Chapter Thirty-One
Katey
I was exhausted. Not just the way that people say they’re exhausted when they really mean they’re just tired. Oh no, I’d logged the symptoms—tired and aching muscles, headache, slowed reflexes, and possibly impaired judgment—and I diagnosed myself. Not that it took a medical genius to figure it out. I hadn’t slept for the past three days, moving from cheap motel to cheap motel could do that to a girl. Which, including the night Sniper didn’t come back to our room, pretty much put me at about ten hours sleep for the past ninety six hours.
So yeah, I was exhausted.
On top of the stress of jumping and holding my breath every time a car pulled into the parking lot, I was low on food and cash. Hungry and exhausted, was a terrible combination especially when you’re on the run. Or a sitting duck. At this point I wasn’t sure what I was. I considered calling Cal, but I couldn’t bring him into this.
He’d get my letter when the time was right.
Tears pricked my eyes just thinking about my brother and how devastated he would be if I didn’t make it out of this. He would blame himself, which he shouldn’t, but he’d always felt responsible for me. I made sure he knew that this was my fault, my choice, and my problem.
He was probably worried sick right now. I was sure Sniper had gone to Cal with the letter I’d left for him, and he was probably already beating himself over my actions. Again. I promised myself I’d make it up to him if I survived Ethan, and then I tried to sleep.
Tried and failed.
Soon enough the sun began to rise and though much of it didn’t filter in through the old polyester curtains, just enough came in to tell me what time of day it was. Early morning. A few of the people in this hotel were long term residents and they were responsible for the slamming car doors and low hum of music in the parking lot. The highway just beyond provided a low but steady hum. It was too early to be up if you didn’t have someplace to be, but it wasn’t as if I could get any sleep with the noise outside my room.
I stayed in bed and under the covers even though the hope for sleep was nothing but a distant fantasy. The warm cocoon of the blanket gave me an illusion of safety that I wasn’t too exhausted to believe, but I remained on my back with my eyes glued to the ceiling. Time moved but I wasn’t aware of how much time had passed because the blinds remained closed, and the highway symphony was near constant. It could be noon or ten at night and I would never know.
What did it matter anyway? I knew it was only a matter of time before Ethan found me. I used cash for the rooms and the food at the gas station, and I turned my phone off when I wasn’t using it. I had no idea how Ethan kept finding me, so I covered my tracks the best I could.
Lying in bed did nothing to keep my heart rate under control. I was still an anxious mess but with nothing else to do, I opted to stay in bed and think. Overthink. Obsess.
A rapid knock sounded on the door, and I froze under the blanket. My breath stopped and I strained my ears to listen for any signs of trouble. A full minute passed before another knock sounded, this one a fist banging on the door.
Ignore it, I told myself as another round of knocking began. They would go away eventually. But after the fourth round of knocking I slowly crept from the bed and knelt beside it. I reached inside my backpack until I found the wooden box from Sniper, and pulled out the gun before loading it and getting to my feet. My heart raced so fast I was dizzy with fear and anticipation.
Standing about five feet from the door, I raised my gun and aimed it.
“Katey open up, dammit. I know you’re in there.” Sniper was here.
I had questions. So many questions, the first was how the hell had he found me? I weighed my options while I stared at the door. The last thing I wanted was to keep fighting with him over things that couldn’t be changed, but I also couldn’t face him knowing the truth of my feelings for him. I needed time and distance to avoid making another massive mistake.
I needed to be careful, that was all. I tucked the gun into the back of my belt and walked to the door as if I was walking the plank. I checked the peephole just to be sure and then I slowly unlocked the door. The minute it opened Sniper rushed past me, nearly shoulder checking me in the process. “Sure, come on in.” My voice was low, barely above a whisper.
Sniper turned to face me, and I gasped at the sight. His facial hair was overgrown, his eyes looked tired, and his short hair shot up in all directions. “I’m sorry Katey. I’m so sorry.” He scrubbed one hand over his face while his other hand remained fisted at his side.
I waved away his words. “You don’t need to apologize. It doesn’t matter.”
His brows dipped as his face darkened to a frown. “It damn well does matter,” he shot back angrily.
“No Sniper, it doesn’t. I’m dealing with this the way I should have from the beginning. On my own.” I folded my arms around my waist. “I was scared and not thinking clearly when I called Cal for help. I shouldn’t have. It was a mistake.”
“Because we had a fight?”
A fight? He was being facetious, obviously. “No, because this is my problem. Not yours. Not the Steel Demons. Definitely not the people you all care about.”
“You’re one of those people Katey.”
I wished that was true. “I’m not. I’m just baggage that comes with even more baggage. You should go,” I gripped the door handle. “This is my problem.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you.”
I nodded. “You are because you have to. I’ll win or Ethan will. Either way it’ll all be over.”
“I’m not gonna let that happen. I promised Cal.” His words sounded so anguished I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost. Not quite. “You don’t have to die just because my brother saved your life a million years ago!” I shook my head. “You kept me safe until now, I’d say you guys are even.”
His jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. The signs of strain all over his face had sympathy welling up for him. “Just come back to the clubhouse with me Katey. Please.”
“I can’t.” I thought about it more than once over the past three days, but I refused to let myself go back. “You were right to be upset with me. I withheld a vital piece of information from you which could have resulted in one of your buddies getting badly hurt. I shouldn’t have done that and I’m sorry.”
“Forget about that.”
“I can’t,” I answered with a small smile. “You’re still angry now and you’re only here because you feel obligated to protect me. Well I’m relieving you of that obligation.”
“I’m not.”
I folded my arms and arched a brow. “I might not know a lot outside of the ER but one thing I’m an expert on is anger. I know it well and I can identify it easily because it means survival. And you can’t hide your anger for shit.”
His mouth pulled into a tight smile. “You ran away.”
I nodded. “I did it to keep your friends from getting caught in the middle of my mess. You should get an annulment on the basis of fraud, or whatever.”
His nostrils flared more obviously, and his jaw gripped even tighter, but his green eyes darkened like a storm. He was upset but he was trying to hide it for my sake. “I’m not gonna do that.”
I shrugged. “Well if I survive, we’ll be married and living apart forever. If I don’t, you’ll become a young widower.”
Sniper glared at me for a long minute and then his gaze swept across the room, made smaller by his presence. He spotted my bag and lifted it onto the bed before he started scooping my clothes into it. He went to the bathroom and came back, tossing toiletries on top of the clothes. “We’re getting the fuck out of here. Right now.”
I stepped aside and motioned to the door. “You should go. Ethan probably still has the hit out on you, and I don’t want you dying for me.”
He took several steps forward and got in my face. “You have five minutes to get your cute little ass downstairs where I will be waiting or I’ll come back up here, toss you over my shoulder and damn well carry you down.”
Annoyance flared fast and white hot as I glared at him. “Or you can go and forget about me.”
His lips curled into a devious smile. “I couldn’t forget you even if I tried.”
I let out a shaky breath, unsure what the fuck that even meant. “Sniper, please.”
“Five minutes Katey.” He picked up my bags and walked out the door, which effectively started the clock.
My pulse raced and I gave myself one minute to get my breathing under control and then I scanned the room for any leftover belongings. There were none so I stepped in my sneakers, tied them tight, and counted to sixty. I wasn’t ready to leave the relative safety of this room, but it was time. I couldn’t let Sniper wait too long out in the open parking lot, not with Ethan lurking somewhere ready to strike. “Okay, here we go.”
I stepped outside, instinctively looking left and then right for any signs of trouble. I took a tentative step towards the stairwell and then another. And another. My legs felt like lead as I descended the stairs slowly. When I reached the bottom, my heart skipped a beat.
Okay, you can do this. You got this.
I couldn’t do this, and I didn’t have it. Not even a little bit, but I was here now, and I couldn’t go back.
Could I?
I urged my feet to move forward until I spotted Sniper, and my feet came to a sudden halt. Ethan was here. He’d finally found me.
And somehow that wasn’t the worst part.
Oh no, the worst part by far was that he held a gun to the back of Sniper’s head. My heart stopped in my chest and the air was trapped in my lungs.