KillerBlonde

by Hart, Eve R.

  That was all that was said on the way home.

  When we got there, he came around to my side and I froze when he opened the door. It was like my ass was glued to the seat, my body sensing that something not-so-good was about to come.

  But it didn’t matter because he reached down and helped me out by grabbing my elbow.

  The fucking elbow thing again.

  And he held onto it like he was directing me where to go, despite the fact that I went this way every day.

  “Hello, Miss Grace,” I said as we reached the elevator and stepped in behind her.

  It was a big elevator but it felt suddenly crowded with all of us in there.

  “Hello, Jessica,” she replied in her cheerful tone. “Did you go to dinner?”

  “We did,” I replied, my face and tone tight as I tried my hardest to appear normal. I hoped she’d been around me enough to tell that something was wrong.

  She slyly eyed me then looked down to where Ray had a hold of my elbow. She might have been old but she didn’t miss a thing.

  His grip tightened and I locked my knees so I wouldn’t crumble with the shot of pain that ran through me. It was a clear sign that he’d noticed what was going on. No, Ray wasn’t stupid either.

  I suddenly feared for Miss Grace’s life. I hoped that I hadn’t put her in danger by trying to subtly reach out. I had no idea why I did, it wasn’t like she was really able to help me out here. One old lady with an over-sized purse up against four big men with guns, definitely not a fair fight.

  “Have a good night, dear,” she replied as the elevator came to a stop on her floor, but there was nothing in her tone that said she thought I actually would.

  Then I was alone and out of options.

  One more floor up and the doors opened to reveal the condo. The condo that I’d called home for the last few months. The one that, up until a few days ago, had held hope and the idea of a future. A condo that I had recently decorated with pops of color that had matched how I felt on the inside at that time.

  Now, the color taunted me like some kind of carnival nightmare. You know, the kind where there were crazy clowns following you and some kind of strange half goat, half man chasing you with knives for horns or something.

  “I need a drink of water,” I said in a lame excuse to try and escape him.

  He let me go, but followed me into the kitchen.

  I pulled out a bottle of water and as I gulped down the cool liquid, I tried to map out where the closest weapons were. Why couldn’t I remember where anything was? It was like my mind had just gone blank.

  “You must think I’m a stupid man,” he said and his tone sent a shiver skating down my spine.

  I was caught, that much was clear.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  His eyes were wild as they burned a hole through me.

  He knew.

  He knew what I’d done.

  “But you do,” he said as he stepped closer to me. He was crowding me with purpose. I could honestly say that it had me shaking inside even more. “The thing is, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I was by being stupid. How much do you know?”

  “Nothing, I swear!” I pleaded.

  Maybe if I could get to his gun before he could…

  No, that wouldn’t work, one of his bodyguards would shoot me dead before I even got the shot lined up. And that was assuming I could actually hit Ray with my shot.

  “What were you looking for in my office? You were in my office for a reason. Obliviously, you were looking for something, which leads me to think that you suspect something? Did you hear more than you let on to the other day?”

  “You know well enough that there isn’t anything to find in there,” I said knowing I had just admitted to being in a place I shouldn’t have been.

  But how much did he know?

  Did he see me pack my go-bag?

  Did he know that I had plans to run?

  “What were you hoping to find in there? Did you really think I wouldn’t know you were in there?”

  “Why me?” I asked in an attempt to stall him. Okay, and maybe I wanted to know the answer to that too. Was there something about me that just called out to these kinds of men? That said to life that I liked to dance with danger?

  “Why you?” he asked like he couldn’t figure out how I didn’t know the answer to that.

  “What is it about me? Why did you ask me out? Why did you ask me to move in here with you?”

  “Because you’re stunning. Simply something I had to have.” He gave his answer with a hint of amusement playing in his eyes. “And you may not believe this, but I care about you.”

  All I wanted to do was snort and roll my eyes at him, but I knew this wasn’t the time. So I held it back though it was extremely hard.

  I walked around him, surprised that he let me. But it wasn’t like I was really going anywhere considering his men were blocking the only way out. It was is if they were all standing there in the front hall just waiting for me to go that way.

  The condo was dimly lit, only the kitchen light and a floor lamp in the living room were on. As my eyes scanned the dark half of the room, I tried to remember if I had shut the lights off before we left. I was certain that I hadn’t had time and that Ray was in such a hurry to guide me out of the condo that I wasn’t even given the chance to worry with the lights. Maybe someone else had, though I didn’t see these guys as being big on saving electricity and the planet and all that.

  I stopped and stared out the window just trying to get my head to come up with a plan. I felt Ray behind me and all I wanted to do was throw up.

  “We can still make this work. This doesn’t have to be the end.” His tone was dark and sadistic. The end didn’t mean a break-up. It meant I’d be dead.

  Either way, I wasn’t losing the little bit of soul I had left to this man.

  “You killed a man! You lied to me! I don’t even know who you are!” I snapped as I whirled around to face him. My fists pounded on his chest but it did nothing. I was going to die and so there was no reason to keep pretending. I hadn’t fooled him. I’d made that one mistake of trying to find something on him and look where it got me.

  The back of his hand met the side of my face with a force that nearly had me crumbling to my knees. I touched the throbbing spot to find it already hot.

  He hit me.

  He really just fucking hit me.

  And then it was like I was caught between being in a state of shock and being angry. Suddenly, the vase to my left popped in my mind. I was pretty sure my hand was moving out to grab it with the thoughts of hitting him across the face much like he’d done to me.

  “You shouldn’t ever hit a lady,” a voice came from behind him before my fingers could make contact with the vase. A strange voice, one that shouldn’t have been here in this condo.

  A slightly muffled shot rang out before Ray could even turn around.

  Then his body was dropping to the ground right in front of me.

  I blinked.

  And again.

  There was no way this was real.

  Ray’s body hit the floor and didn’t move, his eyes staring straight ahead with no kind of life in them.

  One shot was all it took.

  Just one.

  And the sound of it still echoed in my ears.

  From the dark corner of the room, I saw the figure rise from the couch though my eyes were glued to the floor where Ray was.

  I started to shake as the figure came closer, his steps sounding way louder than they should have.

  Ray’s bodyguards were noisy somewhere behind me but I didn’t turn to see how close they were.

  The stranger, the killer, was now standing right in front of me, only a dead body separating us.

  I was afraid to look up and see his face. Maybe if I didn’t he would let me live. It was bad enough that his black leather gloved hand holding a gun was in my peripheral. And I could even make out what I assumed w
as some kind of silencer attached to the end of the gun. But it was like my eyes couldn’t help themselves as they roamed up his ink-black suit, over his white shirt, and finally settling on his eyes.

  Those eyes.

  Two orbs the color of warm, rich hot cocoa that were so familiar.

  No, it couldn’t be.

  It had been far too long since I’d seen those eyes, but I knew them well.

  Memories from my childhood that I tried to push away all this time seemed to come forth, ripping through my brain like an earthquake. The only real love that I’d known as a kid, the kind that made you feel like part of a family.

  “Silas?” I whispered.

  As sure as I was that those were the right eyes, there was something in them that seemed wrong. Not just the look of age, but something else. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but it was almost cold.

  Then he saw me, like really saw me.

  And there was a warmth that instantly flooded his gaze.

  Then it was like my brain was on overload and decided it couldn’t handle all of this.

  I felt the darkness take over and then…

  Nothing.

  -13-

  Silas

  She gasped and then her eyes rolled back into her head. I tried my hardest to catch her before her knees buckled and her body hit the floor but I wasn’t close enough. This was not how I wanted any of this to go. Well, my target was dead, so at least something had gone right. But Jessica being here was not part of this.

  How had I missed that? And where the fuck was Hunt if she was here? Did he know? My head was spinning with all the damn questions I needed answers to.

  Never in a million years would I have thought she’d be here.

  Certainly not as I stood across the way a few hours ago and thought how hot the woman walking across the condo in a short, blue cocktail dress was. Even if all I could see was her back. And how I thought I didn’t understand why a woman would be with someone like the now dead guy here.

  I didn’t know it was her when I watched them walk to the elevator together like they were leaving for some kind of fancy date.

  Not one clue that Little Jessie was right there almost within reach as I stupidly decided to make the leap to the next roof, then hop down onto the balcony.

  Yeah, that was not fun.

  Jason Bourne, I was not. But really, the two buildings weren’t as far away as they seemed. I think it was more of the height that made it so terrifying. When I landed and just barely clipped my knee, well, I was pretty much thankful that I’d not failed in my stupid move. And the drop to the balcony wasn’t much fun either.

  So, yeah, the woman in the blue dress, killer fucking legs, and long blonde hair was the girl that I had been searching for all this time. So long that I figured I was chasing after a ghost by now.

  Who knew that when I’d picked the lock on the balcony door that I’d end up saving the one person that had kept my life so dark all these years? Well, I couldn’t really put that on her. It was more the fact that I couldn’t save her all this time that kept me trapped in a not-so-good place.

  And now she was right in front of me.

  Only she wasn’t currently aware of anything right now because she’d passed the hell out after she’d seen my face, leaving me to wonder if she somehow recognized me.

  I was pretty sure she whispered something, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

  I had to get her out of here.

  All I wanted to do was scoop her up in my arms and run like hell.

  But first, I had to fight my way through three of my target’s bodyguards. I guess to them it didn’t matter that he was dead.

  Fuck, this whole thing was a mess.

  Guns drawn, they approached ready to strike.

  I raised my hand and with one shot, the first one fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I didn’t have to check to know he was dead. I was good at my job and all.

  The second one caught me with a punch to the chin and as my head whipped to the side I reached for the hand that held the gun. One quick twist, he screamed as he released his grip on his weapon. I didn’t even watch as it clamored to the ground right next to Jessica’s unconscious body. He might have been disarmed but he was far from going down. We traded punches while the bald one yelled at him to keep me still. That wasn’t going to happen, I didn’t feel like getting shot today.

  With a roar, he gave up trying to get a shot off and ran like a bull charging. A second later, my body slammed into the wall, effectively knocking the wind out of me.

  Then I had both of them on me. One was almost too much, but two and I was quickly losing this battle. I felt my lip split open as one of their meaty hands met my face. Then a shot to the ribs had me coughing. I tried to cover the most vital parts of my body but it was just no use. I was outmatched and out of fucking luck.

  As one last-ditch effort to save myself, I reached for the knife I had hidden strapped to my ankle. Somehow, the movement went unnoticed by both of them. I didn’t hesitate to slam the blade into the closest ear I could get to. And as a howl rang out, I knew I’d slowed him down. I saw an opportunity to escape and I took it. It was hard as hell to get to my feet but I did.

  Where the hell was my gun?

  I didn’t dare take my eyes off of them to search for it.

  A shot rang out.

  My body jolted back as a sharp pain ripped through my shoulder. Before I had a chance to regain my bearings, Baldie was charging at me again. At the last second, I dropped to the ground. His body hit the wall and he was momentarily stunned. If this were a cartoon, I imagined he’d have those cute, little stars circling his head.

  I jumped to my feet and rammed my good shoulder into ear-bleeder, surprised he was still standing. He went down easily but that might have had something to do with the fact that I went down too. As soon as he hit the floor, I rolled off him, pulling the knife out of his ear at the same time. Of course, he screamed again. While he was all too worried about holding onto the side of his head, I rammed the knife into his throat. His eyes went wide and I rotated the knife for good measure before jerking it free. He and I both knew that it didn’t matter how tight he held onto the gaping wound in his neck, he wasn’t making it out alive.

  By this time, Baldie had made it to his feet and somehow managed to find a gun.

  The shot rang out and there was no way to dodge the bullet.

  Lucky for me, it just grazed my side. It hurt like fuck, but it wouldn’t stop me.

  I couldn’t give him the chance to get another shot off. I picked up the closest object— which happened to be a chair— and tossed it at him. He sidestepped it but it gave me an opening to attack him. One good punch to his temple and he was trying to shake the dizziness off. Grabbing his arm, I brought my leg up. The sickening snap let me know that I’d broken that bone good. But somehow he still had plenty of fight left in him. Two blows to my head and I was thinking about taking a nap. I had to end this soon.

  One minute I was standing there, and the next we both were crashing through the French doors that led to the balcony. Glass shattered. Furniture scraped along the concrete. The metal guardrail rattled as my back slammed against it, hard.

  He came at me once again and I knew this was the end.

  At least I found her. I got to lay eyes on her and see that she was still alive. And I could go knowing that I’d saved her from that monster.

  I went low as he rushed at me. I caught him just right and was able to— not so smoothly— lift him up and over the railing. Unfortunately for me, he had a good hold on my shirt. I couldn’t stop my body as I flew over with him. Thirty stories up was pretty fucking far. Neither of us would make it.

  Like my body wasn’t ready to free fall to its death, my hand reached out to grab anything to stop it. I clung to the railing with all my might. Baldie didn’t have a good enough grip, thank fuck, and he continued on his journey down. I didn’t have to look to know what became of him.

/>   I sucked in a deep breath and slapped my free hand down on the railing to stable myself. I couldn’t lie, it hurt like a son of a gun and the pain in my shoulder nearly brought me to tears. It took everything in me to pull myself up and over. Then I fell to the hard surface of safety with a grunt.

  It wasn’t until I rolled over that I noticed the concrete slab above me. Yeah, that wasn’t supposed to be there. My target had the top floor and therefore, he didn’t have a covering over his balcony. I knew I wasn’t wrong on that. I’d studied the outside of this building enough to be sure of it. Plus, that was how I’d gotten down into his place and all. I definitely remembered that hadn’t had that extra obstacle.

  I barely had the strength to breathe, there was no way I was going to be able to even attempt to climb back up. My eyes closed. I just needed a moment to collect myself and figure out my next move.

  When I opened them again I was startled by the face of an old woman standing over me. It wasn’t like me to be taken off-guard like that. I hadn’t even heard her approach. Then again, the ringing in my ears was a little deafening at the moment.

  Stunned, I watched as she leaned over me and peered down to the street below.

  “That could have been you,” she said but there wasn’t much humor in her tone.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied and my voice sounded like I’d been gargling with fucking gravel and glass.

  Somewhere in the ringing in my ears, I heard sirens. I rolled my head to the side and searched for something that matched up with the sound.

  “I called them. Heard all that ruckus above me and figured it was needed. Guess I was right, huh?”

  I cut my eyes away from the approaching squad cars to look back at the old woman. Yeah, I couldn’t read her at all.

  Was she going to turn me over to them? Fuck me. There was no way I’d be getting out of it then. I’d be hauled off and I knew there was enough evidence up there that I wouldn’t be able to get out of it. I didn’t have a good lawyer. Matter of fact, I didn’t have one at all. I’d never had the need for one before.

  The pounding in my head kicked up a few notches.

  “Better get you inside before they come sniffing around. I don’t imagine we have much time.”