CHAPTER FORTY-SIX MOLLY
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
MOLLY
Matt was outside my bedroom door, and I’d blasted my fan, telling him not to bother me for a few hours. I was going to take a much-needed nap.
All my craziness. All the times I reacted to situations and ended up making things worse. Most of those times, I hadn’t made a conscious decision. I’d only felt the switch happening, and then bam, I was reacting and doing stupid things to put my loved ones in danger.
This was different. I was choosing to do something stupid, but I was doing it to save someone I loved.
So, I snuck out using the secret exit.
Ashton shouldn’t have told me about it because it was going to be my personal front door.
Also, it was just plain awesome because there was a tunnel that went under a whole other building.
It came out to a side street, but because no one thought I knew about it, and I doubted Ashton thought I’d use it, I totally used it.
The same gray sedan that we’d used to pick up my dad was waiting for me behind a dumpster. I ran over. “Go, go, go.” I threw myself into the back seat, falling down over candy wrappers and chip bags.
Pialto squeaked from the front seat but gunned the accelerator and we were off. “Molly Easter! You gave me a heart attack.”
I pulled out a Doritos bag and looked inside. There were still chips inside. “How old is this bag?”
“Which one?”
I sat up, just barely, plopping my chin on the back of his seat in the middle section, and hung the bag over the edge of the seat. “These guys.”
He glanced at it and lifted up his shoulder. “No clue, but I wouldn’t eat any.”
I tossed it over my shoulder, keeping my head up, my chin on the seat.
He grinned at me over his shoulder before hunching back over, his ball cap pulled low. He kept driving. “It’s good to see you, boss.”
I laughed. Boss. It was good to hear that. “You too.”
He laughed, holding a fist back toward me.
I pounded it with mine. We both pretended to have it explode. Although, probably not the best idea considering my apartment door. I grimaced.
“I feel like I’m springing you from jail.”
“You kinda are.”
“We’re going to the hospital?”
I nodded, getting serious and checking my phone. “Jess’s mom has an appointment there in an hour.”
“What’s the plan?”
I cringed.
Pialto saw the cringe. “Oh, no. Tell me you have a plan. You’re putting yourself in danger for—”
“I have a plan!” I didn’t have a plan. Or, well, my plan was to get us inside the hospital, and we should be good. There were so many visitors walking around; no one would think to raise an alarm about us.
So, yeah. I had a plan.
“What is it? I’m risking my neck here too. Your man is dangerous and deadly, and word on the street is that he enjoys being cruel to his enemies.” Pialto kept tightening and retightening his hold on the steering wheel. He began muttering in Spanish.
“Hey.” I touched his shoulder. “I won’t let Ashton do anything. I promise.”
“And what if something happens to you?” He craned his neck around, enough to hiss, “ You won’t be around to save my hide! ”
“I will haunt him.”
He went back to muttering in Spanish. “Not helping, Mols. But it’s good to see you.”
I smothered a laugh and fell back, but moved my legs up so I wasn’t lying across the seat. I was sitting, slumped down. “You too. I’ve missed you guys. How’s Sophie?”
“She’s gonna be pissed we didn’t call her too.”
My heart tightened up. He was right, but that was another person in danger. “When we get there, you drop me off. I’ll go from there.”
“Yeah, right. We’ll argue about that when we get there.”
He was right. One fight at a time.
Jess’s mom’s appointment was in the clinic part of the hospital, but we just needed to get inside.
That was the first step. The other part of my plan was ditching Pialto because he would argue about going with me, but I didn’t need to put even more people in danger.
I was following the guideline that if someone was with me, and I was doing something stupid, chances were high they’d have a gun pointed at them.
Because of that, the very first time he stopped the car, I darted out.
“Hey!” he yelled through the window.
I flashed him a smile and two thumbs up, then took off, heading for the ER entrance because a car had just pulled up. A guy ran around, yelling for help, and wham bam, I was there. “I can help. What’s going on?”
He gave me a cursory look before opening the door. “My wife’s in labor.”
Got it. I knew nothing about the birth process. “How long ago did her water break?”
“Two minutes.”
We both bent in, helping his wife out. I yelled over my shoulder, “We need a wheelchair!”
“You got her? I need to park the car.”
“I got her.”
“Okay. Here.” He gave me a bag, pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be right back, honey.”
She was in the middle of screaming but grabbed his hand and squeezed. Hard. I thought I heard a snap before he extricated himself, his whole face twisted up, before he went back to his car.
The nurse was bringing a chair over. “What’s going on?”
“Her water broke two minutes ago.” Act like you’re supposed to be there. Act like you’re supposed to be there. That was on repeat in my head, and the nurse glanced at me once, a frown on her face, before the woman started screaming again. “Okay, okay.” She took over as we got her in the chair.
I followed with the bag.
The security guys waved us in, but they did make me step through the metal detectors. Once I was cleared, I picked up her bag and hurried after where the nurse had gone.
They put her in a room.
I put her bag down and patted her hand. “I’m going to tell your husband where you are.”
I moved, going to the left, and kept walking. I was inside the inner sanctum. I could make my way around now. That was until I got to the stair door and opened it, planning on heading down to the basement. Except Pialto was there.
I screamed, then clamped a hand over my own mouth. I swatted at him, stepping inside. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” he hissed back. “I broke you out. You’re my responsibility until you’re back and safe. If a bullet goes your way, I’m jumping in the way.”
I gave him a look, but that was kinda sweet of him. “No, you won’t. Take your grandma’s car back before she finds it gone.”
“No.”
“Pialto.”
“Molly.” We both had our arms folded over our chests, but I couldn’t argue with him long. The appointment was in ten minutes. “I have to go.”
I started for the basement.
Pialto was right behind me. “We have to go.”
“Agh. Go home.” I kept going down.
“Agh back. You go home.”
I pushed open the door, turning left for where the clinic offices were. He was right next to me.
I shot him a look. He shot one back.
There were people coming toward us, but we could be down here. I’d been down here other times when my dad had a broken nose or a busted rib. There was a room where we could heat up our own food. It was a secret room, but I’d been there enough, I knew people could use it.
We went past a bunch of nurses, their lunch coolers in hand. None of them paid us any attention.
I so had this in the bag.
“Do you know where you’re going?”
“I—” We turned the corner, and there was a wall. There hadn’t been a wall there the last time I was down here. “Uh.” I pushed on the door to the stairs. “We’re heading up.”
Up and to the left. All the way to the left.
I was leading us, moving along the hall and through doors that didn’t look like they would set off an alarm until—success.
We were in the back—I was so dumb. I looked up.
There were signs to the clinic area, and who was looking for us?
No one. No one had a clue we weren’t supposed to be here.
I’d made this all more complicated than it needed to be.
Pialto pointed up. “That says clinic. Which one is your friend’s appointment at?”
I opened my mouth ... and closed it. I had no clue.
But I looked at my phone and squealed because we were going to miss them. I took off running.
“What are we doing?” Pialto was back to hissing.
“I don’t know. Just look for Jess, okay?”
“Jess Montell?”
“Yes.”
“We’re here following your cop friend?” Still hissing.
I was looking in each clinic as we went past them. “Yes. Why?” Also, “She was a parole officer.”
“I don’t care. She scares me even more than your man.”
“Then go home!”
“No!”
An older lady came out of the bathroom and gave us a dumbfounded look as we passed her, both running, both hissing at each other.
“Agh!” Pialto tackled me, his arms coming around me and pushing me to a doorway. There was a big post right next to us.
“What?” I tried to see around him. “What is it?”
“I found your friend.”
I perked up. “Great! Where?”
He let me go, edging back a step and peeking around the corner. “They went into the oncology—ooooh. Oh no.”
Oncology?
No ...
I stepped around him, and could see Jess with her mom at the front desk. Jess’s guards were with her. One was coming back toward the door.
I squeaked, grabbing Pialto and moving him back.
I scanned the entryway, too, and saw two more of Trace’s guards there, but they weren’t looking toward us. They were looking out.
I moved back in, almost smashing Pialto against the door behind us.
“What is it?”
I peeked back. That one guard was outside the door, but he was on his phone.
I moved in when he began to look our way.
“I don’t know,” I answered Pialto.
“You wanted to come and find them for this appointment. Right?”
I nodded.
“They’re right there. Go and join them.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t feel right.” If I joined them, Jess would make a call and send me home. I was still having this bad feeling, twisting in a whole knot.
“What are you going to do? We can’t stand here the whole time. This door will eventually open.”
I turned, assessing the door. It was a janitor’s closet. “I think we’re good for a while.”
“Oh. Yeah. Probably.”
We waited.