17. Chapter 17
Omniscient
Quan ran a hand down his face and leaned against the kitchen counter while the woman he had been seeing for the last few months paced back and forth across the living room rug.
She was starting to irritate the shit out of him. She was far too hyper, squirmy and bouncing off the walls over everything. He wasn’t used to all this frantic, high-strung energy. He liked quiet and he liked composure, so this constant chatter was draining every last bit of his patience.
"Bro, chill," Quan grunted. "Relax and have some decorum. You got too much energy for me.”
“Pardon?”
“I'm used to women who know how to chill out and hold their own."
She stopped mid-step. "I know you're not comparing me to that bitch who put a gun to my head!"
Quan stepped into her space in a flash. "Don't call her a fucking bitch!"
The room went quiet.
She froze with her mouth slightly parted, staring at him in disbelief. The silence stretched between them for five agonizing seconds before she cleared her throat and shook her head.
"Yeah... I'm done with this shit," she whispered, stepping back from him.
Quan furrowed his brows. "What the fuck you mean?"
"You don't even like me for real," she spat, her voice tight with anger and sudden realization.
"The fact that you're allowing yourself to sit here and pretend we got something real going on is blowing my mind right now. You about to piss me the fuck off because clearly you’ve been wasting my time!
But I'm just going to tell you straight up that we are done.
I don't want no parts of you, and I mean that shit. "
She grabbed her purse, slammed the front door shut behind her, and walked out of his life for good.
Quan stood alone in his quiet living room, frustrated that things had ended on such a sour note. Deep down he knew she was not wrong.
He had been thinking about Danni a lot lately, and he couldn’t get her out of his head. When she walked away from him and cut ties, he hadn’t truly grasped that she meant forever.
Damn, he thought to himself, did I mean nothing to her?
He missed her unreadable presence, and he missed just looking into her face while she sat in the dark.
Most people saw a woman like Danni and only felt the chill, but Quan had spent enough time around her to see the side of her the world was too terrified to appreciate.
In a city full of fake smiles and flimsy loyalty, her lack of emotional performances was the most refreshing thing he had ever known.
She never lied to keep the peace, never gave out cheap, empty comfort, and never pretended to care about shit that didn't matter. Her detachment was top tier.
When the world was on fire and everyone else was losing their minds, Danni was the calm in the eye of the storm.
Her mind didn't get clouded by panic, sentimentality, or guilt, which meant her logic was always clear. She was surprisingly protective of the very few people she deemed her own. She’d pull a gun for him in the past, ready for someone to try him.
While normal people wrestled with doubt and second-guessing, Danni possessed an unshakeable confidence in her choices.
She saw through every piece of manipulation, read every hidden motive in a room, and was so pretty when she did it.
To Quan, her lack of a traditional heart wasn't a flaw; it was the form of strength. She didn't possess a single fake bone in her body, and in a world built on lies, honesty was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted.
Quan shook his head with a quiet chuckle, staring out at the wall.
He remembered how the woman who just walked out had looked at him like he had two heads when he suggested using ice the next time she gave him head.
She was so thrown off by it he never brought it up again, but damn, he missed that shit.
Danni used to do wild shit. He missed her body—the way her thick, sculpted body walked would just stride around his apartment completely naked, knowing good and well she wasn't giving it up. That shit was so fucking sexy to him.
“Yeah, I need to get out of my head.”
Quan grabbed his keys, walked to his whip, and took off down the highway for a late-night drive.
He was cruising down the dimly lit bypass, lost in memories of Danni, when he glanced up into his rearview mirror. A pair of bright, aggressive headlights came roaring up behind him at top speed. Quan wasn’t about to speed up just because somebody was tailgating him.
If they want to pass, they can go the fuck around, he thought.
SLAM!
The trailing vehicle clipped his rear bumper hard, sending a jolt through the steering wheel that forced his car up a few feet.
"Oh, hell nah!" Quan growled, his hands gripping the wheel tight.
He tapped his brakes to slow them down, but the car behind him rammed into his rear driver's side again, trying to pit-maneuver him off the asphalt.
"Fuck!" Quan shouted at the top of his lungs.
Adrenaline surged through his veins as he reached into his console, snatched his loaded piece, and laid it on his lap. He smashed his foot on the gas, attempting to merge into the left lane to break away, but a heavy dark SUV out of his blind spot boxed him in.
The SUV's back passenger window rolled down, and two masked shooters aimed automatic weapons at his head. Quan slammed his power-window switches up, closed his eyes for a split second, and laid flat against the center console as a hail of gunfire shattered the night air.
TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!
The sound of rounds slamming into his glass echoed through the cabin.
It was muffled like heavy hail hitting metal.
Quan blinked in confusion, his eyes darting to the spiderweb cracks blooming across the window.
The glass was actually catching the lead, holding up against a spray that should have turned his head into paint.
He didn't know who the fuck installed this glass, but he didn't have time to ponder the miracle—he just needed to get the fuck out of there.
His heart dropped through his chest, but his foot stayed glued to the accelerator.
He snapped his eyes forward, looking for a gap, and his blood ran ice-cold as a massive eighteen-wheeler appeared stalled across the highway directly in his path.
"Shit!"
Quan yanked the wheel hard to the right, clipping the rear bumper of the truck as his car sideswiped the guardrail.
Sparks flew like fireworks into the night.
He forced his car into the narrow hazard lane, squeezed past the massive semi, and slammed the gas pedal to the floorboards, zooming off into the darkness to create distance.
He needed to get home.
He tore through the city streets at ninety miles an hour, heading straight for his place. But right as he approached his neighborhood, his instincts screamed at him to stop. Something told him to take the rear access road, and scope out the perimeter before pulling into his driveway.
He cut his headlights, creeping slowly down the shadowed treeline near his property entrance.
Parked along the dark gravel shoulder were four tinted SUVs. Sitting in the front passenger seat of the lead vehicle, her face illuminated brightly by the glow of her cell phone, was Brooklyn.
Quan stopped his car in the shadows, his eyes bugging out of his head.
What the fuck is she doing here?! he thought, his brain short-circuiting. What the hell is going on?!
His hands trembled with adrenaline as he scrolled past his contacts, and dialed the one person on this earth who could handle this.
He pressed the phone to his ear, praying to God she'd answer.
***
(tell him to go under hsi bed an dthere should be a small hide away he can go hide until she gets there and lo and behold it is)
Quan’s heart was hammering while he kept his eyes glued to his view.
He gripped the steering wheel with his left hand, pressing his phone tight against his ear with his right.
The phone rang quietly.
On the fourth ring, the line clicked open.
"Quan," Danni’s voice came through the speaker.
"Danni," Quan breathed out, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "I need your help. I'm sitting outside my place right now, and I got boxed in. Brooklyn brought a full hit squad to my front gate. She's sitting in the truck right fucking now and I ain’t did shit to that girl."
There was a two-second pause on the line. Quan could hear the faint sound of a lighter flicking in the background, followed by a soft exhale of smoke.
"Brooklyn is at your house?" Danni asked, her tone shifting.
"Yes! She tried to kill me on the highway ten minutes ago," Quan whispered aggressively, ducking lower in his seat.
“How’s your car?”
“Actually…okay. I was able to break off, but she's waiting at my entrance. I'm sitting in the treeline with my gun."
"Okay, I need you to do everything I say," Danni said, her voice eerily calm.
Quan nodded.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Yes—sorry, I nodded," he stammered out.
Danni let out a small sigh. "Put your AirPods in."
With shaking hands, Quan reached into his pocket and jammed the AirPods into his ears, staying low beneath the dashboard. Through the dark tint of his windshield, he could see the shooters getting restless, preparing to break through.
"Now, just a heads-up," Danni continued. "They will get into your apartment. And if you keep sitting in that car, they will find you."
Quan’s heart dropped through his stomach, but he forced himself to stay silent and let her finish.
"So I need you to do something for me," she said.
"Yes—yes, anything," he whispered desperately.
"Okay. Go in your house."
Quan squinted. "Why the fuck would I do that?!"
"You know how I feel about questions," Danni snapped, her annoyance flaring through the phone. "Just go do the shit! Jump over the back gate to get in without your car."
Quan shook his head. "Who the fuck can climb that gate? It's way too high!"
Danni let out a frustrated breath. "Get out the fucking car, slide under the gate, and get your ass inside before they can get there! Move!"
Quan popped his door, scrambled out, and took off.
His heart was lodged in his throat as he moved through the shadows.
When he reached the heavy iron security gate, he saw just how tall it towered, but he dropped flat on his stomach and slid through the narrow gap underneath, scraping his chest against the dirt.
As he scrambled to his feet on the other side, his boots kicked a metallic trash bin, sending a loud clatter echoing through the courtyard. The shooters turned to the noise.
"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" Quan yelled, watching them draw their pieces and charge toward him.
"Just keep going!" Danni commanded in his ear. "Use the resident elevator, it's faster!"
Quan sprinted into the lobby with his lungs burning, and aggressively slapped his keycard against the reader.
The heavy metal doors began to slide shut just as the men cleared the gate.
Through the narrowing crack, Quan saw two automatic muzzles raise straight toward his face, but the elevator doors sealed tight before they could pull the trigger.
Quan leaned against the elevator wall, shaking so violently he could barely stand. When the doors opened on his floor, he darted down the hall, unlocked his front door, and slammed it shut behind him.
"Close all your doors and put the cat outside," Danni ordered flatly.
Quan snatched the cat off his couch, yanked the sliding door open, and tossed the animal onto the low-hanging oak tree outside.
"Now go in your room and get under the bed," she said.
Quan paused mid-stride in his hallway, staring at his bedroom door. Danni must have felt the delay through the line because she barked into his ear.
"No, no, no! Don't think, just go! Hurry the fuck up!"
He scrambled into the bedroom, dropped to his knees, and shoved his body beneath the bed frame.
"Now knock on the wood five times," she instructed.
Heavy, violent banging exploded from his front door as the shooters began kicking their way into his living room. Panic seized his chest, but Quan rapidly knocked his knuckles against the wooden bed frame five times.
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP.
His jaw dropped. The floorboards beneath him gave a soft hiss, and a hidden panel slid open into the darkness below. Quan wiggled his body down through the opening and pulled the secret hatch shut behind him.
"Lock it by the latch," Danni said softly.
He reached up, slid the iron latch into place, and froze. Above him, the sound of heavy boots echoed through his bedroom, followed by the sound of his furniture being tossed around.
"Because you like asking stupid questions," Danni said in his earpiece, "no, they can't hear you down there. It’s soundproofed. And don't mess up my bed."
Quan squinted into the dim lighting, and his jaw dropped. Down beneath his floorboards was a fully finished, climate-controlled mini-room—complete with a plush bed, emergency supplies, bottled water, and a stack of her favorite snacks neatly lined up on a shelf.
He stayed huddled near the ladder, listening to the muffled thuds of the men tearing his apartment apart.
Brooklyn yelled, “Find his ass! He’s around here!”
"What the fuck is this?" Quan whispered.
"It's the place I used to go when you pissed me off and I wanted to still be around you," Danni replied. "Stay put. I'm on the way."
The line went dead. Quan sat back in the dark, staring at the stocked shelves while the wrecking crew above him destroyed everything he owned, waiting for Danni to handle the rest.