Chapter Nineteen
HUNTER
It was risky going back to the apartment, but I had no choice after Ocean had declared war on me. The only thing I had to defend myself with was a single bullet. I staked out the complex for a few hours, watching everyone who came and went before I even dared approach the building.
Two minutes.
It was all the time I would allow myself to gather everything I needed.
When I entered the apartment, I looked around expecting to see it ransacked or someone inside waiting for me, but it was just as I left it. Still, I took my time clearing every room, door, and corner before I allowed myself to breathe.
And then I went into my room and started loading guns, clothes, and bullets as I could into a pink duffel bag. I left the apartment as quickly and quietly as I’d arrived and jogged down the stairs.
I slinked through the breezeway until I reached the back of the building, where Deborah was parked in her usual spot by the pond. That was my first mistake, but a night spent shivering in my sleep inside my cold car left me anything but on top of my game.
Reaching Deb unscathed, I threw my duffel bag across the console and into the passenger seat and quickly dropped into the driver’s seat. It was only after I jammed my key in the ignition, turned it, and listened to Deborah struggle to wake up that I realized my mistake.
I didn’t check the backseat.
A cloud of Axe body spray and cigarette smoke drifted over my shoulder as I stared straight ahead in horror. Snapping out of it, I dove for my gun, but the intruder was faster.
A long arm encased in leather whipped out from the backseat where he had hidden and wrapped around my neck in a brutal hold that had me gasping for air in seconds. The second arm joined the first when I struggled, putting pressure on my carotid and pinning me to the seat.
“You should have known better than to think you were getting away from me that easily,” a familiar voice whispered.
Fucking Kellan.
I gurgled obscenities as I struggled, but his hold was too secure, and none of the rigorous defense training I’d put myself through over the years could slow the fog creeping in from the edges of my vision.
I’d be conscious again in less than a minute, but it didn’t matter. It was time enough for Kellan to incapacitate me permanently if he wanted.
Stop panicking, I scolded. Think.
My door was suddenly snatched open before I could form a plan, and a man I didn’t recognize in a simple black suit and chauffeur’s cap crouched next to me. My eyes met his apologetic ones briefly before widening at the sight of the long needle the older man used his teeth to uncap.
Kellan’s arms loosened only enough to keep me conscious while ensuring my flailing body remained secured. “Do it,” he snapped at the older man.
It didn’t matter how sorry he was. The driver made a decision and leaned forward to follow orders, so I hawked and spit in his face before he could stick me in the arm.
Using their mutual horror to my advantage, I surged forward before Kellan had a chance to tighten his hold again, and then, shifting the gear into reverse, I slammed my foot on the gas.
The chauffeur’s shout of surprise was cut short when he was knocked over, Deborah’s front left tire narrowly missing his head.
Pity.
I kept my foot on the pedal as the car shot across the small parking lot, and then I felt Kellan shift as he turned to peer over his shoulder.
“Oh, fuck,” he whispered. Fright had his arms slackening a little more when he saw where we were headed. A large and seemingly bottomless pond was nestled between the parking lot and the small grouping of trees. “Stop the car!” he screamed. I kept going. “Hunter, for fuck’s sake, stop!”
Ignoring him, I turned my head and sank my teeth into his bicep, digging into the skin until I tasted blood.
Cursing, Kellan was forced to let me go, and I risked precious seconds waiting for the right moment. I’m sure Kellan had the same idea, but he’d made one mistake.
Deborah was a two-door.
Kellan had allowed himself to be trapped in the backseat with nowhere to go.
Finally, concrete gave way to grass and dirt as I twisted in my seat. With the only second that I had to spare, my determined gaze collided with Kellan’s shocked one, and I smiled.
Adios, asshole.
I threw myself from the car just as Deborah sped over the grassy knoll.
My back, thankfully, absorbed most of the impact with the ground as I allowed my body to roll across the grass. When I finally lost momentum enough to stop, I looked up just as Deborah cleared the small hill and plunged into the pond.
I was frozen momentarily as I watched thousands of pounds of water rush inside the open door and Deborah quickly sink beneath the surface. My mouth parted in a silent scream, and tears I hadn’t shed in a long time spilled from my eyes when I realized what I’d done.
After I was released from juvie for putting my father in the hospital, I’d found Deborah all alone with a sign stuck in her window that said one word…
Worthless.
Someone too stupid to see her value had abandoned her—just as I’d been.
Homeless and penniless, I tracked down the shady owner and bartered my body and a small piece of my soul in exchange for her.
Why?
Because like recognizes like. Deborah had called to me.
I couldn’t explain why or how, but if I believed in fate, I might think it had been for this moment.
Saving my life.
Saving Coby’s life.
Thunderbirds represented protection, and she had been exactly that for me. My home, my shelter, and salvation.
That car was all I’d had before Coby came along, and in one desperate move, I’d sacrificed her without a thought.
Deb…I’m so sorry.
Gritting my teeth at the pain in my leg, I forced myself to my feet. Instinct told me that Kellan was just the first of the onslaught headed my way, and once again, I had nothing but a single bullet I’d carve Ocean’s name into.
Assuming he could swim, I knew Kellan wouldn’t be trapped for long, so I charged across the parking lot like vengeance itself.
When my shadow fell over the nameless driver crawling onto the sidewalk, he looked over his shoulder, eyes widening with fear when he saw the barrel of my gun pointed at his head.
“Take me to your boss,” I ordered. When he hesitated, I flipped off the safety. “Now.”
I wasn’t going to waste the only bullet I had on him, but he didn’t need to know that.
With a grim expression, the driver nodded and slowly stood while watching me warily.
Together, we traveled back through the breezeway to the front of the building. We climbed in the Denali—he in the driver’s seat and me directly behind him with the gun pressed against his side.
He cranked the SUV, but he paused to look in the rearview mirror instead of driving away. “Are you sure you want to do this, darling?”
“Drive, darling.”
The Denali rolled forward, and I allowed myself to have a moment by resting my forehead against the back of the seat. The journey was silent, and I was perfectly content to keep quiet until I realized we were leaving the city limits.
I frowned.
“Where are you going?” I questioned, even though it was a little too late for that now.
“I’m taking you to the Boss as you requested.”
The Boss. Not his boss.
Oh, shit.
He wasn’t driving me to see Ocean. He was taking me to the very top of the food chain, where I was sure to be devoured.
Suddenly, my skin became clammy, and I wanted out. “Stop the car,” I ordered anxiously.
“I can’t do that, darling. You’ve caused enough trouble.”
“You realize I have a gun aimed at your kidney, right?”
He glanced in the rearview again. “They won’t do me much good if I lose my head.”
“Touché, dude.”
“Paul,” he corrected good-naturedly. “I’m too old to be a dude.”
I guess that meant there were no hard feelings about me holding him at gunpoint…and almost running him over with my car. I wouldn’t apologize since he tried to drug me, so for that offense, I’d say we were almost even.
Seeing that we were entering a heavily wooded area with no other traffic, I raised the gun and brought the butt down on his head. Paul slumped in his seat as I dove for the steering wheel to keep the SUV from leaving the road.
Now we were even.
All I could do was steer through as we swerved the empty road at high speed. His leg was deadweight on the gas pedal, so I had to crawl over the unconscious man to engage the emergency brake.
I felt triumphant when we started to slow until I realized it wouldn’t be in time to avoid the deer that just leaped out of nowhere.
Today was truly not my day, but little did I know, the next few days would be even harder.