Chapter 6 #2
“Proof I tried,” I sighed as I pocketed the phone and climbed into the passenger seat of Mule’s car.
The drive to the Heights was uneventful, and I winced when I saw the bent hinge. “Good thing I brought a hammer. It should flatten out.”
Mule blew out a breath and helped me hold the door while I unscrewed the hinges, then I carried them over to the sidewalk and started hammering them flat on the solid ground.
They weren’t completely flat by the time I was done, but they’d do the job.
Once the hinges were back on the door, Mule helped me hold the door straight so I could drill the screws back into the frame. It was challenging since part of the frame had split, but the drill made it a lot easier. Especially when we found some longer screws in the doors in her backyard.
“Thanks for this,” she mumbled as we shut and locked the door so she could test the key.
“It’s fine. It’s not like I did a great job, but it will hold,” I smiled, putting my things back in the car before joining her on the small porch again for a cigarette.
We’d only been gone forty minutes, so we still had time to get home before Josie worried.
A car pulled up out front and I reached for my gun, noticing the tense look on Mule’s face. She didn’t know who it was either.
She cursed when the door opened and Hunter climbed out, but I relaxed.
“The fuck are you doing here, Rivera? Still stalking me?” I asked as he locked his car and approached, his eyes on me as I rested my arm across my knees where he could see the gun in my hand.
The fucker had to have been tracking my phone or something. He always showed up in places where there were no street cameras, so I knew he didn’t spot me on one.
Mule was flicking her gaze between us, trying to figure out if this was going to go to shit or not.
“Was on my way home from something. You know there’s gang wars happening, right? Why are you here alone?” he grunted, barely glancing at Mule.
“None of your business. Where’s your bitchboy?”
“None of your business,” he deadpanned, smirking as I took the safety off the gun. “I’ve warned you about shooting at me.”
“Give me a reason. Dare you,” I scoffed.
“Aw, I thought we were friends now? Does Skeet know his girl’s running around the Heights unsupervised? I should start charging him for babysitting duties.”
“Sure, tell him how much you harass me. You’d get bullets, not cash,” I grinned, getting to my feet. He watched me as I stepped towards him, tapping the barrel of my gun against his chest. “How about you run along home, hmm?”
“You’re not a stupid girl, Donovan, but you do a lot of stupid things.
Waving that gun at me is one, but if you’d checked in with Skeet, he’d tell you it’s not safe here tonight.
Razor and some of his guys were spotted three streets over a few hours ago,” he warned, his tone softening. “Go home. I mean it.”
“We had to fix Mule’s door. It was off the hinges and she doesn’t have tools, so I brought some from my place. We’re not staying,” I said sharply, his eyes narrowing.
“So you thought you’d come without backup?”
“No. I called Skeet but he’s obviously busy.”
“Then why didn’t you call me?”
“Why the fuck would I call you? Get the memo, asshole. We’re not friends,” I spat, pressing the gun harder against his chest. “Stop interfering.”
“I wouldn’t fucking have to if you stopped getting in trouble,” he bit out, moving so fast I had no time to react as he somehow disarmed me, my gun now in his hand.
He flicked the safety on and held the barrel, offering it back to me.
“If he doesn’t answer, then don’t go. You don’t have access to the cameras and trackers like we do, so you have no idea who’s lurking around out here.
You really think you and Ashlynn over here could take down a crew if they showed up and tried to shove you in a car right now? ”
Of course he knew who she was.
“Hey, you know for a fact I can hold my own. I kept me and D safe when you and your guys came for us in Pine Valley,” I growled and went to take the gun from his hand, but he pulled it back and rolled his eyes.
“Don’t believe for a second that you went against my guys and won.
I called them off because I didn’t want you hurt.
Razor? He doesn’t give a shit about you.
He’d kill your friend, drag you into a car, and you’d be sexually assaulted and beaten before even making it back to wherever they’re hiding.
You and Diesel were only safe because of me. ”
I snatched the gun back, contemplating grabbing my knife from my bra and stabbing him, but I tensed as his hand lifted to touch my face.
“Why don’t you believe that I give a shit about you?” he murmured, and I swatted his hand away and took a step back, needing some distance between us.
“Like I’ve said before, if you cared about me, you’d stop this shit before you get me killed. We’re not friends, I’m a pawn in your game.”
“I’m not playing a game.”
“Bullshit.”
His hand grabbed my bicep to pull me against him, and I swung my fist up to clip his jaw, just as I heard the familiar sound of Skeeter’s McLaren roaring along the road.
Tires screeched as he pulled up behind Hunter’s car, his gun in hand as he bailed from the car and stalked towards us.
With Hunter distracted, I swung another punch, managing to catch him off guard this time and causing him to stumble.
“About time you got here. It’s exhausting babysitting her for you,” Hunter joked as he rubbed his jaw and glanced at me. “You’ve been working out. That actually hurt.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Skeeter snapped, and it took me a second to realize he wasn’t talking to Hunter, he was talking to me.
“Mule’s door was kicked in by her neighbor. I was helping her fix it,” I answered, motioning behind me to the door.
“And you didn’t think to check with me? You can’t be here alone, Aurora,” he hissed.
“I did try to ask you to come with me.”
“No, you fucking didn’t.”
“I called twice,” I threw back, making him pause.
“I figured you were busy since you didn’t pick up.
We took Mule’s car to make us more invisible, I told Josie where we were going, and we were just fixing the door then leaving once we’d had a cigarette.
Then this fucker showed up. Are there cameras around here or something?
How did either of you even know I was here? ”
“Mule texted me to say you guys had trouble,” he replied, a chuckle coming from Hunter.
“Ouch, Skeet. You won’t answer the phone for your girl but you saw a text from her friend?” he turned to me, giving me a wink. “I would’ve answered, babe. Call me next time, I’ll escort you myself.”
“I’ll punch you again, motherfucker,” I growled, only making him step closer.
“Go on. You know I like your hands on me.”
“Sure. Pretend we’re fucking to piss Skeet off and see what happens,” I said dryly, lifting my gun a little to remind him I had it. “You like games, right? How about you run and we’ll see if me or Skeet hit anything vital with bullets?”
“I love it when you talk dirty to me,” he chuckled, looking over at Skeeter. “You’re seeing this, right? She’s practically throwing herself at me.”
“I don’t need your fucking shit this week, Hunt,” Skeeter said sharply, slight emotion in his tone that I wasn’t expecting.
Hunter must have sensed it too because some of his cocky attitude vanished.
“My beef with you has nothing to do with Donovan. You know I won’t—”
“I don’t know that you won’t hurt her or use her against me. I never thought you’d hurt me either, and look what happened. Aurora, get in the car.”
“I’m with Mule. She’s coming back to—”
“Then get in her fucking car and I’ll follow you. If I have to drag you back to Ashburn by your hair, I will,” he barked, and Hunter scoffed.
“Real nice. No wonder she was fucking Slash. I bet even he was nicer to her than you could ever be.”
It was like I could hear the patience snap inside Skeeter’s head, and he lunged at Hunter, dropping his gun and slamming his fist into his face. Hunter’s hand shot out to push me out of the way, and I stumbled as the two of them went down in a flurry of fists.
“Now what?” Mule asked as she moved to stand beside me to watch them.
Half the damn neighborhood was currently peeking out their windows watching the show too.
Two rival crew members fighting on a front lawn? This shit was probably better than TV for them.
“You texted Skeet?” I asked with a sigh, making her frown.
“Was I not supposed to?”
“It’s fine. I can handle the Devils, that’s all,” I answered, giving them a minute to get their anger out before wading in to try and split them up. “Hey, stop it.”
I dodged a stray elbow, trying to push between them to break them up, but they were locked in on each other.
“You two are ridiculous!” I snapped, glancing down the road when I heard a bike. “Great, this is just great.”
Marco appeared, not seeming to be in a hurry to break them up as he put his kickstand down and took his time removing his gloves and helmet.
“Would you two stop?” I shouted, grabbing Hunter’s arm to pull him back, but a fist shot out and slammed into my face, knocking me the fuck out for a second.
I winced as I blinked and tried to sit up from where I’d landed on the ground, suddenly finding Marco beside me as he took my face in both hands to inspect the damage.
“Princess, look at me,” he said firmly, my vision dimming a little. He looked pissed, glaring over at the guys that didn’t even notice one of them had punched the wrong person. “Hey! Knock it off! You fucking hurt her, assholes!”
That seemed to draw their attention enough to satisfy Marco as he went back to inspecting me, his thumb gently brushing my cheek. My head throbbed, and I reached out to hold onto his arm for balance.
“I’m fine,” I said while trying to stand, but he held me still.
“You’re not. He could have fucking killed you,” he muttered, his thumb sliding higher to my temple. It was definitely going to bruise, it hurt like hell.