Chapter 22 #2
Ignoring her, I step up to the door on the left and press my ear against the wood, listening intently to anything on the other side that could suggest the home is occupied.
Aria does the same, moving in close to the door on the right and copying my stance, her hand pressed against the door.
She listens for a moment before her brows pinch, and she glances up at me. “What am I listening for exactly?”
I swear, this woman is going to be the end of me, but I’ll welcome it with open arms. Though she should know, if I’m going down, I’m dragging her to the deepest pits of Hell with me. I won’t be without her again.
I start to explain what she should be listening for when a clanging noise on the opposite side of the door echoes through the apartment.
It sounds like someone’s moving around the kitchen, and I immediately step away before pointing to the door Aria’s face is squished up against. “That one,” I tell her.
She grins and reaches for the handle, quickly twisting it, but her smile falters when it doesn’t budge. “Locked.”
“Not for long.”
Aria steps aside, and just as I’ve done to all the other locked doors in my way the past few days, I play with the handle, twisting it just enough to fuck the mechanism on the inside. The door swings right open.
I double-check the mess I’ve made, making sure the broken lock isn’t too obvious from the outside, and usher Aria inside the small apartment. She glances around as I close the door behind us and lock the deadbolts.
“Not bad,” she murmurs, making a quick assessment of the apartment before striding to the kitchen, stopping directly in front of the sink. She curls her fingers around the faucet handle, giving it a twist. Then, with a choked sputter, water rushes freely from the tap.
“Oh, thank fuck.” She sighs with relief. “We’ve officially got running water.”
I take the for lease sign out of the window, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to the apartment, and Aria grabs our bag and heads into the bathroom.
As she showers and helps herself to feel somewhat human again, I sit on the cool ground, my back up against the kitchen island and my Polaroids clutched tightly in my hand.
Obviously Aria is no longer at the top of my kill list, which only leaves four.
The head of the Bone Reapers gang: Lux Valen. He tried to initiate Ash into his ranks by giving him the assignment to sacrifice the one who was most important to him and bring her to him.
Collaroy Munroe, the asshole who first introduced Ash to the Bone Reapers and got him hooked on drugs, brought this shitstorm over us in the first place.
Talon Wilder, second in charge. Technically, he didn’t do anything. I just feel he deserves to be on the list simply for existing in this world.
Last but not least, Nico Vega. The one who got away.
There were seven men in that basement, not six, and Nico was the one who narrowly escaped with his life.
He sat across from me in that courtroom and painted the picture of innocence.
At the time, I didn’t have the will to fight.
If only I knew that my Riley was comatose in a hospital bed somewhere.
Everything could have been different. I would have gotten a few years, potentially even walked free, but the idea of Riley’s betrayal stung deeper than any life sentence ever could.
Riley strides out of the bathroom, her long auburn hair damp as she brushes it through with her fingers. “There’s an old mattress in the bedroom,” she tells me. “It’s probably infested with all kinds of DNA, but if we put a blanket down, it might not be so bad.”
My face scrunches at the thought. I’ve slept on worse, but I can’t stand the idea of Aria having to lower herself to a filthy mattress, especially after living such an incredible life over these past seven years. She deserves the best.
She ambles closer and steps over my legs, ready to drop down onto my lap, when her stomach rumbles so loud it all but echoes. “Hungry?”
“Starved,” she admits, dropping down anyway and fixing me with a concerned stare as her arms hook around my neck. “I know you’re not going to love this, but I was thinking that I could go down to that corner store and get us a decent meal. Maybe—”
“No.”
“Don’t you no me, Stone Blackthorne. You need energy.
You can’t keep going like this. I’m fine just eating snacks and shitty food, but you’re on the run.
You need to be ready to go at a moment’s notice and have your wits about you.
You can’t do that when you haven’t eaten and barely slept in a week.
I’m not about to let you get caught because you’re too stubborn to let yourself eat and sleep. ”
“Aria—”
“Don’t make me beat your ass, Stone Blackthorne.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“I can handle myself,” she tells me. “Besides, it’s not your call. I’m doing it with or without your approval, and you’re going to be grateful. Otherwise, I’m going to find someone who deals in horse tranquilizers and nail you in the ass with one.”
I arch a brow. “A horse tranquilizer?”
“Get it?” she laughs. “Because you’re so damn big.”
I let out a huff, but as her stomach rumbles again, I realize I really don’t have a choice.
I can’t make her starve because I’m too fucking stubborn to let her walk down to the corner store.
Fact is, I can’t go. I have to keep myself locked away in this shitty apartment, and to be able to do that, I need to learn to lean on Aria from time to time.
I’m so used to being the one who cares for her.
She was always my responsibility, but now it’s time for her to do the same.
“Okay,” I finally say. “But I’ll be watching you from the window, and if you’re gone for more than fifteen minutes, I’m coming after you. Understood?”
“Oh, thank fuck,” she breathes, throwing herself to her feet and scampering over to our survival bag. She pulls out some cash and shoves it into her pocket before turning back and grinning at me. “You and me, we’re living the high life tonight.”
I roll my eyes, and she nearly dances toward the door, only as she pulls it open, she pauses and glances back at me.
“Also, after we eat, I’m heading down to the basement.
There’s bound to be a washer and dryer down there, and we need clean clothes.
So it’s best you start getting used to the idea now. ”
A smug grin stretches across her lips, and after blowing me a quick kiss, Aria disappears out the door, and I’m instantly flooded with deep regret. It’s the first time she’s been out of my sight all week, and the idea of something happening to her makes me sick.
She’s tried to run twice already, but this is different. Our dynamics have shifted. She’s no longer a hostage being dragged along for an insane ride. She’s in it with me, desperate to get to the finish line so we can try and build some kind of life together at the other end.
The seconds turn into minutes, and I lean into the window, watching her walk with her head down, cutting across the street and to the corner store.
Men glance her way, some intrigued, but I can’t fault them.
She’s fucking stunning, but just as I suspected, they mind their business.
They don’t bother her, and I’m grateful for that.
I’m not exactly in the mood to cut out tongues today, but I would do it to protect my girl.
Aria slips inside the store, and the ten minutes it takes before she emerges again almost drive me to my breaking point.
It’s becoming more than clear to me that I never stopped loving her, not even when I put her at the top of my kill list. Sure, I wanted to teach her a lesson, but could I really have ended her life?
I don’t know, but I’m glad that’s a lesson I’ll never have to learn.
She trails back toward our apartment complex but pauses by the group of men who had checked her out.
The fuck is wrong with her? She’s heading right for them now.
My hands go out wide, ready to throw myself out the fucking window as I watch their interaction. One of the guys points around the corner, and Aria glances back, following his lead. She nods and smiles, and just like that, she turns on her heel and heads back the way she came.
“What in the ever-loving fuck is she doing?” I mutter to myself, pacing in front of the window as I watch her disappear around the corner.
Anxiety eats at me, and I count the seconds. One minute. Two. Three and four.
What the hell is this woman doing to me? Does she have any idea how insane she makes me, or is she doing this on purpose?
Fuck!
Almost seven minutes go by, and I start to turn on my heel, ready to go after her, when a wave of flaming auburn hair appears from around the corner on the sidewalk, pillows and blankets shoved under her arms and a proud-as-fuck smirk on her face.
She glances up toward the window, knowing damn sure that I’ve been watching her, and as her cool, calm, collected stare collides with my wild one, she laughs. She actually fucking laughs.
Fuck me. She’s going to get the attitude fucked right out of her.
With every step she takes, bringing her perfect ass back to me, my body starts to relax.
She more than pushed my limits by heading into that store.
I was about ready to lose it, but I should have known better.
The Riley I grew up with was always testing limits.
She didn’t care as long as she was having a good time.
As she approaches the main entrance of the apartment complex, my gaze sweeps across the street, taking in the lingering people and making sure that nobody is taking too much notice of her, but from the look of it, everyone is too caught up in what they’re doing to pay attention to the fiery redhead walking through the street with pillows. All but one.