Chapter 24
STONE
It’s been anything but a fucking walk in the park.
Every step, every turn, every fucking breath I take closes us in.
Cops have been raiding the city. They’re not taking any chances, and for now, we’re fucking trapped.
They’ve called in the goddamn calvary, and now, instead of blending in with a city that minds their business, I’m doing nothing but standing out.
That ten-million-dollar bounty on my head got leaked to the media, and now every bastard and his dog thinks they can take me down, and I get it.
If I had access to ten million dollars, giving me the chance to give Aria a better life, and all I had to do was subdue and hand over one single man in my city, I’d be all over it.
The only problem with that is when people put themselves between me and freedom, they’re bound to get hurt.
Getting away from the harbor three days ago was a challenge, but after cutting through buildings and finding our way out three blocks down, we were able to steal a car from the gas station and hide deep within the city.
The original plan was to take off. I could have come back at any time without Aria to deal with the rest of my kill list. I could have waited until the heat on my back died down.
I could have kept her far away from this shit, but as we drove through the streets, listening to the recaps of the police search on the radio, discovering that there were no bodies in the Honda, we quickly found every road out of the city was blocked.
We were trapped like sitting fucking ducks. So now, we’re laying low.
It’s been a shitshow, and I hate that I’ve put Aria in this position.
She deserves better than being on the run like this.
Better than spending her days scavenging for food, water, clean clothes, and showers.
It’s not been easy. Everything we accumulated over the past week went hurtling into the harbor with the Honda.
We had to start over, but now with the eyes of the city on us, we can’t be as resourceful.
Hell, we might even be better off heading back to the woods.
The old Riley would have gotten a thrill out of this, but Aria .
. . I’m not sure. She’s more reserved. She doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere, and as we hide out in an old warehouse, we’ve done nothing but fuck to pass the time.
She’s content being here by my side, even if it means implicating herself in my shit.
But it won’t come to that, because we’re not going to get caught.
Watching out the window, I focus on the cars passing, making sure that’s all they’re doing, when Aria strides in after appointing herself the designated food scrambler.
“Okay, that was a huge fail,” she says, after having just spent the last twenty minutes ransacking the warehouse directly opposite us.
It’s after hours, and the last employee went home a little over an hour ago, and after spending the whole day psyching herself up and putting together a plan to break in after dark, she’s finally come back .
. . almost empty-handed. “Apart from a moldy sandwich in the break room, we’re out of luck.
All I found was a bag of outdated chips. ”
“Shit,” I mutter, gazing over to another warehouse on this street.
It’s not ideal. There are still workers inside, but it’s bigger, and the chances of feeding Aria are much better.
But I’ll be damned if I send her in. Not when there’s no guarantee of her safety.
But come tomorrow, we’re going to have to find somewhere new to camp out.
This warehouse isn’t sustainable for us.
We need better access to food and water, and preferably clean clothes.
Aria walks straight into my arms and tries to hand me the little bag. “Here. Eat them.”
I shake my head and push her hand away. “I’m good, Menace,” I say, hearing her stomach rumble and feeling like a piece of shit for doing this to her. “They’re yours.”
She lets out a heavy sigh, glancing down at the bag with a cringe. “There’s really no telling how long these have been sitting in that cupboard.”
“Your call,” I say with a smirk. “But remember, we haven’t got running water, and your stomach isn’t exactly made out of steel. An ill timed hiccup could bring you to your knees.”
She gives me a hard stare. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve solved my digestive issues, thank you very much.
I’m not a prisoner to my guts like I once was.
I just can’t eat gluten. Or anything with dairy.
Oh, and I have to have my morning coffee at least two hours before I leave the safety of my home, because well . . . you know.”
“So, basically anything good is off the table.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Hate to break it to ya, Menace, but if you can’t have a coffee while on the go, you’re still a prisoner to your guts.
But it’s fine, we can invest in an orange jumpsuit.
Ladies’ size, fucking tiny?” I tease. “I can rip a hole in the ass, make a little flap, you know, for those emergency moments, and then you’ll be free to have a coffee anytime of the day. ”
“Wow,” she says, beaming up at me with a big, fake grin. “And to think this is the kind of genius I’ve been missing out on all these years. It’s a miracle I’ve even survived to tell the tale.”
“Don’t you forget it, babe.” I grin right back. “Oh shit. That’s kinda your personality now, isn’t it?”
She sucks in a loud gasp, nailing me in the ribs again.
“Low blow, Stone Blackthorne. Low blow,” she says, just as her eyes sparkle—the only warning that I should brace for whatever’s about to come out of her mouth.
“Though, if you weren’t quite so forgettable, maybe I wouldn’t have forgotten you in the first place. ”
My jaw drops. “Well shit, Menace. Don’t hold back.”
Aria laughs. “You may be able to physically beat me in every facet of our insane lives right now, but hear me and hear me good, Stone Blackthorne. You will never outwit me. It’s not possible.
You can certainly try with your little lactose intolerance jokes, but I’m a stone-cold killer when it comes to a verbal smackdown. You’ll never win.”
“Noted,” I grin, knowing she’s right. This woman has always had a way with words, and no brain injury and memory loss is ever going to take that away from her. “Would you like a trophy? Maybe something with an inscription?”
“Absolutely,” she says, stepping out of my arms and moving toward the window, glancing out at the passing cars the same way I’ve been doing for the past three days. “I expect you’ll get right on that.”
“Of course. It’s not as though we have any other pressing matters that need to be dealt with. Tell me, when I place the inscription order, should I book it under your name or mine?”
“Yours, obviously. And don’t forget to leave a contact address, you know, just in case.”
I roll my eyes and watch her as she gazes out the window, but when she falls silent, I sense a shift in her. I give her a moment, waiting to see if she’ll tell me whatever’s on her mind, but when the silence grows heavier, I step in behind her, my hands falling to her waist. “What is it, Menace?”
She lets out a soft breath before turning in my arms, her gaze sweeping up my torso before letting that green stare collide with mine. “Things are starting to change,” she tells me, her voice a breathy whisper. “And I don’t mean our situation with the cops. I mean between you and me.”
I nod, knowing what she means. These past few days have been different. It’s not just an intense sexual attraction that has me incapable of keeping my hands off her. It’s becoming more than that.
I’ve always loved her, and as we got older, I knew we’d end up heading down this track together.
But after those seven years of despising her, I thought all the love I had for her dried up.
There was nothing there but pure betrayal, and the hurt I felt from that far outweighed anything else.
But now that hurt is gone, and all that’s left is a fierce grief for the time I missed.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she tells me, her hand shifting to my chest. “I know I tried to run at first, and I told you that the moment I got my chance, I would go straight back to the life I’d worked so hard to build.
But I don’t want that. Not anymore. I can’t fathom the idea of having to leave you, and I’m terrified of the day the feds eventually catch up to us.
I don’t want to lose you, Stone. I’m not ready for this to end. ”
“Nothing’s ending,” I tell her, pulling her against my chest. “I have seven years to make up for, and I’m not about to lose them because some asshole cop wants to be a hero. They won’t get me, Aria. My place is right here with you.”
“You can’t promise me that,” she murmurs, a heaviness in her eyes. “You can’t guarantee that won’t happen.”
“I know,” I murmur, holding her against my chest, because honestly, I’m fucking terrified, and she’s right.
I can’t promise her that I’ll never get caught.
Look at the situation we’re in right now.
The city is surrounded, and we’re trapped like caged animals, but what kind of life is this?
She deserves better than hiding out in shitty warehouses and going hungry.
“You shouldn’t want this life with me. I’m never going to let you go, Aria.
I’m too fucking selfish for that, but if you were smart, you’d run like hell. ”
“No, I—”
“I can’t give you a grand life, Menace. With me, we’re always going to be watching our backs. We’ll never be able to settle in one spot. Constantly moving and keeping a low profile while trying to earn a bit of cash just to survive. That’s no life.”
Aria pulls back and looks up at me again, her brows furrowed. “Are you trying to convince me to run?”