Chapter 18
18
JAYDEN
My stomach drops as soon as I see Cole running shirtless without Jo. I immediately focus, and my vision narrows. All that matters is her.
I throw the car into drive. “What happened?”
Cole grits, “There’s a cop.”
“What the fuck?” My voice drops. “Where?”
“Front lot.”
Cole is freaked out—more freaked out than I’ve seen him in a long time.
I step on the gas, flooring it. We fly into the front lot, and I cuss as people cross the lot right in front of me.
I spot the cop. He’s looking across the lot, and I follow his gaze.
Jo looks both ways before running across the busy street to a McDonald's.
I slow enough that I don’t draw the cop’s attention and drive after Jo. The road is busy, and I have to stop and wait for traffic to clear.
“Fuck. Just go!” Cole shouts.
“Can’t.” I grit my teeth.
“Jesus.” Cole slams his fist onto the dashboard.
“It’s okay, we’ll get her back.” We better. Finally, the traffic clears, and I fly across the road.
I don’t see her in the parking lot. She must be in the restaurant.
Or in one of the cars.
My stomach sinks. Finding her will be much harder if she gets in someone’s car. I need to grab her before she can do that.
“Park around back. I’m going inside.” I throw the car in park and dart out, not bothering to shut the door. I hope she’s being rash and is hiding inside. Hiding somewhere I can find her. I rip the door to the restaurant open.
She better hide, and she better hide well. Because I don’t think I’ll ever stop punishing her for this.
Jo isn’t in the lobby. I didn’t expect her to be. I stride straight to the bathroom and rip open the door.
A middle-aged woman at the sink looks at me and gasps.
“Get out,” I bark, my voice dark. I’m so done with this. The woman leaves, squeezing past me.
Only one stall door is closed, and it’s the big one at the back. I stride over to it and boot it open.
There’s a resounding crack, and then it explodes open. I’m in before the door has even bounced back.
Jo jumps at me from her spot on the toilet. I barely have time to duck before she’s beating on my head.
“Fuck you! Fuck you, Jayden.”
I wrap her up and slam her into the wall. “Thought you could run from us, Jo?” She’s so small compared to me that I barely feel her attempts to get away. I duck down, putting my shoulder in her stomach, and lift her up.
Jo beats on my back and screams as I march her out of the bathroom. We’ve already made so much of a scene, but it doesn’t matter anymore. We’ll throw her in the car and run.
As I stride into the lobby, my gaze locks with the cop from the gas station.
He freezes, seeing Jo fighting on my shoulder, and for a second, I freeze, too.
Fuck.
I whirl before and dart through the kitchen, dodging employees. Someone shouts at me. I ignore all of them and pray that Cole is waiting in the back lot.
“Stop! Police!”
I don’t stop. I dart around a fryer and almost slip, headed to the back exit. Jo bounces on my shoulder, and I hold her steady.
“Jayden!”
“Police! Stop!”
Jo screams, burying her head into my shoulder. I slam into the exit door, bursting outside. There! The car is right there. I run up to it, yanking the door open.
“Stop, or I’ll shoot!”
Everything slows down. If he shoots me, he’ll hit Jo. Suddenly, I’m stuck. I’m stuck like I was on the steps when Pat looked at Cole and made him a target.
I’m staring at the inside of the car, the sounds of the world going fuzzy around me.
Something falls slowly across my vision. I watch it slowly. It’s Jo. She’s scrambling into the seat.
I cock my head. Why is she going so slow?
“Jay.” The voice sounds like it’s coming through water.
Pop!
Something loud cracks through the fuzz and explodes to my left.
I blink and look over. There’s a hole in the B pillar of the car.
Pop! Pop!
Two more holes appear near my head.
Fuck, he’s shooting at us.
My legs feel like they’re stuck in mud. I put one in the car. I feel something yanking on my shoulders. I move my other leg inside as Jo looks at me wide-eyed. She’s screaming something, but I’m not sure what.
It feels like it takes forever to turn around and pull the door closed. When I do, the car is already flying out of the lot.
Sound comes rushing back. Jo is panting, still holding onto my shoulders. “Fuck! He’s shooting! He’s shooting!”
“Get the fuck down!” I pounce on Jo, holding my body over her, waiting for the rest of the shots. Nothing comes.
“Are you hurt?” I pull back a little and run my hands up and down Jo’s body. My hands shake a little. My heart is racing. I still feel like things are moving so slowly. No blood. I don’t feel blood. Why don’t I feel blood?
“I’m fine, Jayden.” Jo shoves my hands off her.
“Jo!” I grab her chin and force her to look at me. “Are you hurt?” She can’t be okay.
Three shots. That’s how many I took when I killed that man in the line of duty. Two to the body, one to the head.
“Cole?” I turn to him, looking at his head. It’s not covered in blood. I lean over the console, shoving him back against the seat so I can look at his body.
“I’m fine, Jay.” Cole weaves in and out of traffic. He glances back at me. “You good?”
I don’t believe him. Three shots. Three shots. Back in the day, I was surprised by how little blood there is when someone's freshly shot. Now, I’m not.
I had to have missed something. Someone has to be hurt.
I check over Jo again.
“Fuck, Jayden!” she yells, then hides her head under her arms. “Just leave me alone.” Her shoulders shake as she heaves out sobs.
I glance at Cole again. He looks steely. Pissed.
Two to the body. One to the head.
That cop was going to shoot two innocent people. Fuck, how could he have been so stupid?
I sink back into my seat, and it strikes me that I almost lost the only two people I care about in one moment because I froze. Again.
A sick feeling fills me. Every time I care, it ends up hurting the people I love.
And I can’t have that. I have to stop fucking caring.