Freefall

by Tess Oliver

  I sat down on the bed and kept the door ajar, so I would know if they’d left the living room. They were discussing their shady business deals, and I listened, trying to remember details. The doorbell rang, and my heart sank. More of Lincoln’s partners had arrived.

  I poked my head out the door to see how many more people had shown up and heard a familiar voice. “How are you, Hammond? I just wanted to let you know that I found a sweet little muscle car that I think you might like.” It was Nix’s giant friend, Clutch.

  “How the hell did you find where I lived?” Lincoln asked.

  “You mentioned it to me when you came to look at the Pontiac.”

  I stepped into the hallway and saw Grady and his friend walk past the landing to the front door.

  “No, I didn’t. What the hell is this?” Lincoln was beyond furious.

  My pulse raced as I ran back into the room and grabbed my duffle. I crept down the stairs, confident that my chance was near. Lincoln shut the door but Clutch jammed his foot inside to stop if from closing. Grady’s friend reached for something under his jacket, and I desperately wanted to scream gun.

  Lincoln swung the door back open, and my heart jumped into my throat. Nix and Dray were standing in the doorway. Lincoln had still not seen me behind him. Nix saw me immediately. I frantically pointed to Grady’s friend and held up my hand in the shape of a gun.

  Nix stepped forward. “Scotlyn is coming with me.” His lip had a deep gash, and there was a dark bruise on his jaw.

  Lincoln laughed. “Like hell she is. Now get off my property. I’m calling the police.” He went to shut the door again, but Clutch smacked his hand against it to stop it.

  “Grady, call the police,” Lincoln said without looking back.

  “Yeah, Grady,” Nix said, “you should do that. I need to tell them about how Hammond hired thugs to come kill me.”

  “I don’t know a thing about any thugs,” Lincoln said. “The way you move in on other men’s women, you probably have a lot of people who want to see you dead.”

  “A witness taped the whole thing, especially the part where they mentioned that Lincoln Hammond paid them.”

  “You’re bluffing,” Lincoln said, “they never would have given my name.”

  Grady’s friend moved his arm, and I jumped forward and swung my duffle bag at him from behind. The gun flew from his hand. Clutch saw the weapon arc through the air and charged inside like a buffalo. Lincoln stumbled back into Grady. The gunman lunged for his pistol, but Clutch seized the man’s arm before he could reach it. The nauseating sound of a bone snapping and a cry of pain followed. The man dropped to the ground holding his arm tightly against him.

  Before Lincoln could figure out what was happening, I shot past him and hid behind Nix.

  Dray grinned wickedly at Grady and smacked his knuckles against his palm. “Would you like me to demonstrate what I did to the guys you sent to Freefall?”

  Grady backed up and then ran upstairs to hide.

  Lincoln’s jaw twitched with rage as he looked at me. “Get back in here you whore,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Damn, you are an asshole,” Nix said, and his fist flew into Lincoln’s nose. Lincoln fell back and just missed hitting his head on the custom built banister of his staircase. He swayed as he sat up and wiped at the blood pouring from his nose.

  “And, Hammond, tell that lump of useless flesh you sent to my shop that I did that without a fucking ring on my finger.” Nix spun around, took hold of my hand, and we ran across the lawn to his car. His friends followed to their car.

  “Ah hell, Nix, I didn’t get to hit anyone,” Dray said as they reached Clutch’s car.

  “Sorry about that,” Nix called to him. “Stay away from the Lucy for a few days. I’ll call you when we get there.”

  We climbed into the car and sped off.

  We were halfway to the freeway ramp when Nix finally looked over at me. We were both pumped full of adrenaline and even he was speechless. His chest was heaving up and down with short breaths. I couldn’t hold back a smile and he laughed.

  “Holy shit,” he said. “I told you I was going to take you from him. Of course, you kind of ran from him first but . . .”

  I reached over and lightly touched the cut on his lip.

  “Yeah, there was a minor incident at the shop, but we gave it back to Lincoln’s buddies pretty good.” He pulled his eyes from the road again and looked over at me. “But I’m definitely going to need some serious first aide when we get to Big Bear.”

  I tilted my head in question.

  “Nana has a cabin up in Big Bear. I figured it would be a good place to hide while this blows over.”

  I sat back and thought about the prospect of it blowing over. It seemed unlikely. I leaned down and rummaged through my bag for my paper and pen.

  “I see you were already packed and ready to go,” Nix said.

  I nodded and wrote. “I was going to make a run for it.”

  “Good for you. After seeing those guys at the shop and the two at the house, Hammond is definitely involved in some scary shit.”

  I wrote quickly, and even seeing the words I had a hard time swallowing them. I handed Nix the paper.

  “I was collateral for Lincoln. If he didn’t sell his black market merchandise in time, I was to be shipped south of the border to become the possession of some underground arms dealer.”

  He squinted at the words as if he wasn’t completely sure that he was reading it right. “You’re kidding?”

  I shook my head.

  “That’s unbelievable.” He took hold of my hand. “Something tells me that we haven’t seen the last of him then. If we had more information, we could go to the police and get Hammond locked up.”

  I cleared my throat, and Nix looked over at me.

  I pointed to my temple and winked to assure him that I had what we needed.

  The gold glimmered in his eyes, and he kissed the back of my hand. “So, you are not only beautiful, but you are fucking brilliant too.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Nix

  We’d picked up some groceries at the village store and then headed up the long winding road to the cabin. Some pretty steep drop offs bordered the road, and Scotlyn’s whole body went rigid. I drove as slow as possible, but that didn’t seem to ease her fear.

  “We’ll be there soon,” I said. “The cabin is just a few more miles up the hill. No one is perfect behind the wheel, Scotlyn, but I can tell you that because my dad was a race car driver he had me driving out on the track at a really young age. He had plans for me to get into the business.”

  She forced a smiled and nodded, but again, it did nothing to relieve the tension. She had suffered something so traumatic in a car, the terror of it would no doubt follow her for the rest of her life.

  I was equally relieved when the cabin came into view. It had been built to look like a quaint Swiss chalet tucked into a copse of tall evergreens. Nana had fallen so in love with it, Grandpa bought for her immediately. No one had been up to it since winter, and a layer of pine needles covered the short, gravel driveway.

  Scotlyn got out and looked at it. She pressed her hand against her heart to let me know she loved it.

  “It’s cool, isn’t it? We used to spend all of winter break up here. Nana used to love to sit by the fire and read while we went out snowboarding. Clutch, Dray, and I spent a lot of weekends up here.” I grabbed the bag of food, and we climbed the steps to the front door. I glanced back at her. “I’ve got to warn you, sometimes critters like raccoons get inside when no one has been here for awhile.”

  Her eyes grew wide, and she stepped back as I threw open the front door. Nothing came scurrying or flying out. “There was a bat incident once that scarred my sister for life. She screams if even a moth is flying around her head.”

  The shade surrounding the cabin kept the inside temperature cool even in the heat of summer. “I’ll open some windows so the pine smell can overcome the smell
of dust and mildew.”

  I placed the groceries on the table and started unpacking. The dim light inside was just enough to make sure you didn’t trip over furniture or step on a squirrel’s tail. “The electricity is off because no one comes up here in summer. We’re going to be selling the place soon to pay for Nana’s care. We’ve got some fake electric candles in here somewhere. Nana always worried that real candles would be too dangerous in a wood cabin.”

  Scotlyn walked in and pressed her long, thin body against mine. I lowered the loaf of bread to the table and circled my arms around her. She reached up and touched the gash on my lip. Her face softened with an apologetic frown.

  “It was worth it,” I said. “All of it was worth it.” I leaned down to kiss her but realized my kissing ability had been seriously hampered. “Damn,” I muttered. “I guess I won’t be able to kiss you properly for a few days.”

  She pushed out her bottom lip in disappointment.

  “Of course—” I reached for her t-shirt and lifted it over her head. I gazed down at the curves of her breasts and ran my thumb over the bare skin. My fingers reached down and slid open the clasp and her bra slid off her shoulders. Her breath came in short spurts. “There is plenty we can do without kissing.” I reached down and unbuttoned her shorts. She pushed off her shoes and the shorts dropped to the ground. Her arms circled my neck, and I lifted her and her legs circled my waist. I carried her into the bedroom.

  ***

  A soft sound woke me, and I looked over at Scotlyn. I’d left several of the electric candles on in the front room, otherwise the lack of city and street lights made the cabin pitch dark at night. Scotlyn’s long blonde hair cascaded over the pillow, shimmering in the dim glow of the fake candles. She turned over abruptly with a soft moan and then she turned back on her other side. She was fast asleep but seemed to be having a bad dream. I contemplated waking her but then she seemed to relax again.

  A loud cricket had found its way into the bedroom, and I listened to it as I tried to figure out what to do next. Scotlyn seemed to have information that could cause Lincoln a lot of trouble, and that seemed to be out safest way out. Now that we’d learned just how dangerous he truly was, we needed to be rid of the man completely.

  Scotlyn jumped a little and then she turned over again. I reached over to touch her shoulder just as she screamed out, “Catch me, Nix.” And then she sat up with a start.

  I sat up too, completely stunned and not entirely sure of what had just happened. Scotlyn’s wide blue eyes blinked at me and then she tucked herself against me. It was hard to know if she knew or not. She was silent now though.

  “You talked,” I said quietly.

  She peered up at me with a look that told me she’d had no idea. She leaned away from me and looked at me as if I was crazy.

  “You cried out while you were sleeping. It was you. It was your voice. You said catch me, Nix.”

  Even in the fragile light, I could see her face grow pale. She slid her legs over the side of the bed and reached for her paper and pen. “I was dreaming that I was falling off a balcony and you were below to catch me.”

  “You talked, Scotlyn. You said my name.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Scotlyn

  The early morning air in the cabin was cold, and I got up and threw on Nix’s t-shirt. It stopped just below my bottom. My stomach growled with hunger. The floor boards were equally cold as I tiptoed to the kitchen. I grabbed a box of crackers and returned to the bedroom. Nix was still sleeping.

  After my bad dream, and my sleep talking incident, we’d both been too wound up to sleep. Which worked out well. For the first time in my life, I wanted a man to touch me, and I could not get enough of Nix. Even watching him now with just a thin sheet draped over his hips and his naked chest rising and falling with each breath, I wanted to climb back in bed with him and start all over again.

  There was a sliding glass door that led to a small balcony. I slid it open and fresh but frigid mountain air struck me. I stared down at the ground below. There was a steep slope that eventually met up with a dirt road. The next cabin was a good distance away, and I could only see the top of its roof. What a great place to hide. In the bad dream, I’d been standing on the balcony of Lincoln’s bedroom looking down. Nix had been standing below with his arms held wide. I remembered the sensation of falling as I climbed over the wall of the balcony and jumped. In my mind, I’d called to Nix to catch me, but I had not heard the words spoken aloud. I wished that I had.

  A chattering noise in the tree caught my attention. A gray squirrel poked its head out of the branches and then it brazenly walked onto the balcony. It stared unabashedly up at my cracker. I tossed it a piece. The squirrel grabbed it up with its paws and ran off.

  “That’s Scooter,” Nix called from the bed. “He is the local beggar, and his methods are very effective.” Nix climbed out of bed and walked stark naked out onto the balcony. He reached for the box of crackers and took one out. “By the way, you look incredibly hot in that t-shirt.”

  My arms went around him, and he dropped the box of crackers.

  “I was thinking,” his words caught in his throat as my mouth trailed along the ridges of his chest muscles. “If— if you want—” My lips moved along the lines of his hard stomach. “We— could go to the lake,” he managed to say, but his breathing overtook his ability to speak as my mouth explored every inch of him. The cool breeze floated up beneath the t-shirt as I took him in to my hand.

  “To hell with the lake,” he said hoarsely.

  ***

  We’d finally had enough self-control to shower and get completely dressed without falling back into bed. We’d worked up huge appetites and decided to head down to the village for breakfast. We were certain that Lincoln could not have tracked us down so quickly. I grabbed my paper pad, and we climbed into the Mustang.

  Nix started the car. “I was thinking, we should just go to the police with the information you have on Lincoln. Once he gets tied up in legal troubles, I think he’ll leave you alone.” He glanced over at me. “What do you think?”

  I still had that horrible sinking feeling that something drastic would have to happen for Lincoln to leave me alone, especially now that he had tied me to his business deal. “I guess we could try,” I wrote. “I know where their black market merchandise is stored, but I’m not completely sure it will be enough. Rich men always seem to find their way out of trouble, and Lincoln is especially good at it.”

  Nix pulled the car out of the driveway, and I sucked in a big breath.

  “Sorry about the winding road,” he said, “there is no other way out of here. I’ll take it slow.”

  “It is so beautiful up here,” I wrote. He pulled his eyes off the road for only a second to read it.

  “Yeah, I could stay up here forever.” He smiled. “With you . . . naked. We could just stop to come up for air and an occasional meal.”

  I rolled my eyes, but truthfully, it sounded like a heavenly plan. The freedom I felt at being away from Lincoln’s control and out in the world to start a life felt dreamlike. For so long, I hadn’t really cared what my future would be like. When I’d pictured it, it was always bleak and lonely no matter what the scenario. But now, being with Nix, I’d realized that with a little effort and desire, I could be happy again. I could have a life with laughter again. I could love someone and have them love me back.

  We turned a blind curve, and another car nearly collided with us. I gasped in horror, but it was not from the near miss. Nix stared up into his rear view. “He’s turning around. Damn he’s good. I thought it would take a few days for him to find us.” Nix didn’t sound all that worried, but my heart was beating fast.

  “Sorry about this,” Nix said, and his foot pressed down on the gas pedal. He kept an eye on the rear view and the curve in the road. I clutched the seat edges with my fingers, but I realized I trusted Nix a lot more than I had ever trusted Lincoln.

  The car tires shrieked as we sped a
round each curve. I finally gathered the courage to glance back. Lincoln’s Porsche was catching up to us. He was alone in the car.

  “Once we get to the highway, I’m sure I can lose him,” Nix said. “Or should we stop and confront him?”

  I shook my head and held up my fake finger gun.

  “I forgot about the guns.” Nix looked up in the mirror. “For a Porsche driver, he sure doesn’t have much skill on this winding road.”

  My throat had gone dry, and I swallowed hard trying to get a grip on my fear. At this point, I was more worried about the madman chasing us than the wild ride down the road.

  An oncoming car laid on its horn as we sped past. “It’s a good thing there isn’t much traffic up here,” Nix said as he looked up into his mirror and then his face snapped back up. “Holy crap, where did he go?”

  I leaned forward and looked out the side window. The Porsche was gone, but a plume of dust rose from below the road. I sucked in a breath and grabbed Nix’s arm.

  “Did he go over the side?”

  I nodded frantically. Nix didn’t slow down at first. I tugged his arm to stop.

  He pulled over to the side and flipped a U-turn. We drove back up the road to where black tire marks veered off into wilderness. The nightmare of my family’s accident was coming back to me in shards of terror.

  Nix and I hopped out of the car. He was on the phone to the emergency services. My hand flew over my mouth to block my silent scream. The car was upside down at the bottom of a small ravine, and the only signs of life were the birds that’d flown down to the wreck out of curiosity.

  Nix slid down halfway. The incline was sharp, and he had a hard time staying upright. “Hammond,” he yelled. “Hammond, are you alive?”

  I sat down on my bottom and scooted down partway. Nix turned around and put up his hand to stop me. “Stay there. I see some fluid draining out the back, and the whole car might blow.”