Scarred (Unlikely Heroes Book 5) by Leslie Georgeson

his arms.
    His heart seized. He went cold everywhere, his limbs turning to ice.
    “Now we’re even.” Sebastian turned from the room with Scar. “If I see you again, I will kill you, Jimmy. And all your buddies too.”
    He walked out, his body numb with shock.
    No one tried to stop him.
    Sebastian tossed the gun over the fence into the yard next door as he strode to his Beemer parked down the street. He gently laid Scar’s body in the passenger’s seat, not caring that the dog’s blood soaked the expensive leather. He went around to the driver’s side, his movements stiff with shock.
    They’d killed Scar.
    The sweet pup who’d helped keep him sane in a time of insanity.
    Scar.
    Who’d helped Sebastian stay strong and kept him from relapsing in his weakest moments.
    Scar.
    His best friend. His only friend.
    Scar.
    Sebastian’s chest constricted, pushing the air from his lungs, suffocating him.
    He gasped.
    He pulled open the driver’s door and fell into the car, landing heavily onto the seat.
    “Oh Scar,” he whispered, leaning across the vehicle to gently stroke the dog’s fur. “I’m so sorry. So sorry. This was all my fault.” If only he’d waited, talked to the police, done something different other than burst in on them, trying to play hero, then Scar would still be alive.
    A piece of Sebastian died along with Scar. It slipped loose, pulling free from his soul, and puffed away like smoke in a breeze.
    The last good piece of him was now gone.
    Only emptiness remained.
    He slowly lifted his head, wiped the tears from his eyes.
    His vision cleared.
    Then the darkness consumed him, swirling around him, choking him.
    He didn’t fight it. What was the use?
    Instead, he willingly gave in to it, letting it devour him whole.
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Sebastian’s garage door opened. The squeak and groan of the tracks rolling up, then down was loud in the otherwise silent house. Emily ran to her door and waited. He was back. Had he freed Scar?
    She listened while he went into the house. The door slammed.
    She waited awhile longer, hoping he would come to her and tell her what had happened. But he didn’t.
    Another door slammed. Why was he being so noisy? It was almost three o’clock in the morning.
    A sound came from the backyard. She jerked toward her bedroom where the emergency egress window opened out into the backyard.
    The porch light was on.
    Emily leapt up onto the bed and pushed the window open. She peered out into the yard. The light cast a glow over the lawn and the landscaping in Sebastian’s back yard, enabling her to make out movement near the fence.
    Sebastian. Bending over something.
    He straightened with something in his right hand.
    He raised his arms up, then down.
    A thumping sound came from across the yard, like something banging into the earth.
    A shovel.
    Her heart went cold.
    No! Please don’t let Scar be dead!
    Shoving the window open the rest of the way, Emily climbed out. Cautiously she approached Sebastian where he was digging a hole in the backyard.
    Thump. Toss. Thump. Toss.
    A pile of dirt was growing off to his right.
    When she reached him, she spied Scar’s lifeless body lying near Sebastian’s feet.
    “Sebastian?”
    He ignored her, slamming the shovel into the ground again. Then tossing dirt aside. His hair was wildly disheveled, as if he’d repeatedly raked his hands through it.
    She touched his arm. “Sebastian.”
    He shrugged her hand off. “Go away, Emily. Just go. Away.”
    She dropped to where Scar lay and gently stroked his fur. “What happened?”
    Sebastian thrust the shovel into the ground again, tossed more dirt aside. He didn’t answer.
    Emily gathered Scar’s body up and pulled him into her lap. She stroked the dog’s head. Scar’s blood seeped into her nightshirt, leaving a sticky film on her thigh, but she didn’t care.
    Sebastian paused, turning that angry gaze on her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
    “Saying goodbye,” she