Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
PAXTON
“Shit.” I slam the butt of my gun into Tommy’s head.
I’m out of bullets, and I’m trying to keep his ass alive.
He blinks a few times, dazed, before his eyes fall closed again.
I’m behind his desk, where I’d taken cover when all hell broke out.
I don’t want to kill him. I mean, I really fucking do, but this would be a good gift for my wife.
The shots settle momentarily, and I peer around the desk to see War stand up from behind the bar. Bodies litter the ground. I glance around on the floor, trying to find my earpiece; it must have gotten knocked out.
“You’re alive,” Eros says with a smirk. “Do I smell smoke?”
I ignore him and start searching for the fucking earpiece. I know my girl is alive; her heart rate is accelerated. I keep it on my watch. I find a gun and check that it’s still loaded.
“Shit.” Eros trains his gun toward the office doors that are wide open and riddled with bullets as two men come rushing in that aren’t ours. They don’t appear to be attacking; they’re fleeing.
Two loud pops ring out, and you can hear the two men hit the ground. Then I see Naomi, a gun in one hand and a torch in the other. She really is burning this place to the ground. I can’t help but crack a little smile. There’s my sunshine in all her glory.
Her eyes lock on me, and she freezes in the doorway, her lips parting. “Naomi!” I bellow her name as I raise the gun and fire over her head. She drops down as my bullets sink into the three guards behind her.
A string of curses in Italian pours from War. Everything gets deadly quiet until Eros’s loud-ass mouth breaks it.
“What’s the count on that?” Eros asks. “No, I mean the guards left.” He must be talking to Mac. I ignore them and head for my girl as she stands, turning to see the three bodies behind her.
“The fuck was that?” I bark at her, causing her eyes to widen. “You weren’t paying attention. The hell, Naomi.” I am pissed, madder than I think I have ever been in my life. She momentarily frowns, but it doesn’t last. Her shoulders push back, and her eyes narrow on me.
“Me! I was told you were dead!” she shouts. Naomi never shouts. There isn’t a need. Her flat, icy tone is enough to cut a person in half.
“We never said he was dead.” Eros gets defensive. “I didn’t confirm or deny.”
I go to her, and Naomi meets me halfway, dropping the torch that’s now only smoldering. I pull her into me, and she buries her face in my chest. I can hear War and Eros talking, confirming the clear-out. The smell of smoke is growing thicker.
“We have to get out of here,” War says.
Naomi drops her head back; I can see tears in her eyes. I cup her face between my hands. “We’re almost there, sunshine.”
She reaches her fingers up, tracing my lips. “You’re never to leave me.”
“Never,” I agree. She nods, taking a breath. I drop my hands, and Naomi’s demeanor shifts.
“I’m not done yet,” Naomi says.
“Got you a wedding gift.” I point over my shoulder to Tommy. A slow smile slides across her lips.
“He’s all yours,” Naomi tells me.
“Make it quick,” War says, glancing up and then down, the house letting out a loud groan. I walk back over to Tommy; he starts to come to.
“You should have given me Luigi,” I tell him before I shoot one ankle and then another. He screams. I don’t have the time to play with him as I’d like, but the fire will.
“Let’s go,” War says, and we all head out toward the back of the house with Naomi leading the charge.
“No, he’s alive, you brat,” Naomi snaps while talking to Mac.
“We never said that he was dead!” Eros says again. He glances at me and mouths, Can you help me out here? I shake my head no. They’re on their own when it comes to Naomi’s ire. Good luck with that.
A few of the Marino men are waiting when we exit out the back. “Holy fuck,” one of them says, staring up at the house as it goes up in flames. Naomi keeps going, determination in each one of her steps. She doesn’t stop until she’s standing in front of Jax and Damon, who have Luigi on his knees.
I knew he’d run. That’s what cowardly boys do. He ran right into the trap that had been set. He’s already pleading and begging.
I hope he believes in God because that’s about the only one that can save him from my wife at this point. His pleas will mean nothing to her. Not when she’s wearing that cold, emotionless expression that lets everyone know she’s in full Naomi mode.
“Okay,” Naomi says, evoking a shocked expression from Luigi. “I’ll make you a deal. If you can make it out of the maze and off the property, you can live.” Her voice is chillingly calm, sending a shiver through even me.
“Just shoot me now, then. I can’t outrun all of you.”
“Only me.”
“Is this a trick?” She motions with her hand for Jax and Damon to yank him to his feet, and then they step back.
“No, the game is easy. Ticktock, little mouse. Into the maze you go. I’ll even give you a head start.
Twenty, nineteen,” she starts counting. Luigi backs up one step and then another.
With how we’re positioned around him, he has no choice but to enter into the tall bushes. “Eighteen.” He turns and bolts inside.
Naomi holds out her hand, and Damon hands her a Molotov cocktail. She lights it before chucking it up and over one of the maze walls.
It’s like an explosion with how quickly the brush ignites. “Fuck, how much gasoline did you put in there?” Eros laughs.
“Cut me a fucking break,” Jax mutters. “It’s my first time rigging up a bush maze.”
“Is it called a bush maze?” Damon asks as screams start to come from inside. The flames are chasing him down. Naomi goes around, and we all follow her, the other men signaling to the waiting vehicles for everyone in separate locations around the property.
Naomi stops and waits at the other end of the maze. He can’t turn back, not with how fast the flames are spreading. The screams draw closer before he comes stumbling and coughing out. I can see the flames had gotten him a few times, but he’d managed to snuff them out.
When he sees us all standing there, he does try to backpedal but quickly realizes he can’t unless he wants to burn to death.
“You cheated.” He coughs.
“You may believe so,” she tells him. “Did you enjoy being hunted down?”
“This is bullshit; you weren’t really giving me a chance.”
“I wasn’t.” She lifts her gun. “The rules have changed. You didn’t want me to sit at the table, so I’ve made a new one, and now I make the rules.” Naomi fires, hitting him dead center in his forehead, ending it all. “Bullseye,” she says nonchalantly, showing no other emotion.
The sound of sirens start to fill the air. “Sunshine.” I hold my hand out to her, and she takes it before we head back toward our designated location. Everyone is quiet until we’re back on the plane and in the air, and people start making calls and checking in.
“Sunshine.” I pull her into my lap. “Did you have a good time?”
“I did.” She rests her head on my shoulder. Her mouth goes to my neck, and she gives a small bite.
“It didn’t all go as planned,” I say, running my hand up and down her back.
She lifts her head. “It was pretty freaking close.”
“You running around without a shirt on wasn’t in the plan.” She glances down at herself. She has a sports bra on, but still, I’m not a fan of anyone seeing her without a shirt on besides me.
“I wear this all the time.”
“Not all the time. Only at home,” I point out. It was a fight to not kill Luigi myself. She might have been about to kill him, but that little fuck was still checking out her tits.
“I do too,” she insists.
“With a windbreaker on.”
“Seriously?” She turns partly in my lap to face me.
“Yeah, seriously.” I grip her hips.
“You’re being ridiculous with your jealousy, you know that,” she huffs, and I have never in my life seen her fight so hard to not smile. “Are we having our first married fight?”
“Might as well. We do all our firsts together.” A small laugh leaves her. I grip her chin to stare into her eyes. She stares right back. “You see it now?”
“I see it,” she agrees. “I am your sunshine.”
We may not have the most traditional of relationships, but our love will always only burn for one another.