“Sure thing. And, Drex?”
“Yeah?” I ask, settling onto my own ride.
“I love you.”
Pretty sure it feels like someone has just kicked me in the stomach, but I swallow down whatever chaotic feelings those surprising words are stirring.
“Bye,” she says before hanging up when the silence drones on.
“Get your ass in fucking gear. The last thing we need to do is be late,” Rush snaps.
I slowly put away the dead phone, and try to wrap my head around what she just said. I’ll have to deal with that later. It’s not a good idea to be distracted right now.
Fuck.
Chapter 36
EVE
I slowly lower the phone as the barrel of the gun stares me in the face. Well, not the actual barrel, since there’s something else on it… A silencer?
They say your life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die. That’s not true. Everything goes fast and slow at the same time, and you feel like your stomach is twisted around a pole.
He takes the phone from my hand, drops it to the ground, and crushes it under his heavy boot.
“Good girl,” the guy says, peeking out the crack in the door after we hear the roar of the engines zooming out of the garage.
At least I got to say what I’ve been holding back. I wish I hadn’t held back now. The lone tear that rolls down my cheek isn’t for my own life. It’s for the redhead on the carpet who is slowly bleeding out, dying right in front of my eyes.
Colleen wasn’t nice to me when I got here, but she definitely redeemed herself when I was in the hospital. Her eyes meet mine with tears running as she stays paralyzed in place, frozen in death’s embrace as she tries to silently apologize.
She had to have let him in, probably at gunpoint. The Death Dealer tat on his left bicep lets me know what this is about.
I could scream. I could have told Drex what was going on—or tried to. I could do anything other than stand here, and there’s no doubt in my mind someone would kill this man. He’s outnumbered.
But how many would die in my place before he went down? My life isn’t worth risking someone else’s. Colleen is already going to die because of me.
He shoves the gun against my cheek, and I tense so tightly that my teeth start to hurt as he peers out the crack in the door again. He leans back and pulls out his own phone, and I watch as he glances down at Colleen.
“Hey, it’s me. Drex is gone, the girl is with me, but I had to shoot the redhead who runs the salon. She made a grab for my gun.”
Colleen’s eyes water more, and she starts to gurgle her own blood, doing something with her hand under the bed that I can’t see. I start to go to her side, but a cry of pain escapes me when the gun drops and digs into the flesh between my neck and chin, pressing up until it feels like I’m choking.
“Yeah. Not here. Can’t I just kill her up here like Herrin wants?”
He glares over at me like he’s expecting me to say something in protest, but I don’t give him the satisfaction of making another sound.
“Yeah. I get it. He’s your brother and you want some revenge. Just don’t tell Herrin I went along with this. Give me a distraction so I can get her out the door without anyone seeing.”
He hangs up the phone and glances over at Colleen. “Sorry, Red. Wrong place wrong time.”
She laughs. She freaking laughs while choking on blood, and I watch as she brings her phone out from under the bed and winks at me. The guy doesn’t notice, but I do. He’s busy staring out the crack while driving that gun into my skin more, forcing me up on my tiptoes as my head angles back against the wall.
I hope she didn’t call Drex. He could get killed. Or the others could get killed. Maybe they’ll just get here in time to save her life.
The bullet wound is in her side, and she moves her hand down to hold pressure on it.
Something happens somewhere, because the chairs scrape loudly across the ground below, and the sound of hurried footsteps drive away. The guy with a gun grabs my hair and starts dragging me out the door, rushing down the stairs so fast that I almost fall down.
He slings the door open, still dragging me with him, but now that the gun isn’t under my chin, I start fighting, clawing at his hand while screaming.
“Bitch,” he growls, clamping a hand over my mouth just as my knee comes up and collides with his balls.
He loses his hold on me as he stumbles backwards, and I dive for the door, only to feel my hair being ripped back again as my back lands into a hard body and my feet come off the ground. Someone has lifted me, and another disgusting hand comes over my mouth.