Endgame (Book 2): Alekhine's Gun

by W. A. R.

  “Cassie called me Dad this morning.” He sputtered quickly. Amber’s eyes went wide with surprise. This was certainly unexpected. Her heart warmed at this news, and she knew then that her daughter loved this man like her the father she never had. And yet there was an ache, a fear that filled her.

  “She…she did what?” Amber asked, the breath leaving her body.

  “She…called me Dad.” He stated, unsure. Amber swallowed thickly. It was the first time Cassie had ever addressed anyone by that title, had ever even shown any sign of wanting someone in her life to have that title. The shock of his statement belatedly slapped across her face, pressed against her heavy heart, and she wasn’t sure how to handle the emotions that ran through her veins in that moment.

  “Oh…wow…” Amber trailed off, a little breathless at the impact this had on her heart. “I can’t say I’m surprised.” Because truth was, she wasn’t, not entirely. She had seen how the two spent time together, how Miles showed her how to do so many things, and how Cassie would accompany Miles on outings that only the two of them went on. The pair was close…so close, Amber reasoned, that it often reminded her and herself and Jackson, her own father. “But…how do you feel about that?”

  Miles looked at her and grinned before advancing her. “I wouldn’t change it for the world. She knows I care for her as the daughter I never had.”

  “Does she?” Amber asked, looking up at him. She furrowed her eyebrows at her question as if she were in pain, though she knew that Cassie understood. Miles had never been selfish with his feelings, with his affection. There was no doubt in her mind that Cassie knew how Miles felt, as he probably told her. He always expressed himself, though, rough actions…he always had. For telling his thoughts and emotions, for her…it wasn’t so easy. Once that dam had been broken, however, is was as if it had never been there. He had changed so much, had come so far. He studied her silently, drawing out from her eyes whatever answers he needed to take into consideration.

  “Of course she does. Even you know that.” he told her roughly, his voice the slightest bit raspy. “She can call me anything she wants and I will gladly accept the title.” He cleared his throat then, closing his eyes and thinking. There was the slightest glimpse of discomfort washing over his features, and yet again, it quickly went away. She watched as he slowly lifted his chin to look at her, gazing at her through half-lidded eyes. “Did you love him?”

  She looked on at him in confusion, her eyes widened and reflexively she stepped away from him. His hold on her remained steady. Ignorance. She had to play ignorant. “Who?”

  “Cassie’s…father.” He said slowly, grimacing at his own choice of words.

  Amber straightened a little, unsure where this was coming from and yet, a part of her knew what some of it was. She didn’t want to answer that…not really. There were things she had kept to herself for years, things she would continue to keep to herself. Why would he ask her that? She remembered that night in the kitchen, the night he had first graced her lips with his own. “I told you I did.”

  “Did he know that…before he died? Did he know?” was his next question and Amber shifted on her feet a little, confused. Guilt cascaded over her and she grimaced. So much guilt…So many lies.

  A truth she never wanted to confess…most of all to Miles.

  She shrugged then, glancing towards Jenson’s Farm Supply. What could she say but some fragmented aspect of the truth? “Yes…he did. I told him so often.” She told him and he grimaced. And there it was, hitting her like a bullet to the chest. She knew what he was thinking then, right in that moment.

  She had yet to tell him, the one man that meant everything to her, those words he so wanted to hear, words she so wanted to tell him. She looked at him, studying his features as he stared down at her. He had been so patient with her, and she knew that without a doubt she was the most important thing to him. Words were never her strong suite, and she knew that that alone was what was hurting him. She sighed, relaxing into his embrace and he tightened his hold on her. Her hands reached up, her fingers sliding slowly against his jaw. He stared down at her with wild eyes, his willpower barely being reigned in. Her heart ached, because Eric had been a liar and she had loved him, being proven a fool. Was that what was holding her back? She wasn’t sure, and even if it was, she knew that that alone wasn’t the complete reasoning.

  Finally, he shook his head, breaking the silence. “One day…” He said softly to her, staring deep into her confused eyes. He searched for something she wasn’t sure how to give. “One day you will have your faith back and everything will be right.”

  “But I haven’t…”

  “You have.” He told her before stepping away and aiming towards the pawn shop. “You have lost your way but you will come back to me.”

  She shook her head, ridding herself of the emotions that he bestowed upon her. “What happened to being so damn shy and nervous, again?”

  He leaned one arm against the doorframe and smirked. “That was before I had a taste of you. I know now that I can make you beg for me…and that being the case, you no longer intimidate me.” He turned and glanced into the shop as she neared him. Her face was written with shock and embarrassment at his words. This only served to make his grin wider. “Now, I am determined keep you because that one taste just wasn’t enough…and I will do that by any means necessary.”

  “And yet,” Amber began, stepping past him and into the shop. Her heart was racing wildly, her determination and stubbornness coming to clash with her desire. “You have been nothing but the perfect gentleman to me.”

  “I have my reasons.” He told her then and she smiled, hearing the clanging of his boots on the floor following her.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “Why do you have to be such a beautiful desire?” He told her and she glanced at him, reaching to the counter and grabbing two guns from where they sat. Glancing at him, she realized that he had stopped walking and was watching her, his eyes aflame. Her eyes were locked on his and she had to force herself to remain calm, to keep her emotions and body from lashing out at the inviting stare he was giving her.

  Seeing an opportunity, she quirked a brow at him and placed a hand on her hip. “What are you waiting for? We have work to do.” She mirrored his words from just a minute before and the shock that registered on his face was genuine. She smiled warmly at him, taking in the relaxing of his expression and the slow smile of realization that crept upon his face.

  “That was wrong.” He told her before slowly taking a few steps in advancing her. Amber chuckled then, shaking her head. The heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach increased however, and whenever she turned, two guns being slung over her shoulders, her smile immediately fell and she frowned, moving to round the counter and go nearer to the window that she stared out of.

  “Oh hell.” She stated softly, mumbling under her breath. Miles ambled up beside her, following her gaze to what had gotten her attention. She furrowed her brow, feeling slightly sick, her shoulders tensing and her breathing hitching in her lungs.

  “What is it?” Miles asked stepping behind her. He looked over her head and placed a hand on her shoulder. The atmosphere was no longer playful and the underlying tension that had been there was incredibly thick and weighing down on them.

  “Remember that bad feeling?” she asked him and they watched as three weapon clad women threw a bound and gagged Rusty out of the door and into the parking lot. There were two other men there waiting, hands and feet found together at their backs, and they lay on the pavement, arching their backs in an uncomfortable pose. Rusty hit the pavement hard and the women rounded the three men. They were all dark-headed, one with a ponytail, the others with short hair. They looked so very angry and rough. And Amber thought she was jaded.

  “Yep.” Miles replied before straightening. Amber turned and looked at him, reaching for her swords, feeling safer knowing that they were there. “What are we going to do about this?”

  “Offer t
hem a chance to change. If not…”

  Miles nodded and turned towards the door. “Got it. Game plan?”

  Amber, glancing over her shoulder at the scene, smiled before responding, “They seem to have a thing for men.”

  “Or women.” He offered, lifting a brow at her.

  “Or men.” She repeated on a smile.

  He turned back to her, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What are you suggesting?”

  Amber shrugged playfully. “Go flirt with them.”

  His eyes bulged and Amber covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. “I can’t flirt!”

  “You just were!”

  “With you! This is different…” he looked at her pleadingly. “I am so awkward.”

  “No, you aren’t. You do it all the time. You’re an expert.”

  “I used to run from you!”

  Amber looked at him levelly. “And though that was cute and all, Rusty’s waiting.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Ugh…fine. But you owe me.”

  “I’ll gladly pay you back.” She told him and with that he turned and walked out of the shop. Amber smiled to herself and followed, rounding the opposite side of the shop than him. Once she reached the corner of the store, she squatted down, peering around the edge to see if she had a clear shot to the abandoned El Camino parked in the parking lot nearer to the women. She watched as one of the women kicked Rusty as he lay there on the ground. She winced, but remained silent, waiting for Miles to make his appearance and offer her the distraction that she needed. Rusty cried out in pain, curling as best as he could into the fetal position whenever Miles arrived.

  He walked into view, hands by his sides. “Hello ladies. Need some help?” The reaction was immediate: all three women reached for weapons on their person and turned to look at their intruder, all three glaring easily at him. Miles lifted his hands, wiggling his fingers to let Amber know that it was all clear for her to move. Seeing the opportunity, she knelt down and ran to the abandoned car, taking great strides to remain quiet. “Whoa, what’s with the hostility?”

  “What are you doing here?” the one with the ponytail seethed. Amber squatted further down having reached the car, and pressed her back firmly against the cool metal. She lifted her chin, rising just a little so she could see what was happening about seventy-five yards from her. Miles kept his hands raised, and though there didn’t seem to be a chink in his armor, he stole a quick, almost unnoticeable glance in her direction. Rusty began squirming and yelling against the gag in his mouth.

  “I came to see if you three needed some help with those men but it seems that you have it under control.”

  One of the women with short hair took a few steps toward him, anger radiating off of her in waves. “Relinquish your weapons.”

  Miles sneered at her. “No thanks. I’d like to keep them right where they are please.” Yeah, she thought, he was awkward.

  “It wasn’t a request.” The other woman with the short hair stated, taking a few steps forward as well.

  Miles stepped back a bit. “Look, whoa, whoa, whoa…before you do anything rash, hear me out.” He stated, his eyes asking them to stop. The women froze for a moment, hesitant to hear what he had to say. “I’m going somewhere when I leave here, a place with other people; there will be food and water and homes. There will be safety. Let these men go and you can come with me. Or you can just let the men go. There doesn’t have to be a fight.”

  The woman with the ponytail smiled deviously and her eyes held a twinkle of amusement. “Sorry, but we already have our own place…and you are going to join these men in going there.’

  Miles furrowed his brow at them. “Um…just out of curiosity, what will we be doing there?”

  “I’m afraid you don’t want to know…but what the hell…” She stated before removing a knife from its holster. She ran her finger around the length of it. “Let’s just say that it will consist of tearing your flesh from your bones.” Amber suddenly felt sick. That was a no-brainer. Cannibalism. How fucking wonderful.

  The two women with shorter hair advanced quickly and Miles stepped back dropping his hands to reach for his daggers. Amber, heart racing wildly, stood then and held her hands into the air. “You give a whole new meaning to the term man-eater.” She called out in a reckless attempt to stop them from advancing on Miles. She forced out a small laugh though the idea disgusted her. She had needed to do something, anything to get their attention. They deserved a chance to live.

  They all stopped and turned to her, their eyes wide with apprehension. Well, that worked. “Who are you?”

  Amber swallowed and stepped tentatively from around the car, her eyes on the women. “My name is Amelia. Please, hear him out. What he says is the truth. Just let these men go.” Her eyes were desperate, begging them to hear reason. “No one has to get hurt and you can come with us if you want.”

  The resolve in their eyes told Amber that they had already made up their mind. “Well, Amelia, I have news for you.” The one with the ponytail spoke, her words venomous and hostile. “We aren’t going with you anywhere. These men our prisoners now.” She paused and glanced at Amber with scrutinizing eyes. “You can join us if you’d like. We make it a point to leave women alone to do what they will. But…you are very pretty…the others would love you…” She shrugged and Amber’s eyes widened, as did Miles’s. Amber had been way off base. “Still, you must accept it. Either way, these men are coming with us.”

  The two women with shorter hair turned their attention back to Miles, who stood ready, breathing heavily with two daggers in his hands. Amber sighed sadly, her heart aching with the knowledge of what was going to happen next. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

  The one with the ponytail scoffed. “And why not?”

  “Because two of those men belong to me.” Amber stated evenly, her hands reaching up just a little higher and bending just the slightest back as she advanced just a few steps towards the women.

  The woman with the ponytail crossed her arms across her chest. “What are you going to do?”

  “Stop you.”

  She stepped towards Amber. “With what army?” she asked, her eyes narrowed in hate.

  “Don’t need an army.” Amber stated, sparing a glance over at Miles, taking in his stature. “Just ten seconds.” Amber sighed and looked down at her petite frame. She didn’t want to go through with what was sure to follow but there was no other option. “We tried to offer you a way out of this.”

  All at once the woman with the ponytail lunged at Amber while the other two drove towards Miles. Amber stepped to the side to avoid her while pulling one sword from its scabbard. The woman stumbled and turned, hissing through her clench teeth. She was angry, so very angry, and Amber wondered what kind of person she was before. She was smaller in frame and stature, her eyes held a lot of loss; she could have been once such a nice person, always smiling and greeting people with optimism. And now, here she was, angry and readying herself to die. She looked at Amber and quickly took out her gun, lifting it and aiming it at Amber with practiced ease. She could almost hear the Such a waste that was reflected in her eyes come from her mouth. Amber beat her to it, however, and moved so fluidly on her feet it was as if she were in the water. Her sword came across, whistling as it sliced through the air and then it met flesh…and then bone as it cut through the girl’s neck. The gun went off, her body seizing, causing her to pull the trigger. Simultaneously, both her head and body fell. Amber sighed, shaking the blood and flesh from her sword and turned to see Miles retrieving his daggers from the chests of the other two. They had dropped where they stood; they hadn’t made it two steps before he reacted. He stood, wiping the blood from his daggers to his jeans.

  It was fast, the time it took to end the lives of three women who were merely trying to fight and stay alive in a world that was cruel. Amber felt her heart ache a little but she pushed it away. They had offered the women a chance, an opportunity to change their ways and j
ust let the people go. They didn’t even have to go with them; all they had to do was let the men go and they could have gone free. That wasn’t how it panned out, however, and it ended in bloodshed. Amber hated unnecessary bloodshed. She watched as Miles’s dark eyes met hers glumly. He was thinking the same thing that she was.

  “You alright?” she asked of him and he nodded before lifting a brow at her.

  “Are you?”

  She sighed and after cleaning most of the blood from her sword as well, she replaced it in its scabbard. “I’m fine.”

  Miles smirked at her. “I knew you should have been the one to distract them.”

  Amber grinned a little. “Okay, so I was off…”

  “You’re very pretty…” he teased her and she rolled her eyes. “All you had to do was go out there and show some skin and I think you could have had whatever you wanted from them.”

  “I had a chance, at least. God knows what they would have done to you before they ate you.” She replied before turning towards a writhing and flopping Rusty. She glanced back at Miles. “And you were right. You are awkward.” Rusty looked up at them, as did the other two men, and grunted. Amber looked at Miles and retrieved her knife from her hip. “Let’s release them.” And with that, Amber and Miles went to Rusty, Miles kneeling behind him and Amber kneeling before him. Both began cutting his binds and removing his gag. “Are you alright?” Amber asked of him and he licked his lips.

  “I’ve been better.” He commented drily before moving to a sitting position.

  Miles pulled on one arm and Amber on the other, rising to their full height. “We leave you alone for five minutes…”

  “Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting them to be in there.” Rusty eased up with their help, rising to his feet. He rubbed his wrists and moved his jaw sighing in relief. He then glanced to the side, seeing the other two men. He grimaced and Miles and Amber moved to kneel beside them, weapons at the ready should these men decide to abandon their calm exterior for an uncontrollable rage. “I think we may have bigger problems though.” He commented nervously before Amber and Miles backed up, watching through the sights of their guns as the two men rose and stretched their tense and tired limbs.