Together Again • JJ Maybank

Thirteen

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It felt like time had frozen, or that minutes were passing by at record speed, when in reality it had only been a couple of seconds. The rain was hammering down on my already soaked body. I blinked repeatedly to keep the drops from blurring my vision as I flicked my gaze from Ward to the silhouette over his shoulder.

If Ward didn't have me pinned to the wall, his body just millimeters from mine, I wouldn't have noticed the way that his overpowering hold on my neck faltered, flinching briefly at the unexpected sound of JJ armed with a loaded gun.

But as quickly as his rattled reaction caught him by surprise, his composed and overly-confident attitude returned. Without taking his eyes off of me, Ward's lips twitched into a sinister smile as a loud chuckle escaped him. A laugh that was anything but funny.

"I wondered if this waste of space would show up." He said once he stopped laughing, cracking his neck to one side. "I assumed he'd drunk himself into his own self-pitying hole and I no longer had to be concerned."

"Let go of her." I wished so desperately that I could see JJ's face through the darkness as he spoke, but he was still shielded in the shadows.

Ward ran his tongue over his bottom lip, letting out a small breath before answering. "Or what? You'll shoot me?" He shook his head, the smirk not leaving his lips. "I don't think you'll be able to afford the bail. Although life in prison would probably be better accommodation than what you're used to."

I shifted uncomfortably in my spot, desperately trying to come up with a way out of this without JJ actually being arrested for murder.

Closing the small gap between us, JJ stepped forward as his anger boiled over. "I said, let go of her!" He was yelling now as he pushed the gun into the back of Ward's head.

I whimpered, forcing my eyes to close with the fear of what might happen in front of me, but opened them again as soon as I felt Ward's grip on me fall away. Taking one step backwards, he raised his hands in the air in defeat. "Ok, ok. No one needs to get hurt. I'm sure we can settle this."

For the first time I was able to see JJ's blue eyes settle on me as a flash of lightening lit everything around us. But Ward saw the moment of weakness in JJ and reacted before I even had a chance to process it.

Throwing his elbow back, Ward slammed it straight into JJ's chest, knocking him off balance as he stumbled back with a winded grunt. Through the rain and the darkness, it all happened so fast. One minute JJ had the upper hand and the next Ward was landing blow after blow as JJ tried to defend himself.

Finding my voice, I yelled after them to stop, rushing towards where they had stumbled with each brutal hit. Among the blur of fists, I noticed that JJ no longer had the gun in his hand. Had he dropped it? Or worse, did Ward get it off of him?

Not having time to think it through, I joined the fight in any way I could, grabbing at Ward's shirt and landing as many blows as I could to his back. But it done little to weaken his assault on JJ and it didn't take much effort for him to shove me off of him.

The ground was slippery, soggy with soaking wet mud, but I managed to hold my balance. Pushing my wet hair from my face, another flash of lightening lit up my view. Ward had JJ's shirt crumpled in his hands as he dragged him backwards. JJ's arms swung around him, occasionally landing a direct hit, but unable to get any power or control over Ward.

I took one step forward, but the hard thud under my foot took me by surprise. Looking down at my feet, my eyes focused on the JJ's gun buried slightly in the soft mud.

Hearing more yells and grunts of pain through a crash of thunder, I looked back up to the fight. My breath rushed from my chest at the sight of Ward now on top of JJ's body. Pinning him down and pummeling hit after hit. JJ was still holding on, trying to shield his face and body, but weakening with each passing moment.