lie, and when he had to come home he asked me to pretend to be that girl. He’ll let me go because I’m not his to hold on to.” I’d told Church I didn’t want him to be a liar and here I was spinning falsehood upon falsehood.

Joseph continued to look at Church and at Elma but somewhere in the distance sirens started to wail, indicating that someone had reported the gunshots. We were running out of time and apparently my psycho online date knew it. “You’re gonna go with me.” He said it instead of asking it and instead of trying to get through Church to get to me he walked over by where Elma was still lying unmoving and crumpled on the ground and vaulted over the railing on the porch, which landed him in Elma’s flowers. She was going to be good and pissed when she could do something about that but at the moment all she could do was weakly lift her head and look at me with pleading eyes.

Joseph was at my side in an instant. His hand was clammy and shaking as it wrapped around my elbow. The gun in his hand dug into my side as he shoved me towards the sedan in the driveway. Once I got closer I realized the keys were in the ignition and the driver’s door was still slightly ajar. He’d grabbed the nurse when she’d been either coming or going and used her as leverage to get into Elma’s home. He was going to shoot Church as soon as he opened the door, but the man was a terrible shot. Something I hoped would work in my soldier’s favor.

“You drive.” He put a hand on my head and tried to shove me into the car. With his hand on the top of my head and sirens screaming as they got closer and closer I let my eyes meet Church’s as he lumbered to his feet and started towards the car.

“Hey, Church.” I whispered the words, not sure that he would hear them over the pounding of my heart and across the distance that separated us. “You know I love you, right?” I’d never tried to hide it but I had to tell him if this was the only chance I was going to get.

“You don’t get to do that, Dixie. You don’t get to give me that when you’re risking your neck like a little fool and telling lies.” He sounded so angry and so hurt that it hurt worse than the crack of the gun across the top of my head as Joseph freaked out at my words and hit me.

I let out a strangled laugh and closed my eyes briefly. “You’ve always had it. I gave it to you forever ago. You just didn’t know it.”

“Get in the car, Dixie.” I did as I was told and folded into the seat. The car was a few years old and needed an oil change but it started right up. I pulled out of the driveway, watching Church with wide eyes the entire time.

Alone in the car with the only person I’d ever met who actually wanted to harm me, I told him exactly what was on my mind. I felt like there wasn’t much left to lose.

“Your mom was overbearing and has obvious control issues. If you want to meet a girl and have something special, I would suggest you leave her at home next time.” I cut him a look from the corner of my eye and noticed that he was turning an alarming shade of red. His cheeks were billowing in and out like he was having trouble catching his breath.

“She yelled at me.” The gun swung in an arc and ended up pointed at the side of my head. “She hit me … she always hits. Ever since I was little. She told me I would never be a man, that I would never have what it took to satisfy a woman. She burned me with an iron.” He pulled up the sleeve of his arm and showed me a nasty burn that looked like it was still healing. “Then she told me I was worthless and that I would never give her grandchildren.” He started to laugh. Hysterical, shrill peals of laughter that hurt my ears and made my skin crawl. “Well, I finally had enough. I finally fought back. So you don’t have to worry about Mother or her hurting our children anymore. She got what she deserved.”

I cringed and swallowed back a scream. He’d tried to hire someone to kill Church, so I shouldn’t be surprised that he was capable of taking a life and sounding so cavalier about it. What really had my skin tightening and my brain buzzing was the fact that he was talking about me being the mother of his children. That didn’t bode well for me and whatever future plans he had in mind.

I blew out a breath and lifted my eyes to the rearview mirror. I had to trap a shout behind clamped-down lips. Then out of nowhere a white car with twirling red and blue lights was trailing behind us, dropping in and out of sight, but there nonetheless. I’d tried to sacrifice myself for the greater good, but the greater good wasn’t going to let me go that easily. I couldn’t stem the flow of tears that spilled over my lashes and ran freely down my face.