Freeze (The Jewel Project #4)

26.2|| The Worst Break in Ever

"Billy!"

Throwing caution to the wind, Kyle grabbed the edge of the window and lifted himself to his feet. Glass dug into his palms, but he couldn't feel it. His eyes scanned the river. There was no sign of Billy. No floating bundle, no water rings, no nothing.

Something dug into his back, scrambling his insides with the force of the hit. Darkness clouded the edges of his vision, and he let it. He let it take over him, tense his muscles, quicken his movements, because fuck it! He was done with this. Done with the worry, done with letting the good in him make him and everyone he loved an easy target.

He could feel his body moving, but he didn't care. Let it trample over the henchmen or die trying. He retreated inside the darkness, trying to block out everything. Billy's smile flooded his mind together with his confidence, his misery.

What did you do, Billy? Did you do it on purpose?

"Kyle!"

Nope. He was never coming out of the dark, comfortable place. He liked it, he didn't have to face shit.

Coward.

"Kyle, wake up!"

Something slapped his face. Hard. But he didn't care. Let his body take it because it could. But when soft hands framed his face, he realized something might be wrong. Kay's eyes appeared in front of his own, scared, worried.

Shit, he'd totally lost it. He blinked hard, trying to come back, to overcome the grief and the rage inside him.

"Kay, out of the way."

The light touch left his face, replaced by another hard slap. It snapped him right out of it, and only then did he realize he was holding Jessie off the floor by one wrist while she used her other hand to hit him across the face.

He yelped and dropped her. She fell into a crouch, rubbing her wrist, her eyes taking in their surroundings.

Kyle looked around, too. He'd torn a path through the goons and most of them had stuck to the walls, trying to avoid his rage. The floor was filled with bodies, but they were moaning and moving, so he guessed he hadn't really done that much damage.

But he'd grabbed Jessie. He'd been seconds away from hurting her. The cold running through him froze his insides.

"Yes, problematic," Jessie mumbled as if the terror on his face was a window to his mind. "But we have no time for that."

She was right. Jerry and Tina were surrounded. He gave both girls an apologetic smile and rushed towards them, kicking away the guy hitting Jerry.

"We need to close the doors," Jerry wheezed, bending double and breathing.

He had the best point. Kyle chose the most crowded area to break through towards the doors. On his way, he threw a fleeting glance over his shoulder toward the baricade, but Jimmy, Angie and Tom seemed to be handling it well enough. They'd had no assailants from that direction so far.

It took him seconds to reach the first door and kick it closed. Jerry hurried to block the other entrance. He'd barely touched the wood when it opened and knocked him over. He tumbled over on the shattered glass and cried out in pain. A goon stepped out, pistol out and pointed.

Forgetting about his own door, Kyle charged at him and wrapped his hand around the man's wrist. With a light flick, he snapped it. The gun fell to the floor, next to Jerry's face.

A scream from behind had him turning around. The door he'd closed was once again open. Kay was on her back, on the floor, and a huge man holding a knife had just pushed Jessie from in front of her.