Read Online Town Darling by Holly Copella - Free Book Online Page B

with alarm as panic swept over her.
    “Grey?”
    He didn’t respond. 
Unbeknownst to her, the intruder crept down the main stairs behind her.  He
made his way quietly down the steps and approached her from behind with the
bloody knife clutched in his hand.  Although barely noticeable, the faint sound
of his leather gloves gripping the knife sounded like a freight train to
Casey.  Casey suddenly grabbed the gun from the floor alongside her, spun on
her hip, and fired wildly at the stairs.  The startled intruder leapt behind
her father’s lounge chair for shelter.  Casey stood up, showed no emotion, and
fired several shots into the chair.  The .357 shells exploded through the chair
and one or two shattered the window behind it.  The gun clicked empty several
times as she continued to squeeze the trigger.  She finally gasped and returned
from her rage-induced trance.  Casey stared at the shredded chair with multiple
bullet holes through it.  There was no sound or movement.  She had gotten him! 
She took a step toward the torn chair.  The intruder suddenly leapt out from
behind the chair and tackled her to the floor just past Grey’s motionless
body.  Casey screamed and held back the knife.  He grabbed her throat to subdue
her.  She rammed her knee into his inner thigh, narrowly missing her intended
target, and jolted him enough to loosen his grip on her throat.  Having
momentarily stunned him, she scrambled to her feet and ran into the kitchen.
    Casey ran from the house,
leaping the four steps from the porch, and raced for the barn with the intruder
only a few yards behind her.  All the horses were immediately alerted and
watched from the pasture.  Casey reached the gate and attempted to unlatch it
as Storm snorted loudly in panic from several feet away.  The intruder roughly
tackled Casey to the ground, and they rolled several times.  She ended up on
top and punched him in his masked face.  As she attempted to leap off him, he
grabbed her foot and pulled her to her hands and knees.  Storm snorted, pinned
his ears, and reared up in the paddock.  Casey looked at the intruder on the
ground behind her holding her ankle and kicked him in the shoulder.  She jumped
to her feet and again ran for the gate.  Storm bolted back and forth before the
gate with his head high while snorting loudly.  The intruder tackled her
roughly into the gate, vibrating it with a loud clatter.  Storm’s ears were
pinned back and his nostrils wrinkled as his teeth bared.  Her horse had never
shown such aggression before.  As the horse lunged forward, the intruder slung
Casey roughly to the ground and narrowly avoided the horse’s teeth.  Casey
rolled several times across the ground.  She appeared disoriented as she slowly
moved to her hands and knees.  The man dressed entirely in black approached and
kicked her in her side.  Casey gasped, clutched her ribs, and nearly fell the
rest of the way to the ground. 
    Storm continued to snort
loudly and bolted past the fence.  The intruder grabbed Casey’s hair and pulled
her to her knees.  She gasped painfully and looked at the man now standing over
her.  The sound of thundering hoof beats was all Casey heard.  As she looked at
the fence, the massive gray horse majestically jumped the tall gate and charged
for them.  The intruder saw the charging horse, gasped, and released Casey. 
Storm sideswiped the man with his shoulder and knocked him to the ground while
sliding to a skidding stop.  The horse pivoted on his hindquarters to face the
man on the ground, pinned his ears, squealed loudly, and reared up over the
fallen man.  The alarmed intruder rolled out of the path of the thrashing
hooves as they violently and repeatedly struck the ground in a purposeful
attempt to crush him.  Her horse had come to her defense, something Casey never
would have imagined if she hadn’t seen if for herself. 
    Casey ran for Storm,
steadied him as he danced in place, and easily swung