by London Casey
But that wasn’t going to happen. All I could stare at was the breathing tube sticking out from Aton’s mouth. He looked dead. He was normally full of life and full of color. His loud voice rang in my memory, but he was silenced now. I made fists and gritted my teeth. I wanted to tell the son of a bitch to wake the fuck up. To tell me what happened. To tell me how I could help.
But I wasn’t one of his guys. Christ, I probably had no business being in the room right now. The only reason I was was because Tommy and Danny thought Rose was my wife. The blood connection that started this war rested in my damn lap over a lie to keep myself and Rose alive.
“He’s very lucky,” the nurse said. “All things considered.”
“He doesn’t look so lucky to me,” I said.
“Trust me, he is. The bullet came within an inch of killing him instantly. The doctors were able to get the bullet out and put him back together. Not many can say that.”
“Is he going to make it?” I asked.
“I don’t make those rules,” the nurse said. “You know that. But he’s out of surgery. Now his body just needs to fight. He’s in good hands. We’ll do everything we can.”
I looked over and down at the nurse. She was cute as hell. She half smiled at me. I turned and faced her, actually contemplating making a move. I even reached for her, grabbing her waist. She gasped but didn’t slap me away.
Little wild nurse whore… you want it. You want me to fuck you, don’t you? It’s probably one of your fantasies…
She reached up and touched my face. My blood ran hot. It started to fill my dick, which was no big deal. The big deal though was that I was hesitating. I never hesitated.
“I promise,” she whispered. “I know he means something… to you…”
The corners of her mouth danced. She was eager for me to kiss her.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I whispered. “You have no idea what any of this means.”
Christ, I really had no idea what any of it meant.
I approached the bed as the nurse left the room. I touched the railing and stood there. Maybe the others that would visit would take the time to pray. I could’ve done that, sure, but I’d have no fucking clue who I’d pray to.
It was just me. Always just me.
“Fuck, Aton,” I whispered. “I am so sorry.”
I lowered my head and tried to figure it all out. What my next move was going to be. The truth would have to come out eventually. But first it would depend on Aton’s life. If he survived or not.
“You have to pull through this,” I said. “You have to make it all right, like you always do. I want to be there to fight and have you watch me. I want to make you some money and bring a smile to your face. I’ll do everything I can, Aton, to track him down and kill him. The Assassin. I know the truth now. That’s why I had to keep Rose alive. I’m not sure if you’ll understand it that way or not though.”
I stopped talking.
Everything started to come to me then. It wasn’t very clear, but it seemed very simple.
If Rose was backed into a corner, she’d come looking for me. She’d come looking for protection. Hell, by now, she’d know about Luke and know about Aton. She was smart enough to know what everything was coming to. She couldn’t admit the lie I’d thrown her into. Which meant… if she wanted me… she’d have to come find me.
There was only one place she’d be smart enough to go.
“I have to go,” I whispered, as though Aton could hear me.
There was a lot of shit out of my hands, but what was in my hands, I had to take care of. I had to push beauty aside. It was time for things to get really fucking ugly.
15.
(Rose)
If I smoked, I would have gone through half a pack, if not more. I paced around the hallways of the hotel, holding my cell, wondering what to do. I could try and call Luke, right? Pretend I knew nothing. Play everything off as normal. But that would only make him more pissed. He’d demand to know where I was and would have people tracking me in a heartbeat.
Tracking me.
I looked at the phone and jumped. I let it hit the floor. Of course, it didn’t break. I stomped on it. Over and over, trying to do everything I could to break the damn thing.
“Oh, honey, he ain’t worth that.”
I turned and a woman pushing a food cart stood there.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“You’re going to bust up your own phone over some man? Come on now. Even if he’s paying for it, don’t do that. You take care of yourself, honey. Pick that phone up. Call that man. Tell him how you feel.”
I wanted to tell the woman to shut her mouth. But she smiled at me. She was short, wide, and had a good heart.
“You’re right,” I said.
I grabbed the phone and rushed away. I went to a set of stairs. There I held the phone tight. I wound up like a baseball pitcher and threw it as hard as I could, down the stairs to the concrete floor. The phone broke, finally. I ran down and started to stomp on it again, making damn sure it was broken. I then kicked the pieces all around, down the other stairs, wherever I could.
A sense of relief went through me.
That was quickly followed by terror. Maybe I hadn’t broken the phone soon enough.
“Shit,” I whispered.
I lunged at the stairs and went back up. I was back in the hallway, charging toward the hotel room. I needed to grab Macie and get her to drive me somewhere else. Part of me felt bad for dragging her into this, but she was the only one I could call.
Not even Wes. Hell, I had no way to get in touch with Wes. He was merely a blip on the radar of life. His lie was going to get himself killed. And it was going to get me into big trouble, unless I just confessed the truth. That would only make it worse for him.
If only… I had been in the car. Stuck the key in the ignition. Turned it. Then… gone…
I shook away the thought as it sent a cold shiver up and down my spine.
I couldn’t think like that right now. I had to stay in survival mode and make this all work. Maybe Wes’s boss would understand the situation. Aton seemed nice enough to help, as long as we played into the marriage thing. His family could go after Luke and finally put an end to all of this.
Yeah, right.
It would end with Wes going after Luke. Because Luke - the assassin - killed Wes’s brother.
My feet moved almost as fast as my mind. There was no time to stop. There was no time to think. I didn’t even know who the hell to trust at this point, including Wes. Everything and everyone was simply a blur to me. All I could do was look at what was exactly in front of me and make a decision. That’s what my dad used to do. He knew walking the fine line between the law and outlaw was risky, but he always made it work.
I stopped at the hotel room door and took a breath. If I went in there crazy, Macie would think I was just that. I pushed the door open and went inside.
“Macie, we have to talk…”
I froze, realizing I had opened the door without a keycard. And without knocking.
The door hadn’t been shut.
The logical question was why? and that answer waited three more steps into the room.
I found Macie.
She was on the bed, a bullet hole in her forehead.
16.
(Wes)
I drove fast out of town. The streets weren’t to be trusted. Nobody in town could be trusted either. I had no idea what anyone thought of me and with Aton with a tube in his fucking throat, I had no defense for anything. For all I knew, his family was going to come after me, along with Rose’s. It seemed illogical that a punk fighter like me could attract so much heat.
Then again, I wanted it, didn’t I?
I wanted Luke… the assassin…
My hands gripped the wheel tight.
I felt a little better when I was out of town. I felt even better when I saw the cabin. I killed the lights on my car and crept up to the cabin slowly, my tires crunching
over the pebbles that made up the driveway. I pulled around to the back of the cabin as far as I could to make sure my car was hidden but not too close to the lake that was there.
I got out of the car and went to the trunk. I always kept a spare bag of clothes in case I had to run or get changed after a bad fight. In the bottom of the bag was a loaded gun. Sounds fucked up, but after what happened to Shane I never trusted another fight. His death took the feeling out of it all. The enjoyment. The excitement. The feeling that I was wanted and needed. I fought because it was for survival and it kept me from killing someone.
When I got into the cabin, I went right through the place, making sure nothing was changed or different. It was the same way I had left it earlier when I took Rose out of there. I tucked my gun into my back pocket and walked out to the deck. I stood there, looking out to the moon reflecting off the water, just like I had done before.
This time, it was different. Really different.
Beautiful Rose… she was nothing but a fucking thorn…
17.
(Rose)
“What did you do?” I whispered. “Oh, what did you do?”
There was nothing quite like talking to your dead best friend. But there was Macie, arms out, a small hole in her forehead, her eyes long gone.
I knew it was Luke. I just knew it.
He either tracked me by my phone or maybe Macie was dumb enough to call him and tell him where we were. Whatever it was, it cost Macie her life. She did nothing to deserve it though. She just never understood what Luke was capable of.
I covered my mouth to keep from screaming and getting sick. I shook as I spotted my bag in the corner of the room. I grabbed it and checked to make sure it wasn’t filled with explosives or something. It was just my clothes and supplies. I zipped it up and lifted it.
I turned and looked at Macie again.
There was nothing I could do but leave her there. Not the way she wanted to have it all happen, I know. The room was under her name and now she was dead. It would lead to nothing but dead end after dead end for poor Macie.
Stop, Rose. Just stop. He’s out there. He’s looking for you. This was a clear message. A crystal clear message.
Logic finally won and I got the hell out of there. I couldn’t take the elevators and just walk out the front door. Luke was in the hotel. Luke was looking for me.
Shit.
If he saw my bag…
I pictured my brother scouring the hallways. He probably had guys with him, too. Everyone on the lookout for me.
I moved faster, down the concrete steps. I snuck out the back of the hotel and went right to Macie’s car. I shut my eyes when I started it, expecting it to explode. I would have to ditch the car somewhere at some point because authorities would be looking for it.
Christ, what a crime scene to leave behind.
A woman shot once in the forehead. Nothing taken from her but her car.
Then I realized… the tapes. There would be video of me walking into the hotel with Macie. I did my best to stay out of it though. I kept my head down, kept my face hidden. But the woman in the hallway… videos in the hallways…
I was shaking before I could leave the parking lot.
It was pretty simple - Luke had set me up. Then again, if there was video of me, there was video of him, right? The video would show Luke entering the hotel, the hallway, the hotel room. Then it would show him leaving.
As I drove, I checked my mirrors.
I didn’t have a tail.
I played everything carefully so I didn’t look suspicious.
I really had nowhere to go.
Well, except one place… but I’d just be waiting there, alone.
Then again, alone was better than dead.
~
The lights were off.
I parked the car and climbed out. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get into the cabin, but it was the only place I could think of where nobody would be looking for me. I just needed a night to think. Maybe I could keep going north. Get the hell out of the state and go until I was in Canada or something. Just disappear.
Yeah, right. Cross the border driving a car that isn’t yours… a car that belongs to a woman who was shot in the head.
“Just stay calm,” I whispered to myself.
I approached the cabin and got to the door. I turned the knob and lucky me, it was unlocked. I pushed the door open and looked around the dark place. There was a sense of Wes still lingering around. He had made food for us. He had all intentions of being a gentleman and protecting me.
Then I had to spill the truth on him.
He had been holding me when I started confessing it all. His big, strong, fighter arms around my body. That was the first time I felt alive in a really long time. To feel wanted, needed. I definitely had felt protected.
But not now.
I was on my own.
Completely on my own.
I took one step forward and heard a floorboard creak behind me.
I turned and saw the silhouette of a figure and a gun in my face.
18.
(Wes)
I saw the lights and heard the car engine. So I shut the place down and got ready for a fight. Well, not a physical fight, but I was going to just pull the trigger and let all hell break loose.
But then I saw her.
I saw Rose.
Standing there, staring at me.
I blinked. I shook my head. I tried to chase her image from my mind. But that wasn’t going to work because she was really there.
“Rose?” I asked.
“Please don’t kill me,” she said. “Please…”
I stepped back and turned on a light.
Goddamn, she was beautiful. A tear fell from her right eye down her cheek. Her hands were at her sides. And she just stood there, ready to take a bullet.
“Wes?” she asked. “Are you really here?”
“Christ,” I said. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”
She sucked in a breath and wiped the tear away. “I…”
“Where’s your fucking brother?” I asked. I wasn’t in the mood for games.
“Luke? I don’t know.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “You know where he is. That’s why you’re here. You’re working for him. Don’t give me the fake tears, sweetie. It’s not going to work this time.”
“Wes, I swear,” Rose said.
“No,” I said. I didn’t put the gun down. I knew in my heart I wasn’t going to hurt her. I wasn’t going to shoot her. Goddammit, she was too beautiful to hurt. That was my weakness though. Her beauty… “No. I’m not accepting that this time.”
“He killed her,” Rose said. Her eyes suddenly looked dazed. “He killed her.”
“What are you talking about?”
Rose stepped toward me, toward the gun. Her eyes were still dazed. Her hand grabbed my wrist and she put the gun to her chest, right over her damn heart.
“I’m ready then,” she said. “If this is how it’s going to go. I’ll never stop getting found. Chased. Hurt. The only way to stop the pain is…” Her eyes flickered. She was staring right at me now, not through me. “I trust you enough, Wes. You do it. You kill me. Get him back. For what he did to your brother. Eye for an eye.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered. I tore my hand away from Rose before she could grab my finger or the trigger and do something stupid. I tucked the gun away. “What the hell happened?”
She lowered her head and started to weep. I swore to myself that the tears of a woman would never do damage to me. But I was fucking wrong. I was so fucking wrong. Tears of a man were nothing but defeat. The tears of a woman were something different. Something special. They were emotions pouring from a body, a soul.
Goddammit, Rose was cracking my shell.
I gently touched her shoulders and pulled her close to me. Her hands shot around to my back and she gripped my shirt tight. It was like she’d been waiting to do that for a long time. Who knows, maybe
she was.
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
Rose looked up at me. “I called a friend, Macie. She never understood it. I should have never called her. I thought if I could get to a hotel and clear my mind, I could figure something out. I went for a walk and when I came back, she was dead. Luke found us. Shot her.”
“Christ,” I said. “Did he follow you here?”
“No. I checked for a tail the entire time. He set me up with it. I’m going to be wanted for murder. And for taking her car. Oh, fuck, Wes, what am I going to do?”
And that was the exact moment I lost my damn mind for good.
I brought my mouth down to Rose’s and kissed her.
Fighting and fucking was all I knew.
~
My hands grabbed her ass tight. I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around my body. Our mouths ravaged one another’s, battling for space, control, breaths. I liked the taste of her lips, the way her soft tongue felt against mine.
Goddamn, she was really something.
I walked right for the bedroom, knowing better than to waste any moment to fuck. In the back of my mind I reminded myself that this woman’s brother was the one who killed Shane. But it wasn’t her. It wasn’t Rose who did.
Rose was innocent in some ways. Probably guilty in others.
But everyone was guilty of something.
I put her on the bed and had my body against hers. She clawed at my shirt, wanting it off. We broke the kiss for a second and then her hands grabbed at my bare skin, her fingertips trailing along my earned muscle. She gripped my jeans and pulled, groaning and thrusting herself at me. She was aching for it.
I grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it up to her chin. My mouth crashed down to the top of her breasts, kissing wildly. My tongue flirted and battled against her damn bra. I tasted the outer edge of her nipple, that little rough skin that was so succulent.
“Fuck,” Rose groaned.
She hurried to arch her back and unsnapped her bra. By then, I was already on the fucking move, working down her body. I tasted her smooth belly. I teased her belly button, feeling her wiggle as she fought the urge to bust out laughing from being tickled. At her pants, I paused and hurried to open them. My hands grabbed at her waist and I pulled. I tore her fucking pants right down her body. Her legs were long and beautiful. My hands gripped her legs and ran up with ease. At her knees I cut to the inside of her thighs and pushed her legs open. Her panties were a light blue color. I could see the wetness already and it drove me mad. Mix that with the sweet scent of her body and I was like an animal. There was no stopping me now.
