by Sophia Gray
He trailed off, smiling and blushing a little himself, and Kimmie cleared her throat and began to talk about some mindless brothel gossip. Nyssa knew she was changing the subject on purpose, sparing both her friend and Sebastian from embarrassment. But still, she couldn’t help but feel gratitude for her friend’s silly actions. She knew what Sebastian wanted now, for sure. It wasn’t Katrina. It had never been Katrina.
It was her. It was them. Even with the world outside threatening to barge in and hurt them, for at least a moment, Nyssa couldn’t help but feel safe and loved.
Chapter Nineteen
“I’m just going to go out for a few hours,” Sebastian said about a day later. “I’ve got some business to attend to downtown. It won’t take long.”
Kimmie, who had been lying down on the couch trying to take a nap, bolted upright, her face contorted with worry. “What? No. You can’t go. It’s not safe out there.”
Nyssa nodded. “She has a point. You know Katrina and her father are out there looking for you. Why not just stay here until they run out of steam?”
“Because I’ve got to keep my business running if I want to take over the city,” Sebastian said, walking over to Nyssa and cupping her face in his hands. “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful and I’ll keep someone with me at all times. I’ll be back before you know it.”
Nyssa wanted to argue with him, but she knew him well enough by now to know that he wasn’t going to be swayed. “Go on,” she said with a teasing smile. “Get out of here.”
Kimmie sighed loudly behind them, but both Sebastian and Nyssa ignored it, melting into a brief kiss before Sebastian turned and headed out of the condo. One of the guards Sebastian had called over the day before came in, shutting and locking the door behind him. “Hello, ladies,” he said with a tight uncomfortable smile. “I’ll be looking after you this evening.”
“Yeah, you better,” Kimmie said before getting to her feet and heading toward the kitchen. “I’m going to get a drink. Who wants a drink? Nyssa? Hunky guard guy whose name I don’t know? Anybody?”
“I can’t drink, remember?” Nyssa said.
“Oh, right, the whole bun in the oven thing,” Kimmie replied, slapping her forehead. “Duh. No alcohol for you, then. Okay, well, sexy guard guy, that means you’re drinking with me now.”
“I actually should stay sober. I need to watch over you guys and make sure that nothing—”
“Pfft! Bullshit!” Kimmie interjected as she found the nicest bottle of wine in Sebastian’s condo. “Listen, I’m here alone and I’m scared and I’m out of a job now, so you’re not going to make me drink alone. It’s just not happening.”
Nyssa smirked at the hapless look on the guard’s face. Kimmie did always know how to manipulate men to get what she wanted. But on the other hand, Nyssa thought she could detect real despair hiding within Kimmie’s voice. With that thought, Nyssa followed Kimmie into the kitchen, dropping her voice so the guard wouldn’t hear as she whispered, “Are you okay? You sound upset. Do you regret coming here or something?”
“No, no, of course not!” Kimmie said, shaking her head fervently. “You’re in danger, Nyssa. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else, believe me. But it’s just…”
“What? What is it? What’s wrong?” Nyssa asked.
“You’ve got this brand-spanking-new life, you know? And I’m so happy for you, believe me,” Kimmie said as she poured out two glasses of wine for herself and the nameless guard. “It’s just that I don’t know if I have a place here. In the long-term, I mean. I obviously can’t go back to work at Katrina’s, but I’d rather not go back to working on the street, either. I’m just… stuck.”
“No, you’re not, Kimmie,” Nyssa said. She reached out and grabbed her friend by both shoulders, forcing her to look her in the eyes. “Kimmie, I’m not going to leave you behind. I promise. You saved my life. You risked everything to help us. There’s no way I’m going to let you go back on the streets where someone could hurt you.”
Kimmie smiled sadly. “It’s where I belong, though, isn’t it? I’m not like you, Nyssa. I don’t have a knight in bright shining armor ready to come sweep me off my feet and save me from this life we’ve been living. It just doesn’t work that way for me.”
Nyssa struggled to come up with a counterargument. She knew that Kimmie felt like she was doomed to live the same shitty life she’d always led, but Nyssa refused to accept that. “You belong with me,” Nyssa finally said as sternly as she could. “Here. In my new life. I’m not going to take no for an answer, Kimmie.”
Kimmie bit on her bottom lip, considering Nyssa’s offer. “It’s just—what would I do? Like with my life? How would I even spend my days? All I know how to do is fuck, and I can’t exactly do that here. Not that I even want to anymore.”
Nyssa racked her mind to come up with an answer, but before she could land on anything a sharp knock rang out from the front door, making Kimmie jump about three inches into the air in alarm.
“Hey, relax,” Nyssa said, rubbing her friend’s arm soothingly. “It’s just Sebastian or one of his guards. Maybe they forgot the key or something.”
“You’re probably right,” the guard said as he walked over to the front door. “Hello—”
Thud.
It took Nyssa a few moments to realize what had happened, her brain struggling to fuse the different pieces together to figure it all out. But finally, it clicked. A thick muscular arm reached into the room and knocked the guard on the head with a lead pipe. The guard was now on the floor, cradling his head, while a man in all black stepped into the condo, leaning over to smash the pipe over the guard’s head several more times in a row.
“Oh, my God,” Nyssa murmured. She felt frozen to the spot as the intruder looked up at her, smiling maliciously. She could read in his eyes all the things that he wanted to do to her, all the things that were about to happen. Sebastian was gone. The guard was knocked out cold. She was fucked.
I’m dead, Nyssa thought. I’m fucking dead.
Chapter Twenty
“Run! Run, Nyssa, come on!” Kimmie shouted in Nyssa’s ear as she grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her into motion. “Come on!”
Nyssa stumbled after Kimmie, following her down the hallway until they crashed into Sebastian’s bedroom. Nyssa could hear the intruder running after them, but she felt frozen to the spot, her whole body completely limp and useless as she watched Kimmie throw herself against the door. “Fucking—not—fucking—today!” Kimmie grunted out as she locked and latched the door closed right as the intruder turned the last corner and dashed toward them.
Thud. The intruder knocked his body against the door, which creaked a little under his weight but held firm. “Come on, help me with this,” Kimmie said. She struggled to move the dresser out from its place against the wall opposite the door, but Nyssa moved to help her and together they managed to shove the dresser against the door.
“Do you think that will keep them out?” Nyssa whispered. Her heart was pounding at the base of her throat and in both of her temples, but she felt weirdly numb, like her body had run out of adrenaline and had no other alternative to keep her alert even in the most frightening moment of her life thus far.
“Not for long,” Kimmie said, and as if on cue, someone slammed against the door again, grunting in frustration as it held up. Nyssa felt like she could feel the vibrations of the intruder’s body rocking through the whole room. She felt like she was going to be sick, but she couldn’t afford to throw up right now. Not when Kimmie was tearing the room apart, clearly freaking out.
“What are you doing?” Nyssa asked, watching helplessly as Kimmie ripped the sheets off the bed.
“Looking for a weapon,” Kimmie said. “That door isn’t going to hold up for very much longer, and we’ve got to have something to defend ourselves with.”
Nyssa’s stomach turned over. She placed a hand over her abdomen, wishing she could feel the weight of her child inside of her. But it was too soon f
or that. Too soon, and too late. They were going to die here, together, before they even got a chance to meet. Nyssa should have known better than to hope for anything different. She was always going to end up here, on the wrong side of a weapon, someone bigger and stronger than her standing over her useless body. This was what she was meant to do, how she was meant to die. Like helpless prey, stuck in a corner with nowhere left to run.
But even though Nyssa felt like she couldn’t even move, Kimmie kept looking, tearing the room up from top to bottom. “Come on, I know Sebastian has to keep a weapon in this room somewhere,” she muttered to herself as she tore his closet apart, throwing various items of clothing across the room as she searched every inch of the closet frantically.
“Kimmie…” Nyssa sighed out.
Kimmie didn’t turn around, still sifting through clothes to try to find something she could use to defend them against the intruder. “Yeah? What is it?”
“I just want to say…” Nyssa trailed off, unsure of how to articulate herself clearly. After a few seconds of struggling, she gave up, walking over to Kimmie instead and wrapping her arms around her shoulders. “I love you, Kimmie. Thank you for… for being my only friend. For being my sister. Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Kimmie whispered. Her hand came up to touch Nyssa’s, giving it a reassuring squeeze before she shrugged out of Nyssa’s grasp. “We are not fucking dying today, honey, okay? You hear me? So save your good-byes for another day. I’m not going to let you die.”
Nyssa smiled sadly, jumping a little as she heard another set of footsteps head down the hallway. “There’s more than one of them now,” she whispered, straining her ears to try to hear what the intruders were mumbling about on the other side of the door.
“Fuck this,” Kimmie said, turning to the nightstand and knocking over all of Sebastian’s belongings to the floor. “There’s—got—to—be—something… yes! Yes, I found it!”
Kimmie turned around with a small black gun in her hands. She pressed one finger to her lips and arched her head toward the door, wordlessly telling Nyssa not to announce the presence of the gun to the intruders, who could definitely hear them. Nyssa nodded as Kimmie walked past her, going up to the door, which was rocking back and forth in its hinges with the doubled efforts of the intruders trying to break in with the force of their bodies.
“Fucking—bitches—gonna die!” one of the intruders yelled from the other side of the door. The next second, Nyssa heard a loud crunching sound, right before the dresser wobbled on its legs and then tipped over to the ground, revealing a foot wedged in the middle of the door. Somebody had kicked their way in.
“Kimmie…” Nyssa said. She didn’t know what to say that hadn’t already been said, but she needed to say something, to hear her friend speak at least one last time. She needed just one last sentence to give her the strength she needed to die bravely rather than on her knees.
“I love you, Nyssa,” Kimmie said softly, reaching behind her back to give Nyssa her hand. “I love you. Now get down!”
All at once, the intruder kicked the door again, sending it tumbling to the ground, while Kimmie’s hand shoved Nyssa to the bed, right before a gunshot went off. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Shit,” Nyssa cried into the pillow. The whole world was dark around her, her vision suppressed by the pillow around her eyes, and she couldn’t hear anything other than the ragged sound of her own breath. What had happened? Had they killed Kimmie? Had Nyssa died already, too? Was that why everything felt weirdly calm and peaceful, because she wasn’t located in her body anymore but sandwiched somewhere between Heaven and the void?
Nyssa finally realized there was an ache in her back, like a cramp that just wouldn’t go away. She had felt it earlier that morning, too, but with all the activity she’d forgotten about it until now. I guess that means I’m not dead, Nyssa thought, feeling her lungs burn a little with the effort of breathing so hard into the pillow.
But somebody had been shot. Maybe all of them, Kimmie and the intruders alike, all were dead or dying now. Nyssa inhaled deeply and steeled herself as much as she could, given the circumstances. She had to be strong. She had to be brave and get up and look, even if it meant seeing her dead friend sprawled bleeding across the floor. She had to do this.
Nyssa forced herself up off the bed, only flicking her eyes open after she was on her feet again, ready to fight if necessary. But there was nobody to fight. The leg sticking through the door was stiff and motionless. Kimmie must have shot the first intruder before he could finish kicking the door down.
It took Nyssa a few moments before she spotted Kimmie next to the closet, lying down on the ground with her hands wrapped around her ears. Nyssa’s heart froze in her chest, her blood turning to ice water as she slowly leaned down to check if Kimmie was dead.
For a few excruciating, hopeless seconds, Nyssa didn’t hear anything, nor see any movement anywhere on Kimmie’s body. She can’t be gone. She can’t be. She can’t be, she can’t be, she can’t be dead! Nyssa thought about screaming, but she still wasn’t sure if there were other gangsters somewhere in the condo waiting for her to make her presence known.
Finally, mercifully, Kimmie inhaled deeply, several times in a row, like she was just shaking herself awake after passing out. “Oh, Kimmie, thank God,” Nyssa whispered, leaning down to wrap her body around her friend’s. “Kimmie, you saved me. You saved us.”
Kimmie laughed lowly and reached behind her head to tangle her fingers together with Nyssa. “Don’t count your chickens yet, sweetheart. We still don’t know if we’re alone here.”
“You’re not,” a male voice said from somewhere out in the hallway.
“Oh, fuck, oh, fuck, no, fuck! Shit!” Kimmie whispered, slapping her head roughly.
“Give me the gun,” Nyssa said in a rush. “It’s my turn. I can do it this time.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Kimmie said. Her eyes were full of tears now, making Nyssa feel like something in her heart was breaking apart. “There’s no bullets left in the gun! I used them all, and I don’t see any spares around here that we could use! We’re stuck! We’re stuck, Nyssa! We’re going to die!”
Nyssa felt a thousand emotions at once. Terror stopped up her throat, making her feel like she was going to suffocate before the last gangster could come in and shoot them both. Despair clutched at her heart, wrapping it in dark shadows so thick that no light could ever pierce them. Resignation set in, finally, making her whole body go numb and fuzzy-feeling, like she was a little drunk. So this is how it ends, she thought to herself as she wrapped herself around Kimmie more tightly than before. With two bangs and my best friend’s whisper. I can live with it.
Still, tears flooded her eyes, hot and insistent, as she kissed the side of Kimmie’s head, wanting her to feel as close to safe and loved as she possibly could. Nyssa blinked the tears away, focusing all her energy on treasuring this last moment that she had with her best friend on this Earth.
The door creaked open. Footsteps, slow and heavy, crept up behind them.
The man was there. Right there behind them. There was nowhere to go. There was no way to hide.
This was it.
I’m not scared. I’m not scared. I’m not scared. I’m alive. I’m alive and in love and I’m a mother and a friend and a warrior, and I am not scared, Nyssa thought, her breath coming out hard and quick as she dug her hands harder into Kimmie’s sides, holding her as close as possible. I am not scared.
“You can get up now,” a familiar voice said.
What?
“You can get up. It’s over, baby. It’s over,” the voice said, right as a warm strong hand landed on Nyssa’s back, rubbing over her spine soothingly.
Looking back on it, Nyssa couldn’t figure out why it took her so long to realize it was Sebastian. Her brain must have just been overloaded with stimuli, too distracted to be able to piece even the most basic signals together.
But eventually,
her body relaxed into his touch, and she knew it was him, instinctively, immediately, without any doubt. And she knew they were saved.
Nyssa slowly let go of Kimmie, turning to see Sebastian squatting on the ground next to her. “Are you hurt?” she whispered as she reached out to grab his face, forcing him to look her in the eyes and tell her the truth.
“No,” Sebastian said, smiling a little at her. His fingers found the tears that had fallen on her cheeks seconds earlier, wiping them away gently.
Nyssa reached down to try to find his other hand, so she could grip his fingers and wrap them under hers, but there was something cold and hard in his hands. Sebastian pulled away, then, lifting his hand to show her what it was. A gun.
“So they’re all dead?” Nyssa asked in a hushed voice.
