Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Pennsylvania
Ever since the night Gideon Hendrix had shown up at Kaleidoscopes, I’d felt as though someone was always watching me.
It was fucking annoying. That brother of his very well might have figured out who I was and mentioned something.
Maybe I should have just been happy Gideon was letting me be and just watching me.
Or, maybe it wasn’t him, and someone else was following me everywhere.
I sighed as I opened the door to the mini mart by my apartment. I had ten more days, and then I was out of here. I wouldn’t leave Alan high and dry—it wasn’t the right thing to do.
The store clerk glanced at me as I entered, but he went back to his phone. I grabbed a basket and started filling it with the few things I needed. I didn’t work tonight and would’ve stayed in if I wasn’t out of some essentials.
I stepped up to the counter as the bell chimed above the entrance. I peered up at the security mirror behind the clerk and saw three well-dressed men enter. Two of them I’d seen before. Fucking hell, this wasn’t my month.
“That’ll be twenty-seven eleven,” the clerk said. I gave him thirty while I kept my eyes on the mirror. The men hadn’t moved and judging by how nervous the store clerk was, he knew who they were or was bracing for a problem.
He gave me my change and placed the bag on the counter. Instead of grabbing it I turned toward the men.
“Can I help you?”
Lorcan smirked. “It’s like you knew I was here for you.”
I cocked my head. “Why are you following me?”
He took a step forward, and I lifted a brow.
“If you knew who I was, you’d be as scared as the pimple-faced teenager behind you.”
I peered over my shoulder, and saw his nametag read Ben. “Ben’s cool.” I met Ben’s gaze. “Right?” The kid nodded.
“You lied to me.” His fists were clenched and a small vein pulsated by his temple.
“How so?”
“You know exactly who went into that burning house…I heard Gideon Hendrix paid you a visit, and you told him who it was.”
That was a lie. “He did come by the bar and asked like you did. I said the same thing to him as I did to you—I have no idea who the fuck ran into that fire.” I grabbed my bag and made to leave only to be blocked. “Get out of my way.”
“You really are as dumb as a bag of rocks.” He snorted.
My brows furrowed. “A bag of rocks? You mean a box? If you put rocks in a bag, it’ll tear.”
That seemed to only anger Lorcan and suddenly my arms were being yanked back, my bag fell to the floor, and my face got up close and personal with his fist.
He hit me twice. I waited for more, but none came. I sniffed, spit blood on his shoes, and smiled. “Feel better?”
“Who are you?” He gripped my throat, his men holding on to me. “You should be pissing your pants. I’ve killed people for less.”
“Less than pissing their pants?” He squeezed harder, but I chuckled.
“I’ll give you one more chance. Who ran into that fire?”
No sooner had the question left his mouth than glass shattered and gunfire rained above us. I hit the floor once Lorcan’s men released me. They returned fire and while they were all trying to kill each other, I army-crawled along the aisle toward the emergency exit in the rear of the store.
Ben was by the emergency exit and when he saw me, he held it open. I jumped up and made a run for it.
“Get out of here,” I told him as soon as we were in the alley, and I slammed the door.
“You’re bleeding.” He pointed to my arms. I’d probably scraped it on some glass as I’d crawled on the floor.
“I’m fine. Just go, quickly.”
He didn’t question me—he ran. Once I couldn’t see him anymore, I moved to the other end. As I reached the mouth of the alley, a black Lincoln Navigator SUV skidded to a stop and the back opened. I recognized one of the men as Gideon’s.
“Get in!”
I looked right in time to see Lorcan and another man race out of the shop. Fuck, if I didn’t go, I was gonna be shot by him or taken. I wasn’t sure Gideon was any better, but I took a gamble and jumped in.
“Here.” One of the guys handed me a wad of gauze. “Sorry, it’s all we got in the first-aid kit.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled and pressed the gauze to the cuts that were bleeding the most.
There were two men in the back with me and another driving. None of them said anything, and neither did I—not even after they got onto the highway. They were likely taking me to their boss, but I didn’t feel the threatening vibe from them that I did with Lorcan and his guys.
I couldn’t remember their names, and I probably should have asked, but I was concentrating on stopping the bleeding so I didn’t get it all over the expensive leather.
One man was texting, another held the first-aid kit and was shoveling all the gauze he could find at me, and the third was the driver.
About thirty minutes later, we were entering through a set of gates toward a house that appeared to be a work of art. It was enormous, and while it was a deep gray, most of the structure was glass. But I couldn’t see in.
My arms weren’t gushing anymore, thankfully, but I kept the gauze on. I peered out the window and spoke for the first time. “Where are we?”
“This is Gideon Hendrix’s home. He instructed us to bring you here.” It was the man who had been texting that answered.
“I see.”
The door opened, and I stepped out. None of the people on the property appeared threatening toward me—a few even smiled.
“This way.” Someone motioned to the entrance, and I followed…what else was I going to do?
I stepped into a foyer that was grander than any place I’d ever seen before. Tenny would have whistled and laughed if she’d been standing beside me.
I’d expected to see Gideon first thing, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead it was a woman…the one from the house fire.
“It’s you!” Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding.” She grabbed my hand, and I let her drag me to a bathroom where she pointed to the toilet. “Sit, ay dios mio.” She shook her head as she pulled out a large red first-aid kit. “You think you need stitches?”
“No, ma’am, I’ll be fine.”
She froze and blinked at me. “Rita, you call me Rita. You saved my family, none of this ma’am bullshit.”
That answered if Gideon knew who I was for sure. “Okay, Rita.”
“You’re Penn?”
“Yeah, you can call me that.”
“But is it your name?” She was gentle as she removed the gauze. She didn’t need to be, but likely she was trying not to make it bleed more.
“Pennsylvania, but people mostly call me Penn.”
She hummed. I watched as she so carefully cleaned up my arms. When she was done, I smiled up at her.
“Thank you.”
She cupped my cheek with her hand. “No…thank you.”
Movement from over her shoulder caught my attention. In the doorway, looking godly, gorgeous, and dangerous was Gideon Hendrix, and he was staring right at me.