Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
KINSLEY
How does Blair appear so calm? Her face is expressionless. I’m sure mine is showing all the fear I’m having. Sure, I want to be some badass and pop off on this fucker, but I don’t think I have that in me. All I can try to do is make him see reason.
“Move.” Jim pushes the barrel of the gun into my back. I pick up my pace heading into the building. It’s old, rundown, and hella creepy. The back door opens before we get to it, revealing a short, stocky man with a button-up shirt paired with slacks.
The top few buttons of his shirt are undone, revealing a thick patch of hair that’s draped in a couple of gaudy gold chains.
“What the hell is this?” the man asks.
“I’m sorry, Eduardo. They figured out who I am.” There is a slight tremor to Jim’s voice, making it clear to me that he’s not in charge here.
“My brother is going to be pissed. Get the fuck in here,” the man barks at all of us.
His eyes flick up and down me and then over to Blair.
“Gino is already in a shit mood.” Eduardo doesn’t move out of the doorway, so I have to brush past him.
My side grazes against his small potbelly.
The asshole smirks, making my skin crawl.
“Fat fuck,” Blair snips. Half a second later, her body collides with mine. I stumble forward but catch myself before I fall. I spin around to see that Blair wasn’t as lucky.
“Keep running that mouth, you dumb cunt.” Eduardo stands over her. I have to fight the urge to not throw myself against him and claw his eyes out. “Get up, or I’ll put the mouth to use right now.”
My stomach turns, and tears sting at my eyes. I hold my hand out to help her up, seeing that her knees are scuffed and bleeding. I give her hand a squeeze. Blair presses her lips together, forming a straight line.
“Up,” Eduardo orders, motioning to the stairs. I go up first. The old stairs creak in the process. When I glance back over my shoulder, I see that Eduardo is behind me, his eyes on my ass.
“Fucker,” I hear Blair shout before a stumbling crash. I turn around to see Jim now lying at the bottom of the stairs, not moving. Blood starts to seep out around his head, and his eyes are open but lifeless.
“You little bitch.” Eduardo backhands Blair. She stumbles back a few steps but manages to catch herself. I could push him, too, but he’d crash into Blair. “Go!” He orders her to move past him. Blair wipes the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. There’s a small trace of blood there.
“Blair,” I whisper. She just freaking killed someone, and she looks as calm as a damn cucumber.
“He’s fucking dead,” Eduardo mutters from behind us. I hurry the rest of the way up the stairs, entering into a giant open area. “At least that’s one less loose end to tie up.” His words send fear through me.
I take a deep breath, trying to keep myself together. I have to keep my wits about me. I scan the room. There are desks and a couple of mattresses on the floor. A man stands up from one of the desks, a laptop in front of him; his resemblance to Eduardo lets me know this must be his brother, Gino.
My eyes move past him to see a row of tables with crap all over them. There are these weird red lights on them. It clicks what that is. They are making the drugs right here.
“What the hell is going on?” The man glares at him. He’s a few inches taller than his brother.
“That dumb fuck brought them here. Said they busted him,” Eduardo grits out.
“How?”
“I’d ask him, but he’s fucking dead.”
I wrap my arms around my stomach. All I can do is stand here. I have never felt so helpless before. Come on, Jax, I know you’ll find me. I pray sooner rather than later.
The man's eyes come back to me; he cocks his head to the side, studying me. “You belong to the Marinos.” I swallow. It’s not really a question. “Motherfucker,” he curses.
“The hell, Gino? What do you mean?” Eduardo's eyes flick up and down me again; this time, his gaze is different.
“Both of you, over there,” Gino orders, pointing to one of the mattresses. We both stare at the unmade bed. “Now!” he barks, putting both our asses in motion. “I’ve seen her before. She’s with one of Z’s sons.” I’m not sure if this is a bad or good thing.
“Shit, what do we do?” Eduardo’s voice hitches. It’s the first time since we arrived that he doesn’t seem so cocky. There’s definitely fear struck in him now that he heard the Marino name.
“Calm down. Let me think.” Gino starts to pace.
While I’m terrified, I still find it kind of cool how just hearing the Marino name has such an impact on people. I mean, I can’t say I blame them.
“We kill them and get the fuck out of here,” Eduardo suggests. Holy crap. If they’re going to kill us, we should try and make a run for it. There’s no way I’m going down like this.
“We might need her. First, we should figure out what the Marinos already know. I’m guessing the most they know is about Jim. They have no clue where he is, though.”
“I still think we should move. I’ve heard a lot of whispers about how good the Marinos are with intel. There are now multiple generations of them.”
“And what? Leave everything?” Gina motions to the wall where all the tables are lined up. I’m sure there are millions of dollars' worth of product on them.
“We’ve made enough to disperse at this point.” Eduardo hurries over to the tables, grabbing a box out from under one. He starts to throw things into it. I glance over to the stairs.
“Don’t think about it. We might not kill you right now, but I can bust your knees,” Gino warns. I swallow and find the will to talk.
“You should take the drugs and go. Leave us here,” I tell him. “Jax won’t stop until he finds me, and if you do anything to me—” I let that hang.
“Over pussy?” Eduardo scuffs.
“Shut up, you dumb shit. The Marinos are insane when it comes to their females.”
“They’ll slow us down. Let's pump them full of drugs and get out of here. They’ll think they OD’d.” Eduardo really is a dumb shit.
“Keep packing. I’m going to call Father and see what he thinks we should do.”
“Now you’re the dumb shit.” Gino scoffs at his brother.
“You saw what happened when Lisa got out of line. Which, not to mention, was Dad’s idea, and that went right to shit.
” Who the hell is Lisa? Could that be the other dead girl from the warehouse?
“He killed our sister. You think he won’t kill us? ”
“She was useless. Lisa knew fucking one of Dad’s men would be a death sentence to her. She was only as good as the marriage she could have gotten. Cunt was tainted.”
Blair and I both glance at each other. I’m sure my eyes are as wide as hers. These people clearly don’t play by any set of rules. Gino pulls out his phone, ignoring his brother's comment, and makes a call.
“We have to try and get out of here,” I whisper to Blair.
“I know,” she whispers back.
“We just have to make a run for it.” There isn’t much of an option. They could kill us at any second. The dad they’re calling might tell them to do just that. Clearly, I have qualms about killing anyone.
Blair is to my left and closer to the stairs. Good. My first goal is to get her out of here. I got her wrapped up in this mess. All she did was be my friend. Plus, they might keep me alive for collateral.
“When I say go, we bolt to the stairs. Okay?” Blair closes her eyes for a second but nods. I wait, watching the two men bicker. Their attention is on the phone. “Go,” I tell her. We both stand, and Blair bolts across the room. I follow after her but stop when Eduardo pulls out a gun.
I spin to face him, putting my hands up, making sure to block the line of path to Blair. I can hear her going down the creaky steps. She made it. “Don’t.” Gino grabs the gun from his brother. “We need that one. Go after the other one,” he orders Eduardo.
I move in front of the stairs to block Eduardo. I know it’s useless, but I’m trying to buy Blair every second that I can so she can get away. I’m also hoping that Jax and the rest of the Marinos have figured out where we are and are closing in on us.
“I may not shoot to kill you, but don’t get it twisted, little girl, I will still shoot you.” Gino points the gun at me. “Move and I’ll spare your kneecaps.” I move over ever so slightly to allow room for Eduardo to pass.
“When I catch your little friend”—Eduardo stops in front of me—“I’m gonna teach her a lesson." He reaches down and grabs his crotch. A rage I’ve never felt before fills me, and before he knows what’s coming, I lift my knee and slam it into his balls.
He doubles over, and I try to bolt down the stairs next, but he snags me by the ankle, making me fall forward. I hit the ground, catching myself on my palms.
“Get the other girl!” Gino shouts at his brother as he grips my hair, pulling me to my feet.
I let out a scream as he drags me back toward the mattress, shoving me down onto it.
I roll over to my back. He stands over me, the gun trained at my knee.
I close my eyes, bracing myself as I hear a pop, but I don’t feel anything.
My eyes spring open to see that Gino is now pointing his gun toward the stairs. A loud groan echoes in the stairway.
“Eduardo?” Gino calls out for his brother. It takes a beat, but he finally shouts back.
“Here, got her.” My heart drops. Does he mean he caught her or killed her? The creaking of the stairs is loud, my heart pounding in my chest. Eduardo comes into sight. I let out a gasp when I see Jax right behind him, a knife to his throat.
“Put the gun down,” Jax tells him. His voice is deep and gruff. It’s different from what I’m used to, an icy coldness to it.
“Not a fucking chance. You’ll kill me.” Gino turns the gun back on me.
“How about you put the knife down?” he counters. Jax is still moving toward us, Eduardo in front of him.
Jax’s eyes come to me for a brief moment. The intensity of them has goosebumps breaking out across my skin.
“I’ll put the knife down.” He moves the knife, sliding it across the front of Eduardo's throat, blood spraying out. I let out a scream as Gino goes to turn the gun back onto Jax.
Another pop sounds as Jax shoves Eduardo’s body forward hard, right into Gino. I scurry across the bed as the gun goes off again before Gino hits the floor. The gun slides out of his hand and across the floor.
I pounce on top of him and start hitting him as hard as I can. He shifts, taking a swing at me, but misses as I am lifted off of him and pulled back. I know it’s Jax. He turns, letting me go, and I stumble into Z, who braces me by my shoulders.
“You’re safe,” he tells me. I won't feel safe until I have Jax.
I turn back to him when I hear a scream. Jax is now on top of Gino. His fist is slamming into his face over and over again.
“Take her downstairs,” I hear Z say, and someone grabs my forearm, but I jerk it out of their hold. I’m not going anywhere. I cringe when Jax grabs the man's head and slams it into the ground. The crack is loud.
“I think he’s dead,” I say.
“Likely.” Z shrugs. “Let him get his anger out.” No one makes a move to stop Jax. I step toward him.
“Jax,” I call to him. His whole body freezes as he turns his head toward me. “I want to go home,” I choke out, so many emotions taking over. When I reach out for him, I see my hands are shaking.
He stands, coming toward me, blood covering him as he pulls me into him. His mouth crashes down on to mine.
“Bunny,” he says, his hands cupping my face.
“I’m okay,” I tell him. I can still see a wild look in his eyes. “I knew you would come.” I smile at him.
“Always.”
“I love you.” He closes his eyes, dropping his forehead to mine.
“I thought I might never hear those words from you. Say them again for me.”
“I love you, Jax.” He opens his eyes again.
“I love you too, Bunny.” He scoops me up into his arms. “Let's go home.”
Home. There is nowhere else I’d rather be.