My hands clutched Mia’s hips, whirling her around to face me. I held her face in my hands, and she said nothing with glassy golden eyes. Naturally, my body leaned into hers, pinning her to the counter, and I closed my eyes to inhale through my nose. The distinct aroma of jasmine after it rained, and I ingrained it into my soul.
I tucked the strand behind her ear before kissing her, my lips latching on to hers, and my mouth moved softer, my tongue grazed slower, and my lips sucked harder, holding on for longer than I should have before reluctantly pulling away. Our noses brushed before our foreheads connected. “I’ll always be in love with you, Mia,” I said, grazing my thumbs over her cheeks and down her pouty lip. “Remember your promise?”
“Don’t wait up for you,” she whispered, and I nodded against her. Mia released a breath and wrapped her arms around my waist above the weapon, not noticing. “Do you remember your promise to me?” she asked, blinking up to me.
“You’re not losing me,” I lied, because it was the only way, and pressed my lips against her forehead before leaving her arms to head toward the door, my heart warning me.
“Hey, Ollie,” she called out once my hand landed on the doorknob, and I froze by the sound of my name upon her lips. I didn’t turn back around, I mentally couldn’t do it, and her voice traveled between us. “I love you too.”
I’d called Dex on my way to Thurrock, and he went over the details before sending the address to my phone. The meeting would take place in two hours at a storehouse ten minutes away from the scaffolds I’d climbed as a kid. With time in my favor, I sent a quick text to Adrian to meet me at the same location we’d burned the drugs after the BOGs raid, which seemed like lifetimes ago.
Adrian’s two-toned Civic idled beside the large building, and I parked beside him before opening the glove box for a cigarette. My eyes landed on Mia’s Christmas gift sitting inside, and all the muscles in my body flexed, my knee bouncing. After a few pounds of my heart, I swiped the pack, slammed the glove box shut, and joined Adrian by the barrel.
With a quick shake and pat on the back, we lit up.
It was silent between us at first, and I dragged in the smoke until the burn hit my lungs as we both stared off into the abyss of nothingness. The moon loomed overhead, the night too peaceful, too calm for what was about to go down. My thoughts had tangled into a holy mess of Mia, and if I didn’t say something now, I’d probably lose it. “Remember when we came here after the raid?”
“Yeah, mate,” Adrian threw his head back and chuckled lightly, “I thought you’d reached nutter status after burning the BOGs drugs and filthy lucre.”
I flicked the cigarette butt, and ash floated to my boot. “Besides, I didn’t.”
In my peripheral, Adrian cocked his head. “What do you mean? I watched you do it.”
Shaking my head, a thin layer of smoke seeped from my mouth and mixed with the cold air. “You only saw what I wanted you to see,” I pointed out, pulling the cigarette back to my mouth and walking the few long strides behind the station wagon.
Adrian followed, and I shoved the key inside the lock of the trunk until it clicked and popped open. Lifting the floorboard, colorful heaps of banded money rested in the cracks, and Adrian’s young features lit up with a cackle. “Are you fucking kidding me,” he turned to face me, and I lifted my hand over the top of the trunk hood and leaned in, “that has to be at least ten grand sitting there.”
“It’s thirty,” I corrected.
Which was pocket money to the hoarder in me. Mia would be all right. I’d made certain of it. I’d spent this past week going over the finances, and there was enough to where Mia would be taken care of for the rest of her life. And it was true, I never expected to be the one-hit-wonder poet, but I’d finished my second manuscript in the nightstand along with the letter. Mia would have the choice of either handing it over to Laurie to share with the world or cherish it for herself. It may even be worth more once I was a goner. Either way, it had always been the two of us who blended onto every page and word, poetically making love to her for eternity.
“I need you to do something for me, mate.” The sincerity in my voice seized his attention. “It’s important to me.”
Adrian tilted his head and crossed his arms. “Yeah, Oliver. Anything. You know I’m good for my word, and you’re my boy. I’m loyal to you, always have been.”
“I’m going to text you an address once I leave, and I need you to take the money in the black bags and deposit them on the doorstep of the house. It’s already split up.” The drop off for the Burn’s family. I wished I could do more for the family.
“What about the rest of it?”
“The rest is yours.” My arm dropped from the trunk, and I flicked the cigarette over the cracked concrete. “I had every intention of getting you out from under the Links, and it may not be enough to take care of you forever, but it’s a bloody start. You’re a good man, Adrian. And I promise, there’s so much more out there. This world is too fucking beautiful to be spending your days drowning in drugs, cheap liquor, and meaningless sex. Don’t waste it, A.”
Adrian rubbed his palm over the top of his buzzed head before gripping the back of his neck. “I don’t understand.” He shook his head, big brown eyes trying to read me. “What about you? What about Ghost?”
“It’ll be all right,” I reassured him. “I’m trusting you’ll do this for me then?”
“Yeah, of course.”
For the following five minutes, we got to work loading his car, and after finishing, I cut our goodbye short and slid into the station wagon with a few minutes left to spare. Adrian drove past me, and I shoved another cigarette in my mouth and opened the glove box to swipe Mia’s gift. My fingers shook as they creased the lines of the tattered paper, making it perfect.
Instead of pulling up to the front of the storehouse, I drove around the back. Though this was a business deal, men such as Ghost wouldn’t let anyone pass through the front doors without being patted and checked for weapons or wires. I had to find a way to get my gun inside unnoticed, and most of the exits wouldn’t open from the outside.
A harsh wind stung my eyes as I tried the last door without any luck. Only a single street lamp buzzed about a quarter of a mile away, giving me little to no light. I took a step back and glanced down the side of the building. Three doors aligned, and I could only leave my weapon out in front of one of them. If I chose wrong, this entire plan would burn.
I laid the gun flat against the brick wall at door number three, left the car behind the building, and walked back toward the front with my hands shoved deep into my pockets and anxiety at an all-time high. Earlier, I’d given Dex my own instructions on how this was going to go without Leigh. Ghost was under the impression he’d pay half now before we’d meet once more to deliver a locked-up virgin. Ghost was under the impression this was just another business deal.
But it wasn’t.
We were both dying tonight.
A few men greeted me at the entrance, and one patted me down and checked under my hoodie for wires. “I’m clean, mate,” I reassured, scanning the inside of the storehouse. Numerous storage units with bright blue doors lined the halls of the compound, a few opened, but couldn’t see what was hidden inside at this angle.
“You’re late,” he growled. “Where’s your mot?”
The beefy man’s neck was thick, blue veins popping beneath his flesh—fifty pounds of face, and probably a heavier liver. If one couldn’t tell by the blondish-red hair or icy blue eyes, the accent would’ve given him away, an Irish fellow who was a long way from home.
“You don’t bring the present to the party unless you want someone to open it,” I said with a grin. The chap narrowed his eyes, and I shook my head. “The exchange isn’t happening until I get my first payment, let’s not pretend we don’t know how this works.”
The Irish man looked over at another bloke. “The boyo’s a real chancer, ya? Let’s get on with it.” He nudged his head, and I fol
lowed him down the line of storage units to the back, his mate close behind me.
My eyes flicked into storage rooms as we passed, stacks of containers in some while men lifted, carried, and organized whatever was inside. In other units, women young and old shuffled through clothes hanging from free standing closets, wearing an emptiness in their eyes, and skimpy outfits.
And my feet kept moving until we reached the end of the line, where the hallway broke off into two opposite directions. Three offices laid out before me, and to my horror, Irish man made a left when I’d been counting on him to make a right. Rooted in place, he turned back to face me. “Something the matter?”
I forced a step forward. “No, all good.”
We stopped in front of the door, and the Irish man was quick to open and usher me inside with a gesture of his hand. “It’ll be a while. In the meantime, sit, and enjoy the entertainment on Ghost,” he emphasized with humor in his tone.
I took a step inside the room, the door shut behind me, and I halted in place when a familiar face stared back at me from against the desk. Utter chaos swam inside her dark brazen eyes. “Mum?” my voice hiked.
“Oliver,” she rushed out, yanking me away from the door and in front of her. My eyes darted around the bare room for answers as she gripped my hand, “We don’t have time. You have to listen to me—”
“What the fuck is going on?” Words left me, but I couldn’t hear them, and I jerked my arm away and took a step back as her expression softened. My heart hammered inside my ears, and I clenched my jaw as I tried to make sense of it all. “Did Dex fucking send you? Of all people, he sent my mum to make sure I killed him? Or did you want to see me die? Has the last twenty fucking years of torture not pleased you enough?” I shouted through a whisper and turned and pushed my nervous hand through my hair before grasping it. “No, you have to fucking go.” My hand hit the doorknob.
“Oliver, stop!” her stringy blonde hair smacked her cheek as she jumped out in front of me. Her hand squeezed my bicep, and I flinched.
I looked down at her hand and back into the terror in her eyes. “Don’t fucking touch me,” I seethed, walking her backward into the wall and dug my finger into my chest. “You don’t have the right to touch me, to talk to me, to fucking watch me die. You lost your bloody rights.”
“I know, Oliver,” she cried. “I was a terrible mum. The truth is, I never deserved you.”
“I don’t have time for this,” I shook my head, then looked around the room for something to keep the door open to retrieve the gun lying on the opposite side of the building. Ghost would walk through that door any second.
“No, listen to me,” she cried, following my erratic pacing. “I got clean, baby. And once I got clean, I could finally think clearly! You can’t do this, Oliver! If by some miracle, you made it out of here alive, it’s not over. He planned to kill you all along,” she frantically rambled.
I whipped around. Time was ticking, the rage was building, and my hand shook as I vigorously tapped the side of my head. “You don’t think I fucking know that?”
“No, you don’t know everything!” she cried out.
“I have two seconds before they get here, and you had twenty fucking years to make it up to me!” I whisper-shouted inches from her face, my teeth clenching.
Mum’s shoulders sank, and she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Let me do this for you. After everything I’ve put you through, let me be a mum for once. Let me do this.”
“No,” I shook my head, vision blurring as I took off my boot to wedge in the backdoor. “they’ll kill you. I’ve already accepted my fate.” I whipped around and reached for the back door.
“It was Dex who ordered Leigh to kill Mia to make sure you’d go through with this.”
I paused and turned around.
That couldn’t be right. I’d known girls like Leigh before. “No, Leigh was jealous of Mia.”
“No, Oliver. Leigh would’ve done anything for Dex. She would’ve done anything to feel a part of something, to feel a part of a family. Who knows if Dex would ever leave Mia alone. And you can’t do this, Oliver. Mia needs you. The baby will need you.”
I froze.
My lungs froze.
My chest froze.
I couldn’t think.
“What?” I whispered, my head slowly shaking and my eyes squinting, unsure if I heard her right. I couldn’t have heard her correctly, but my heart must have. Hard and heavy hits slammed inside my chest, an extra skip than before.
It was loud and eternal, Ba-dub. Ba-dub. Ba-dub …
“Mia’s pregnant,” she blurted, and tears froze in my eyes. “I saw her four weeks ago. She had that glow about her, one only a mum could see. I’ll never forget that look in her eyes, Oliver. If you do this, you’re not only risking Mia’s life. You’ll risk your babies too. Who knows what Dex would do once you’re dead.”
As soon as she said that, the door opened, and everything that followed seemed to happen so fast in slow motion.
A tall man in a suit took one step into the room when Mum pulled a gun from under her skirt, pointed it at his head, and pulled the trigger. A thunderous Bang! pierced my eardrums as the man collapsed to the ground. A ringing ruptured in my ears, my hearing temporarily impaired, and my eyes darted around when Mum’s lips moved, “RUN!”
Two men launched forward over Ghost’s body, and I turned and ran for the exit as another shot rang out, whistling past me.
I’d made it through the door, the cold wind slammed against my face, turning my tears to ice when Adrian’s Civic pulled up with the window rolled down. “Get in,” he shouted, and I quickly rounded the car and slid in just when open gunfire blasted from inside the building, one right after the other, each one ripping my heart to shreds knowing Mum was inside.
I’d left her there.
Mum was dead, and I’d left her there.
My palms pressed against my ears as I screamed out, and Adrian peeled out, tires sliding and asphalt spraying.
What have I done?
I pounded over the dashboard, my anger ripping through me.
“Mia needs you. The baby needs you,” Mum’s paralyzing words replayed, and I ran my palms up and down my heated face as Adrian sped through the alleyway, but the fury only fueled the malicious thoughts pulsing inside my head.
I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out Mia’s Christmas gift, creasing the paper over and over with trembling hands in a rage-filled daze.
It would never be fucking over. My family would never be safe.
Not as long as Dex was alive.
“Adrian,” I fumed, and cocked my head to face him. “Take me to Dex.”
Adrian sped through the run-down streets of Thurrock to Dex’s house, and I couldn’t stop the rage flaring up inside me. My hands shook, eager to wrap around his throat and steal every bit of life he threatened to take from me. My jaw clenched, holding back from tearing Adrian’s arse apart for not going fast enough. And my chest and lungs burned from holding back the Saint trying to talk sense into me. Bitch, It’s not your fucking turn.
My knee bounced at an impossible speed. My ears still rang from the same shots that took Mum’s life. I gave up trying to calm myself down a long time ago. Dex had sent Leigh to kill my wife—my baby. Sweat and infuriated tears poured down my face in the dead of winter. I couldn’t feel the cold. I couldn’t feel anything aside from the madness. My clenched fist pounded over the middle console. “Hurry the fuck up,” I screamed out.
Adrian jumped at my side and gripped the steering wheel. “You need to think about this. Stop for a second, and think about what you’re about to do.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Don’t fucking question me.”
“What the bloody hell are you going to do?”
I’m going to crack the world open and swallow them whole.
I’m killing them all.
The Honda hopped the curb, and before Adrian had a chance to come to a complete stop, I
jerked open the car door and jumped out.
Flames. Red, yellow, and searing orange flames blazed through my hazy sights as I sprinted up to the house and through the door with no weapon, no gun, only me. Vengeful, enraged, and on the warpath, anger ripped me open and controlled me. My emotions turned into ammunition, and at this point, I wondered if I cut my own flesh, if I’d still bleed because the power roaring inside me made me believe I was invincible.
And if I’d die tonight, perhaps my immortal anger would bring me back to life.
Three men lounged in the living room when I’d busted through the door, none of them expecting me.
Dex jumped from the couch, and his smile quickly faded when his confused eyes locked with mine. Smith stood beside him, eyes bouncing between Dex and me, and I picked up the small telly over the three-legged table and pitched it across the room and into the side of Smith’s thick skull, and he instantly went limp and fell over the couch.
Dex’s eyes widened as he reached behind him for his gun, and I flipped up the coffee table into his face just as the gun went off, the bullet punching a hole through the ceiling. The sound of the gunshot couldn’t affect me. Nothing could throw me off. Not until all three of them were dead.
The single thought of her kept my mind racing, my feet moving forward, and my reactions moving quicker. The third bloke took off to the kitchen where his gun sat over the fridge, and Dex pushed the table against my chest, shouting vulgar threats. I gripped the edge of the table and threw it against the wall, and a window shattered.
Dex threw a punch, but I dodged his fist and landed mine into his jaw. He fell back against the couch, and I snatched the dropped gun from the floor and snapped up, pointing it at the runaway bloke’s back.
It all happened so fast.
A bloodcurdling scream shot up from my pained heart, and I pulled the trigger, again and again, firing at his back. The color of red stained my vision as blood sprayed over the white fridge, and the bloke dropped to the ground, head bouncing off the tile.
Now Open Your Eyes (Stay With Me series Book 3) Page 33