Chapter 28
Tyler
I was surprised by Ann-Marie. After all the shit she'd given me, I expected her to be freaking out. But since the moment we grabbed our keys, ran the fuck out the door, jumped in the car, called my pilot, and boarded my private jet, she'd been calm.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I caressed her leg next to mine.
"Yes, Tyler. For the millionth time, I'm fine. Just anxious to get the hell out of here." She punched Lily's number into her burner phone. I punched the guys' number into mine. The jet's engine rumbled as it started up.
"Damn it." I hissed when none of them picked up my call. Fuckers were still pissed at me. Pissed or not, they must have known if I was calling, it was a fucking emergency.
"Sir. I'm getting ready to take off," the pilot announced.
"One minute please," I swore.
It was a burner phone, but I didn't want to take any risks with taking it to our next location. I considered just saying fuck it and letting the guys deal with this on their own. Who knew how long we had before the rest of the Colombine family came looking for us? I had no doubt they already knew their foot soldiers were dead. There was no way Carter's father would've sent his goons without listening in to the conversation and setting a plan in action in order to be one step ahead of us.
Why do you think I strung the conversation along for so long and got out of there so fucking fast?
"Fuck," I hissed, tapping my foot against the floor.
"You're making me nervous." My wife scowled at me and got up to move toward the back where I guessed she was having her private conversation.
As long as my wife, my child, and I were safe, that was all that mattered. We'd be out of here in no time.
I hovered between moments, the phone tightening between my fingers. I could send them a message and when I got the pilot to toss the phone in the trash and they found it, what then? If I could, I would bash their skulls together. Damn it, man. Where did this conscience come from? I got them involved in the deaths. All they wanted to do was protect their woman from the pieces of shit. Their woman, my wife's best friend, who she was crying to on the phone.
I called them again and left a message on their voicemail. Still risky. If these fuckers made me regret this, they were going to end up regretting it more.
"Listen, fuckfaces. I've been trying to get you. Me and the wife are skipping town. I suggest you do the same. Carter's family—- well, shit, I guess I've got to fill you in on the details in the small window of time that we have and if you would have just answered the fucking phone, I could make sure that you all got the message at the same time, but —- he's a part of the Colombine Family. A mob family back where I'm from. Sorry I didn't say anything sooner. Anyhow, they came looking for me. Figured I had something to do with his death. For now, they only have my name. But I don't know if or when that's going to change. So get your asses out of town," I barked into the phone. Great, now I had to do that three more times.
By the time I was done, I was yelling at my wife. "You done with your phone call?!"
Ann-Marie
Lily didn't answer either. I kinda hated leaving without hearing her voice one more time to reassure me everything was going to be okay, even if she didn't know why I was leaving. But I guessed a voicemail would have to do.
However, when the operator stopped telling me to leave a message after the tone—--because Lily got a new phone and she didn't have that deadpan voicemail she used to have anymore, so I couldn't even hear her damn voice on that— I almost spilled my whole guts and told her everything that I just did and why.
So, I hung up, cried like a baby, and called her again.
"Hey, girl." Going for 'chipper', I failed. "So, something's come up. Something major. I can't give you the details, but you know I would never miss your wedding, miss the chance of you being there for my child's birth..." Oh damn, here came the waterworks again.
I just killed a man because he threatened my life and my baby's life, and no one gets away with doing that. I also watched my husband kill two men and that sent my hormones skyrocketing. Have I always been this fucked up? The point is that I walked out of there without shedding a single tear. There was no reason for me to be bawling like a baby at the thought of never seeing my best friend again.
"...if it wasn't something serious," I pushed through. "But whatever happens, you'll always be my child's godmother. Even if we never see each other again until twenty years from now. I'll always talk about you to them, let them know about the woman who was with me through the worst and held my hand through the best. I love you, Lily Thornbread, and I'm so proud of everything you've overcome. I'm so happy that you found love. I know I'm leaving you in capable hands. Until we meet again, sis."
My breath rattled as I hung up the phone and walked over to my husband.
"You done with your phone call?!" he yelled before seeing me.
My mouth dropped open at the utter audacity, and I stepped around to let him see me before slapping him in the back of his big blond head. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"
He winced. "Ouch. I didn't know you were..."
"Mm-hm." I thrust the phone at him.
He scowled at me as he took the phone and carried it to the cockpit. He whispered something to the pilot who asked him if he was sure. By the time the plane took off and we were high enough in the air, my husband smirked at me with that crazy look in his eyes.
"Wanna see something cool?" he asked.
"What are you doing?" I asked as he started strapping himself up with a bunch of shit. My chest hurt and I started to get up.
"No, no. You stay there. Put on your seatbelt. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere," he promised with a wink.
I hated the way my stomach flipped and knotted.
The higher up the plane got, the drier my throat became. This man liked to bring me as close as possible to the precipice of a heart attack. Watching him kill, running for our lives, now this. I needed to book myself a new therapist as soon as we touched down wherever we were going. Tyler didn't tell me because he was afraid I'd spill it on my phone call to Lily.
"Okay, Sir. Whenever you're ready," the pilot announced over the speaker.
Before my fucking eyes, the exit door began to open.
"There's no fucking way you're jumping out of that..." I shouted over the wind.
Instinct made me reach for my seatbelt and stay seated at the same time. Go after my idiot husband or protect my baby?
I was going to kill him.
Tyler pulled his phone out and the idiot tried to throw it out the window. I guess he forgot how the wind worked because it went flying at his head and smashed into the wall behind him. He dodged it and screamed in delight. The wind, like a cat who cannot be told what to do or when to do it, decided it was okay with receiving the phone on its own timing and sucked it through the exit door.
"Okay! You can close it now!" he yelled.
His words were washed away by the wind. His lips and skin were all peeled back against his face, like a fucking cartoon. It was the most horrifying thing I'd ever seen.
"Close it now!" I yelled on Tyler's behalf.
Even though I wasn't my husband, the pilot listened, thankfully. The exit door began to close.
"Woo hoo! That was amazing! Wasn't it?" my husband screamed as the noise slammed to a quiet.
I couldn't feel my face or my feet when I stood up. He was still grinning from ear to ear. On shaky legs, I walked over to him and raised my hand to slap him across the face.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I screamed.
He grabbed my arm out of the air, pulled me to him and smashed his lips against mine, all while he was still strapped up against the jet wall, and damn it, my panties became wet.
"You're fucking insane," I panted against his lips.
"Isn't that one of the reasons why you love me?" he murmured before sucking my bottom lip into his mouth and reaching underneath my short sundress. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked while stroking my clit with expertise.
"I don't think I've been okay for a long time. I wouldn't have fallen for you if I was." I pressed my clit harder against his finger and reached for the buckle of his pants.
"Regret it?" he asked.
"Does it matter? I chose you. And I'm still choosing you. Even if it's the fucking dumbest idea in the world." I hissed, grabbing his cock.
"Well, that's romantic." He probed me with his finger, hard and offended.
And shit, I came.