TNT

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  Lights started flashing on the outside of the house as an electronic voice filled the air. “Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “Oh shit,” Hunter said, taking off for the house. I ran after him and was just approaching the house when I heard Molly scream. I booked it into the house and found her curled up on the floor, crying as Rocco’s robot held a laser on her. I picked up the robot and tossed it against the wall. When it went into some kind of weird murder mode, I pulled my gun and fired at the damn thing. It short-circuited and seemed to shut off. I picked up Molly and ran outside with her, running after Hunter who had waved at me to follow him.

  “Threat detected,” the electronic voice said. “Activating secondary protocols.”

  I watched in fascination as machine guns came out from the eaves of the roof and sought out a target. The problem was, the target they sought out was me.

  “Oh shit,” I shouted right as the guns opened fire. I dove behind the truck as Hunter shoved Molly to the ground and covered her body with his. They were after me because I had shot at Ruby. I pulled my gun and started shooting back at the machine guns, but that only seemed to anger the house more.

  “What the fuck,” I shouted to Rocco, who had just run out of the house.

  “Knight,” he yelled into his phone. “Turn off the damn secondary protocols! They’re firing at Tony!”

  Within seconds, the machine guns shut down and the firing stopped. I hesitated coming out from behind the truck, not sure if there were any other crazy devices that would come out to kill me.

  “What the fuck was that?” I asked Rocco.

  “Sorry about that. Knight has my house set up as a sort of testing facility for all his gadgets. I forgot about getting Molly scanned into the system with it all being at the last minute.”

  “Why did it try to kill me?”

  “Because you shot the fucking thing. That just activates kill mode for the house.”

  “Fucking great. Just the way I wanted my wedding to go.”

  “Like it was going so great already?” he asked. “I mean, you do look like a creamsicle.”

  “Whatever,” I said, making my way over to Molly. Hunter had an oxygen mask on her and was rinsing her face with water.

  “Fucking Knight,” he muttered. “He should have learned his lesson after Brooke got shot with tear gas.”

  “Molly, how are you, baby?”

  “Uh…well, it really burns and I can’t really see anything.”

  I winced because her whole face was red and her eyes were swollen shut. Things weren’t looking too good for today. “Maybe we should postpone the wedding.”

  “Are you kidding? This is going to go down in history as the most awesome wedding ever! And think of all the pictures we’ll get out of it.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you don’t want a picture of your face right now.”

  “It can’t be too much worse than yours,” she shot back.

  “So, what’s the deal?” Hunter asked. “Are we having the wedding or not?”

  I grinned down at Molly. “Let’s do this.”

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  I watched as Molly walked down the makeshift aisle toward me. Her father was glaring at me, obviously still pissed that I hurt his baby girl. I didn’t miss the way he moved his suit jacket to the side to show me that he had his gun on him. What he didn’t realize was that I was so far gone for his daughter that there was nothing that could stand in the way of me having her.

  “She looks beautiful,” Coop said from beside me.

  I glanced over at my two best men, one Mexican and one black, and grinned. The pictures were going to be great. “Yeah, she does.”

  “I mean, I never thought that a woman could look good with red eyes and a swollen face, but she pulls it off,” Storm agreed.

  “Maybe you can bring it up to Jessica for your own wedding.”

  Storm groaned. “Don’t even bring it up. I’m still feeling her hits from the last time I asked her.”

  “Next time don’t ask her with another man in the room,” I suggested.

  “I’ll take that under advisement.”

  Molly smiled at me as she stepped beside me. We both turned to face Hunter, but I realized that I couldn’t see her out of my left eye since it was swollen shut. She was having similar problems since her right eye was still a little swollen from the tear gas. I stepped behind her and moved her over to the other side, smiling when she started laughing. Yeah, we looked like two idiots, but she was right. Today would be memorable.

  “Ladies and gentleman, we are gathered here today, mostly by force-”

  “Not by force,” I cut in.

  He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Well, I mean, you did have to have someone drag her here.”

  “Right, but she’s standing up here willingly,” I said irritatedly.

  “I guess, but-”

  “Can we move this along?” Craig asked, raising his hand. “By the way, man, I’m a big fan of your work.” And then he fucking winked at me.

  “There is no work. I didn’t kidnap her or trick her into marrying me. We both want this.”

  He shrugged. “If you want to see it that way.”

  “I’m not seeing it that way. That’s the way it happened.”

  “Alright, geez,” he said, backing off. “Somebody’s testy today.”

  “Anyway,” Hunter cut in, “we’re gathered here today to join Tacocheese and Tacosauce in holy matrimony. And I’m guessing it’s true love because both of you look fucking ugly right now.” I glared at him and he held up his hands. “I’m just saying, I can understand her, but I’m not sure what you have going on here,” he said, gesturing to my face.

  “It was a faulty tanning booth.”

  “Right,” he snorted. “Sure it was.”

  “It was. Just ask them,” I nodded to Coop and Storm.

  “Who? These guys? Who are they, by the way?”

  “It’s me, jackass,” Storm spat.

  “Storm? No fucking way. Why are you black?”

  “Can we just move on with the wedding?” I shouted.

  “Sorry, but you think you know a guy and then one is suddenly black and the other is Mexican. It throws a guy for a loop.” He leaned toward me and whispered, “That is Coop, right?” I glared and my nostrils flared. “Sorry, but it’s hard to tell. You would think after Lindsey’s eyebrow incident that everyone would have learned that doing this shit right before the wedding is not a good idea.”

  “I thought you said I looked good,” Lindsey snapped at Ice.

  “You did, baby. Sexy as hell,” Ice said quickly.

  “Right,” Hunter snorted. “You looked like you had two caterpillars on your forehead trying to get away from each other.”

  And that was how an all out battle started at the wedding. There were torn clothes and bruised lips, mostly from the women hitting the men, and by the time we got around to the vows, Molly and I were no longer the ugliest looking couple in the group.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “Sorry to break up the festivities,” Cap said later that evening, “but I have a job for the three of you now that you’re all cleared.”

  I cringed, knowing Molly wouldn’t like that. But the other teams had been picking up the slack now for over two months. “When do we leave?”

  “Tomorrow morning. Sorry to ruin the honeymoon.”

  “That’s alright. It’s more than our turn to take a job.”

  “We’re all glad that you’re back, and not just because the other teams are tired of picking up the slack. We were all worried about the two of you.”

  “I know, but we’re all gonna be fine now. I’ve got my girl, and probably a baby on the way. I’d say I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

  “Just don’t ever take it for granted. I’d say we’re all the luckiest fuckers in the world to end up with the women we have.”

  “Isn’t that the truth,” I snorted. �
��You know, I never thought I’d want a relationship with someone after Delaney died. But Molly came crashing into my life and took over. She knew what I needed even when I didn’t.”

  “That’s the way it usually goes. But word to the wise?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Find a fucking cook.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Molly

  “You look happy this morning,” Cap said as I walked into his office. I placed a steaming cup of hot coffee on his desk and grinned.

  “I am, but I have to be honest. I need windows.”

  He grinned and reached for a folder. “I’m already ahead of you. When Tony and I started planning the wedding, I knew that you would want to have a house on the property. So, while Tony’s been gone this week, I pulled the file on where our houses are being built and lots that are available. You can look through them and let me know if you like any of them. If not, there are a few properties that Reed Security bought and no one is living in yet.”

  “Thanks, this is great!”

  “You’re welcome. Just make me a batch of cookies and we’ll call it even.”

  I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. “I know you all hate my cooking, so why do you want me to make you cookies?”

  “They’re for Tony.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he took Maggie out when she was pregnant. Nobody was supposed to take her anywhere.”

  “But he thought she was in labor.”

  “And now he knows better. But those cookies are the icing on the cake.”

  “Fine, but if he asks, I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Scout’s honor.”

  I snorted. “Right.”

  “So, are you going in to work?”

  “No, I’m heading to the apartment to pack. I’m not sure how long I’ll last though. I hate packing.”

  “Well, if you need the help, let me know. I can send over some guys.”

  “Thanks, but it’s just boxing up for now.”

  I made my way to the elevator. Now that I was part of the Reed Security family, I had my own access codes and could come and go as I pleased. I drove over to the apartment and started with the basics, packing up whatever was easiest to do, but after about three boxes, I got bored and decided to head out for some lunch.

  “Molly!” I smiled when I saw Matt running toward me. I hadn’t seen him since we had coffee at the diner together.

  “Hey, how are you?”

  “I’m doing okay. I was hoping to run into you after that guy dragged you out of the diner. I would have shown up sooner, but I wasn’t sure if that was okay. But I had to make sure you were alright.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, it looked pretty heated between the two of you. I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay.”

  “Oh, Coop? Yeah, he’s fine. My boyfriend- well, husband- got a little upset when he found out I was with someone he didn’t know.”

  “Husband?”

  I showed him my ring and smiled. “As of last week.”

  “Wow. That’s cool. I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So, where are you off to?”

  “I was gonna grab some lunch. Do you want to join me?”

  “Uh, I was actually thinking that maybe we could talk upstairs. I’ve been doing some thinking about what I could do to move on, you know, from Sarah’s death. I was hoping I could run it past you.”

  “Sure,” I said happily. If I could do something to help him move on, I gladly would. We walked up to the apartment and as soon as I unlocked the door, I was shoved inside. I spun around to ask what the hell was going on, but Matt was no longer alone. Another man stood behind him and he looked pissed. He looked familiar and I tried to place where I had seen him before, but I was drawing a blank.

  “What’s going on here? Who are you?”

  “You can call me Ben, and I’m here to collect.”

  “Collect what?” I asked in confusion.

  “A life.”

  My blood chilled and goosebumps broke out over my skin. I looked to Matt for help, but he didn’t seem at all surprised by what was happening.

  “Matt?” I asked, hoping that what I was thinking wasn’t true.

  “You know, I really did like you,” he said. “It’s not personal.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’m sorry,” he said sadly. “I didn’t want to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  His fist flew out and struck me in the face. I was dazed as I stumbled backward. I caught myself on the wall, but when he hit me again, I slumped to the ground and fought the wave of blackness that crept over me. He leaned down in front of me and shook his head.

  “I just need your husband.” My vision faded completely and I felt my head drop before I passed out.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “What time can we expect your husband?”

  I blinked, trying to clear my vision. My head was throbbing and I could feel dried blood on my face. I glanced around the room and saw that everything was pretty much the same, except that I was on the couch and the two men were standing by the front window.

  “I said, what time can we expect your husband?” Benjamin asked.

  “He’s out of town on a job.”

  “Yeah, well, we can hole up here for days. No one will think to look for me here.”

  “What do you mean? Who’s looking for you?”

  “Every police officer in the state.”

  And then it hit me. He was the man at the defense’s table during the murder trial. He was the man that killed Delaney.

  “Oh my God. You killed Delaney.”

  He grinned, but it wasn’t nice. It was sinister and evil. It didn’t really match the way he looked though. If I saw him on the streets, I would think he was some kind of tech nerd.

  “Well, I wasn’t planning on getting caught. That was all because that bitch took those photos.”

  I didn’t say anything. I was still trying to figure out what I was supposed to do or say in this situation. I was partly scared, mostly for what they planned to do when Tony got here. The other part of me was trying to figure out any way I could to stop them before that happened. But I wasn’t a strategist or trained at all in handling weapons. The only thing I could wield was a frying pan, and even that I wasn’t very good at.

  “I don’t know anything about the case.” I didn’t know what else to say, but it seemed like talking would at least keep him from hurting me.

  “No? Lover boy never filled you in?”

  I shook my head.

  “Delaney, the woman he was fucking, and quite often I might add. God, it was like every fucking night. They were loud and it was so fucking obnoxious. I think that’s partly the reason I went after her that night,” he said thoughtfully. “I was only going to get rid of the roommate at first, but when I saw that she was home alone, I just couldn’t resist the temptation. I wanted to hear her scream for me the way she screamed for him. Only, mine wasn’t for her pleasure. And it’s really my own fault that I got caught. I saw her taking the damn pictures, but the roommate showed up and I forgot about it.”

  “Why did you want to kill Becky?”

  “The roommate? She was on to me. She was setting up video feed around the neighborhood to catch whoever was breaking into homes. She was making it impossible to do what I wanted to. I could have hacked the feed. I’m very good at that sort of thing, but it just felt right, you know?”

  He looked at me and I saw that evil glint in his eyes. He had murder on the brain. He would kill me after he killed Tony.

  “You know, I was always so curious, how it would feel to take a life, to watch the blood drain from a person and watch their eyes slowly close forever. I wanted to feel that power. And I got so much more than I bargained for with Delaney. She fought back. I wasn’t expecting that. But the best part,” he laughed, “was when she was crawling away from me, grabbing
onto the carpet to pull herself further away from me. Her blood was streaking the carpet and I could smell the fear coming off her. She knew she was going to die, and when she rolled over and looked at me….” He sniffed the air, like he could smell her blood or something. “Damn, that was the best feeling in the world. Better than any orgasm I’ve ever had.”

  “Maybe you need to find a woman instead of using your hand,” I said before I could think better of it.

  His fist shot out and punched me hard in the face. I fell back against the cushions and cradled my jaw in my hand. Luckily, while it hurt, he obviously wasn’t a fighter. If Tony or one of his friends had punched me, I had no doubt that my face would be broken.

  “Why are you trying to kill him?”

  “Trying? Oh no,” he laughed. “I will kill him. It’s just a matter of when. But I’m going to kill him because it’s because of him and his fucking friends that I ended up on trial to begin with.”

  “No, that’s all your fault. You’re the psychopath that killed a woman and almost killed another. You can blame others all you want, but your decisions put you in the position you’re in.”

  He stormed toward me, but Matt grabbed his arm. “Lay off. We have plenty of time when he shows up.”

  “Why are you helping him?” I asked. “He’s a monster.”

  “He’s my brother,” he spat. “And I will always help my family.”

  “Oh my God,” I whispered. “All this time? You’ve been playing me? Did you even have a girlfriend that died from a brain tumor?”

  He smirked, shaking his head slightly. “Nope. You made it so easy. I mean, I watched you. You’re such a bleeding heart. You saw a guy sad and miserable and you just couldn’t help yourself. I spent weeks gathering any information, any weakness I could find on the people at Reed Security, and all it took was Tony ending up in your bed that night. And imagine my surprise when he took a different woman home every night, but then suddenly you were in the picture as his girlfriend. I couldn’t have asked for an easier target. I mean, you don’t live on the property. You let people into your life and your home when you really shouldn’t. You were so fucking stupid that you took me to your home and left me alone to plant bugs all over your apartment! It was so fucking easy, and you didn’t see it, even when Tony told you that he didn’t want you to see me again. You ran into me outside and all it took was a sob story for you to let me up into your apartment.”