Firecracker (On Hold)

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Seven

Justin's P.O.V.

I have to say, I'm a little torn in this situation. I'm glad Ariya was here to stop Emmett and help Lou. I'm also pleased he got what he deserves, especially from a girl. The irony is not lost on me. But, I'm also at a loss for words with how badly Ariya beat him. He's a scum bag and he deserved a beating, but the objective and sensible part of me knows that this was over the top.

Chris walks over and assesses the situation. He stares at Ariya and then looks more closely at Emmett.

He looks shocked and then questions, "Is that Emmett?"

I nod an affirmative.

He lets out a long, slow breath, "Geez, what did you do to him? Is he even alive?"

Ariya grinds out, "I didn't kill him."

"Justin, did you call the doc?"

"No. I thought you needed to know first."

He calls the doc and then turns his attention to Ariya.

"What happened here, Miss Flynn?"

I literally hear her grind her teeth at the use of her full name. Before she can make a comment about it, I jump in.

"Ariya, take a breath... Chris, do you want to question Louise first?"

"No, I think I'll find out from Miss Flynn first and then see if her story has any truth to it."

I thought that's what he would say but I only wanted to divert Ariya's attention before she did something stupid and messed everything up.

"Care to explain this situation?"

Ariya stares straight at Chris, almost in defiance. She's showing that she's not scared of him. It's very important to her not to show any form of weakness.

"That dude tried to grab Louise. He was saying something about her stopping all the messing around and that she should be at home. I told him she wasn't interested and he got real angry. Louise tried to get away from him but he'd backed her into the railings so he grabbed her arm. He was hurting her, so I grabbed ahold of him until he let Louise go. He took a swing at me so I released him. He hit me first, so I hit him back. That is the result."

She turns to glare at Emmett's still frame.

The doc appears so Chris tells Ariya, "Go stand over by my car. Don't go anywhere. I'm just going to figure out the damage here and then I'll deal with you. Don't talk to Louise either. Justin, I'm trusting you to make sure she does as she's told."

I walk with Ariya to Chris' car. I tell her to stand and wait until Chris is finished. Mike comes rushing over soon after that and he finds Louise standing in exactly the same place. She hasn't moved or spoken since she breathed out Emmett's name.

She jumps when Mike touches her shoulder, but when she realizes it's him, she leaps into his arms and starts sobbing.

I ask Ariya, "Can I trust you to stay here while I go and check on Lou? I won't let Chris talk to you without me, but I need to make sure she's ok."

"It's nothing I haven't dealt with before."

"That's not the point. I'm not going to let that happen now. Just wait here for me."

Thankfully, Ariya doesn't argue or disobey my request. I think she's actually pretty smart and she knows that doing anything silly will make this whole situation way worse for her.

I honestly don't know how this thing is going to go. I'm aware that small towns work differently to big cities. There is history with Emmett and Louise; Chris knows that. He could see Ariya's actions as trying to protect Louise, but he could also use this to punish Ariya even more. Personally, I don't think that's going to make a bit of difference to the way Ariya behaves. In fact, it'll probably make her feel like she's being punished for doing a good deed. In her mind, she's helped Louise, so if she's punished for that then it could backfire.