Chapter 14 #2
Hours went by, and he was now laughing hysterically at me as my shots somehow got worse.
“It’s not funny!” I snapped, giving him a dirty look. “Do you want to get shot, asshole?”
“I don’t think I have much to worry about with that aim,” he taunted, making me growl as I tried to hit the target again. He howled with laughter, slapping his thigh and everything.
“I fucking hate you, you know?” I scowled, intending on putting the gun away and giving up, but he waved a hand at me as he got himself under control, a big smirk on his face.
“C’mon, try again. I’ll help.”
“Bite me.”
“Don’t be like that,” he huffed, moving behind me to put me into position. Once I was standing right, he arranged the position of my arms, taking a step back. “Okay, now try.”
I fired, the bullet hitting right next to the bullseye.
“I did it!” I shrieked, trying it again. I didn’t get the position completely right, but I hit the paper again within the target, which was a start.
“Keep going,” he encouraged, staying back with his arms crossed to assess me.
My hands and arms were starting to hurt, but fuck, I felt so good.
Skeeter
“See you soon, Mr. Maddox,” the guard at the courthouse said dryly as I walked out.
As suspected, all charges had been dropped against me for the drug possession.
We’d made sure there was no evidence left, and as much as the judge’s sigh told me he knew how things had gone missing, he couldn’t prove it.
“Looking forward to it,” I called back, walking towards my car to find Diesel waiting for me. He’d been in the courtroom with me, but he’d left before the verdict when he’d gotten multiple phone calls. “Hey. They lost the evidence. Fancy that?”
“We’ve got a problem. Get in the car,” he said flatly, making me frown.
“What’s wrong?”
“In the car,” he repeated, obviously not wanting to talk about it out here in the open.
I did as he asked, starting it to let it warm up. “What’s wrong?”
“Lukas freaked out when he couldn’t get hold of you, so he called me. Rory took off with Slash again,” he sighed, making me scowl.
“She what?”
“He picked her up from school. Ty was there and is convinced it’s fine, but the second he said Slash was taking her to the gun range, the guys kind of flipped out,” he said carefully as I started backing out of my parking spot.
I glanced at the time, seeing school had ended hours ago. “You should’ve gone after her.”
“In what? I couldn’t exactly walk up to you in there and ask for your fucking keys, Skeet. I tried calling both Slash and Rory and got no answer. I called Brick and he’s still driving back from Fairview, and I even tried Matteo, who scoffed and said good riddance.”
“He could’ve buried her by now,” I snapped, putting my foot down as we hit the road, heading in the direction of Pine Valley.
Fury and panic clawed at my chest the closer we got, and I had a small wave of relief when we arrived to find the Mustang still there. At least I didn’t have to track him down elsewhere.
“I hate putting you in this position, but if he’s hurt her—” I started, but Diesel cut me off.
“I’ll kill the fucker myself. I like her. He doesn’t get to fuck with your girl,” he promised, making sure he had his gun on him before we bailed from the car and headed inside.
“Where’s Slash?” I demanded as we reached the front desk, Brendan waving a hand towards the back rooms.
I stalked in that direction, slowing when I spotted them through the window.
Slash was doubled over with laughter while Rory angrily told him off for something. I couldn’t hear them, it was soundproof, but it was obvious she wasn’t in any danger as he continued laughing.
“What the fuck?” Diesel muttered, voicing my thoughts exactly as he stood beside me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him laugh like that.”
Confusion cooled the anger as he controlled himself and helped put her into the right stance, obviously taking the time to teach her correctly. When she hit her target, her whole face lit up as she looked over at him, and he smiled as he said something before she tried again.
He looked almost peaceful, which was impossible in our line of work, and I started walking towards the door, trying the handle to find it unlocked.
They both had their ear protection on and didn’t initially hear me enter, and I got to hear Rory’s rambling for a second as she got excited by her next shot.
“Now you have to be worried about my aim,” she grinned, firing another and making him snort.
“Doubtful, Killer. You could be standing above me while I slept and I wouldn't have to worry.”
“You sure about that?” she teased, turning to face him and catching me out of the corner of her eye, and I raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh, hey, Skeet.”
Slash turned, not seeming surprised to see me in the slightest. “Took your time.”
“You knew I couldn’t get here any fucking faster when I was stuck in a courtroom,” I said sharply, and Rory frowned.
“You had court today? Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, sounding hurt.
“Don’t give me that look when you didn’t tell me about this,” I said dryly, motioning between them.
“How can I prove I won’t hurt her if you don’t let her near me? Bringing her here while you were busy was a good plan,” Slash said almost smugly, and Rory glared at him.
“You knew he was in court?”
“Of course I did. I also knew the evidence had magically disappeared and he wasn’t going to prison,” he said dryly, my eyes catching on her bandaged hand.
“What the fuck did you do to her this time?” I growled, stalking closer and snatching her hand as he took the gun from her.
“That wasn’t me. We’ll deal with him later,” he shrugged, my blood boiling.
“He? Who’s he?” I spat, looking at Rory for an explanation.
She sighed like I was being difficult, letting me pull the bandage off enough to look at the wound. It was a burn, and it was a long strip that ran along the back of her hand.
“It’s been handled. Don’t do anything.”
I looked at Slash expectantly, waiting for him to tell me since it was obvious that asshole knew what happened to her.
“I’m still trying to get a name out of her because it’s not handled. All I know is a jock held her down and branded her with heated scissors in class today,” he said casually, starting to put their things away.
“So you called Slash?” I snapped at her, and she scoffed.
“No. I ran it under cold water with every intention of going back to class, but Caden heard about it and found me. Jensen punched the guy in the face. Slash showed up after school all by himself.”
“Useless fucking pricks,” I growled, and she pulled away from me, fixing her bandage.
“You can’t just shoot at academy kids. The streets are your business, but the academy is ours. Stay in your lane.”
“My lane?” I echoed, grabbing the back of her neck and marching her towards the door.
“I’ll get a ride with the boss, I guess,” Diesel deadpanned as I left, manhandling Rory past Brendan and out of the building, before shoving her into my passenger seat and slamming the door.
I could hear her cursing me out as I walked around to the other side, climbing behind the wheel, and glaring at her as I started the car.
“Are you done?”
“I haven’t fucking started,” she spat, the argument dying as I grabbed her chin hard and kissed her.
I wanted to make her take me to the guy’s house so I could terrify him a little, but I could figure it out on my own once she was home.
“Are you okay?” I asked calmly as I pulled back, her face softening a fraction.
“I’m good.”
“You didn’t call Slash?”
“I didn’t want any of you knowing, so no,” she scoffed, her eyes going out the window as Slash and Diesel appeared. Slash walked over and she put the window down, tension building as he pulled the gun she’d been using back out of the bag and handed it to her, along with some boxes of bullets.
“Be careful and keep it hidden. If you have to use it on someone, call one of us. You did good today. Brendan knows to let you in without question, so come and practice when you can,” he ordered, and she gave him a small smile.
“Thanks for helping.”
“It was my pleasure to make fun of you for a few hours,” he grinned, his eyes sliding to mine. “Meet me at the Shed when you drop her home.”
“I have things—” I started, but he cut me off.
“Shed,” he warned before walking towards his car with Diesel, and I glared after him, knowing he’d track me down if I didn’t go.
I sent a quick text to Caden to let him know I had Rory, then I started driving back to Ashburn Valley.
“I had a good afternoon,” Rory randomly said after a moment, making me glance at her.
“With Slash?”
She toyed with the gun on her lap, running her finger along the side as she admired it.
“He showed me how to put it together and stuff.”
“I noticed he was laughing when I arrived. What was so funny?” I asked.
She snorted, but a small smile tugged at her lips. “My terrible aim.”
“It was that funny?”
“It was after hours of it. It got worse by the second,” she grumbled.
“I don’t like you around him alone, baby girl,” I said slowly, her eyes lifting to mine.
“He’s trying, Skeet. We’re getting along really well.” She swallowed, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
I stored that thought away for later, focusing on our surroundings. I hadn’t run into Hunter or Marco lately, but that didn’t mean they weren’t around, and I was kind of relieved that Slash had organized a gun for her.
I wanted to worry about him giving it to her with the intention of getting her fingerprints all over it, but he’d been handling it too, so I knew that wasn’t the case.
“If you’re going to carry from now on, make sure the safety is always on, bullets loaded, and out of view. If you can avoid using it in public, that would be good too. If someone tries to hurt you though, all bets are off, okay? How did it feel? You like it?”
It was a good choice for a weapon. I would’ve gotten the same one for her myself if I’d been actively looking. I felt bad for not organizing it sooner, but between crew stuff and looking for Marla, it slipped my mind.
“It wasn’t too heavy. Felt comfortable to hold,” she replied, still admiring it.
“He’s right about practicing. The range is legal, but you need to be careful. Cops know you run with us, so if they start sniffing around, tell me. I need to find you somewhere safe to stash it if you get too much heat. Don’t let Josie know you’ve got it.”
“Anything about Mom?” she asked softly, and I winced.
“I thought I found something, but it turned out to be nothing. An old police report with a Jane Doe. Car found in a river that had been submerged for months. I went over it, but it was estimated the woman had been in the river a week prior to your mom’s disappearance.”
“What if they got it wrong?”
“There were a lot of missing women around that time, and the case lined up better with three other women. The woman had zero dental records, medical records, or prints in the system. Your mom does. They would have identified her.”
She slumped in the seat, and I hated that I couldn’t give her the answers she wanted. I’d grown up in the life of murder and missing people, so I knew chances were high that I was looking for a body.
Without many clues though, I wasn’t likely to find her.
I wouldn’t dare tell Rory that, not when there was some hope that she might still be out there. I wouldn’t put her through that unless I was sure.
She stared out the window for the rest of the drive, and when she went to step out of the car, I put a hand out to stop her.
“Gun down the back of your skirt. Keep it from the guys, preferably. Be smart with it, Aurora. Don’t leave it lying around, but keep it close.”
She nodded and did as I told her, the boxes of bullets rattling and making her sigh. “I can’t really hide these.”
“Josie’s not home, so if you can keep them out of camera view, stash them under your blazer or something until you get inside.
If the guys see it, so be it. I don’t want to upset you, but keep it away from Lukas.
” She jerked like I’d slapped her, but I stared her down.
“I mean it. The way he has his meltdowns, you’d have no hope in stopping him from making a stupid decision.
He’s an emotional wreck, and it’s your responsibility to keep this away from him. Do you understand?”
“Luke—”
“He would, Aurora. He doesn’t think clearly when he’s upset. Don’t leave tempting things around the house,” I warned, watching as she nodded and tried to conceal the bullets under her blazer before climbing out and heading towards the house.
Caden opened the door and started scolding her the second he opened his mouth, and I honked the horn to get his attention, motioning for him to tone it down.
He frowned at me with confusion but seemed to calm enough to let her inside.
I waved, heading to the Shed and noticing I was there before Slash, so I walked inside to grab a beer, making sure to punch Matteo in the face on my way past.
I felt better already.