“Did you tell him?”
“Yeah.” I chuckle at her enthusiasm. “I told him.”
“Good.” She claps, jumping up and down on the spot. “This is so awesome! I wish he could see it.” She frowns.
“I’ll record it and show him,” I tell her and can’t help but laugh when she jumps up and down again, her face covered in possibly the biggest grin I’ve ever seen.
Hooking her arm through mine, she leads me back over to the bar and sits on a stool, tapping the one next to her to indicate for me to sit down.
“So you talked?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t for long though.” I shrug, biting my lip.
“Never is,” she says, looking off into the distance at nothing in particular.
“J?” I ask, putting my hand on her arm softly as to not spook her, her eyes are glassed over and I can see that she’s caught up in memories.
“Huh? Oh, sorry.” She shakes her head and laughs at herself, although she’s clearly trying to clear her mind and brush it off as nothing. “What was I saying?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her and when she goes to say something, I try to change the subject. “So... this band any good?”
“Yeah.” She claps her hands together again, the excitement back full force. “They’re just gigging at the moment but I swear, they’re going to be huge.” Her hands wave about as she’s talking and she turns when one of them calls her name. “Better go.” she winks and jumps down off the stool.
I look around at the packed bar and start to feel my nerves going haywire. I need to step away, gain control and then come back out. Lifting up off the stool, I tilt my head to the ‘staff only’ door when Jackson looks over at me and I start to push through it, heading straight for the office.
Stepping inside the big space, I walk straight to the big chair and sit down on it, spinning around looking at all the photos that Corey has put in here. I spot one on the desk and I reach forward, picking it up and snorting at the picture.
It’s one of me and him, lying together on the sand at the lake, both pulling funny faces.
“Ava?” I jump at the deep voice and nearly drop the photo.
“What are you doing in here?” I ask, looking around.
“I just want to talk... to explain...” Shaking my head, I place the photo down gently on the desk and stand up.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I grit out, not moving from my spot behind the desk.
“You don’t understand, Ava, I didn’t know about you until a few months ago. I searched for you as soon as I found out but when I found you, you looked so happy that I didn’t want to rock the boat-”
“Happy?” I snort. This is unbelievable.
“Yeah.” He nods his head, stepping closer. “I just wanted to get to know you.”
“Yeah?” I ask. “Why didn’t you tell me right away then?”
“I was going to, that day, before your boyfriend turned up.”
I go to open my mouth to say something but he cuts me off.
“It’s my fault he found you.”
“What?” I whisper.
“Dad, he was coming to me for some money again and then he saw you. I swear, Ava, I didn’t want to lead him to you. I know you have a restraining order on him.”
“How-”
“I looked into you,” he says, looking down at the floor and shuffling his feet. “He’s blackmailing me too.”
I stare with wide eyes, not knowing what to say to him. Where the hell do I go from here?
“Look,” I say, stepping forward. “I really-”
“Ava? You in here?” Jackson shouts.
“Shit.” I look up to Thomas and can see the panic on his face. It’s obvious that he knows a lot about me if he’s panicking about Jackson. “Just stay here,” I say, holding my hand up to him.
I make it to the door and pull it open, just as Jackson is about to push through it. “Hey.” I smile. “The band almost ready?”
“Yeah.” He grins. “Let’s go and get our rock on!”
“Not you too! I’ve already told Jess, they’re not a rock band.” I roll my eyes as he throws his arm over my shoulders, my eyes veering back to the office door and catching site of Thomas as he watches us walk away.
I pace back and forth as I wait for him to call me back.
It’s taken me days to come up with this plan. At first, I considered going and speaking to him face to face but that wouldn’t have worked.
I know that my face can give me away easily so he would have known as soon as he saw me that something was up, over the phone is the only way I’m going to be able to do this.
I go over and over it in my head. This has to work; it just has to because I can’t see any other way to get this money.
My breaths start to come faster and heavier as my cell vibrates and his name lights up the screen.
You can do this, Ava. You can do this.
“Hey,” I answer, trying to put a cheery note in my voice. Breezy, be breezy.
Chewing on my lip as I wait for him to reply, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. Maybe I should just tell him what has been happening? This could all be over then but that little voice in the back of my mind tells me that it won’t be over. If anything, I could be making it worse by telling Charlie.
“Ava,” his deep voice comes over the line. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” Liar. “Erm... I was wondering if I could talk to you about that fund that I have?”
The line is silent for several beats before I hear him clear his throat and say, “Yeah? What about it?”
“Well...” I take a deep breath. “Would I be able to have some of it?”
I pick at my nails as I wait for him to answer me and he’s silent for so long that I think he’s just going to outright say no but he doesn’t, instead he asks, “What do you want it for?”
“Well...” I say, chewing on my lip and taking a deep breath. “I’m sick and tired of having to rely on Jackson to be able to come home, I want to get my own car.”
“You know I’ll get you one, Ava. You don’t need to spend that money on something I can get you.”
“Yeah, but-”
“Does Corey know you want to buy a car?” he interrupts and I can feel my patience starting to wear thin.
“It doesn’t matter if Corey knows or not. I want to do this on my own. I want to be able to buy my own car and choose what one I want and then be able to come back home anytime I feel like it.”
I breathe heavier, my energy spent from having to lie to Charlie. I hate doing it but I really can’t see any other way to get this money. The only other thing I can do is runaway and hope that he doesn’t find me again.
He found me this time though and knowing that he has a restraining order that didn’t keep him away doesn’t bode well for me. At least here I have people to turn to. If I run away, I’ll have nothing and no one.
“Okay.” his heavy breathing comes over the line. “Have you seen the car that you want?
“Erm... yeah?”
“You sure about that?” He chuckles and I start to relax at the sound. I know when Charlie is going to give in because his voice changes and he sounds way more relaxed.
“Well... I don’t know the make but...”
“To be honest, I was thinking of signing it all over to you early anyway.”
I frown at the floor, not sure how I feel about him signing it all over to me, but I don’t have a choice but to take it all, at least this way if anything goes bad then I know I can escape and I’ll have money to do that with.
“Are you sure?” I whisper.
“Yeah, I mean... you’re so much better now, right?” I nod even though he can’t see me, the movement making me nearly drop the cell. “It’s all yours anyway.”
“Okay.”
“When do you want it for? I’ll come and get the car with you.”
“No!” I close my eyes and curse myself for shouting. “What I mean is... I want to do this
on my own. If you can just transfer it over, that would be great.”
“Erm... okay... I’ll go to the bank and do it tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” I say upbeat. “Ahh... I need to go, I have another call and it could be Corey. Thanks, Charlie!”
I press the end call button before he can answer me and throw myself back on the couch, glad that I have that sorted and I don’t have to worry about it.
Now all I need to do is tell my dad I have the money.
My finger rests beside the trigger as I breathe in slowly and look down the scope. I keep my body perfectly still, nothing but the shallow breaths making my chest move up and down slightly.
I’m here as back up, the last resort, it should sadden me that nine times out of ten I have to pull the trigger but it doesn’t. I’ve learned to lock it away into a box of its own and it’s sealed firmly shut.
Nothing and nobody is getting into that box.
I watch as he walks into the middle of a crowd and looks around, searching for something.
I grit my teeth at how many people are around, knowing that if this goes bad that there will be a shit storm heading our way.
“I have eyes on the target,” I say through my ear piece.
I get the confirmation that the rest of the team do too and I watch as he goes further into the crowd and then starts to push his way to the front, pulling his cell out and looking around frantically.
He disappears from my view and I stand up, grabbing my sniper rifle and running across the roof that I’m on to the other side, keeping as low as possible so that no one spots me.
“He’s on the move,” one of the guys says, the line rustling from where he’s running.
“Where’s he headed?” I ask, searching the perimeter of the roof, looking everywhere for him.
I spot a figure rounding the corner and duck down, not wanting him to see me.
“Corner on Shepard,” I say through the ear piece as I get down into position, setting my rifle up again. I relax my breathing and center my core, taking a small breath and focusing.
Looking through the scope, I follow him.
“What’s he doing?” I whisper to myself.
He looks around in the alley that he’s in and leans against the wall, pushing down into a crouching position. Gripping his head in his hands, he says something over and over again, getting louder the more he talks.
My stomach swirls with an uneasy feeling. Something isn’t right here, something hasn’t been right since we started this mission.
He looks directly at me and I go to duck but the look in his eyes as they meet mine has me keeping still. He mouths something to me but I can’t make out what he’s saying and he shakes his head frantically and starts screaming, “I’m sorry!”
I shake my head, my brows coming together in a frown, trying to work out why he’s sorry. I’m so consumed with why he’s apologizing that I don’t see the gun he’s holding until it’s too late and he’s shoots it. He shot himself.
“Fuck!” I shout, jumping up and getting a grip on my rifle, running for the roof door. I pull it open, running down the stairs, jumping the last four steps on every set to try and get down as fast as I can.
I make it out of the emergency exit and run to the alley. I’m the first one there and I have to divert my eyes from the scene in front of me.
It’s one thing me having to shoot people when I don’t have an option but to see someone do this to themselves makes me sick to my stomach.
A car speeds into the alley and brakes hard. The passenger door flies open and Daley jumps out, his face red and angry as he looks at the guy lying half against the wall and half against the ground.
“What the hell happened?” he grits out.
“He shot himself,” I say, stating the obvious.
“I can fucking see that!” He starts to pace in front of me, mumbling to himself as he rubs his temples. “This isn’t good, it’s not good at all.”
I stand here and watch him freaking out as I tilt my head to two of the guys. “Cover him up.” They nod and open the back of the car and pull out something to cover him with.
“Explain,” Daley says, coming to stand right in front of me, his face the angriest I’ve ever seen.
I start to tell him what happened and he looks as confused as I feel when I say he apologized. He walks over to the where his body is and opens his backpack. I hold up my hand, about to tell him not to open it when he shakes his head and swears under his breath.
“It’s a fucking brick!”
“What?” Moving closer, I lean down and pull the bag open more. “What the fuck?”
“Something isn’t right here... we’re missing something.”
I nod in agreement, the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach’s just gotten even worse.
I push through the doors to the bar with Daley and all the guys following me. I’m glad that it’s Wednesday because it’s our quietest day and all I want is to have a beer and shoot the shit with the guys. Daley told us that we’re going to be based in the states now and that we all need to be near each other so that he can call on us at a moment’s notice.
I don’t like that he thinks we can just drop everything when he says but it’s the job and there really isn’t anything I can do about it.
“You’re home!” J shouts from the bar and jumps down, running at me.
Her arms fly around my neck and I wrap my arms around her and give her a good squeeze.
“Yeah,” I say, pulling back and nodding at Jackson who’s behind the bar.
“This your girl?” Chad asks from beside me.
I normally keep my personal life just that, personal, but as we will be working together over here then it’s a little different. We’ll be based here so they would all meet her anyway so on the way back I told them a little about me, just as they did about themselves.
Daley of course knew everything anyway.
“No.” I shake my head and walk to the bar. “This is Jamie. Where’s Ava?” I direct to Jackson, knowing that he’s the one who’s most likely to know where she is.
“Dunno, haven’t spoken to her since Friday. Charlie said he spoke to her on Sunday though.” I frown, wondering why she hasn’t spoken to Jackson. She’s always messaging him.
Pulling out my cell, I scroll to her name and press the call button. “Straight to voicemail,” I say, shaking my head and pushing off the bar. “I’ll check if she’s at mine.”
“She’s not.” J stops me with a hand on my arm. “I just came past there on my way here, I’m sure she’s on her way. Send her a message to tell her you’re home. She might be at work.”
I nod, even though I know she doesn’t work Wednesdays but she may have picked up someone else’s shift so I sit down on the barstool and signal Jackson to get me a beer.
“Ugh, you brought him back with you?” J sneers and looks over at the door. I smirk at how she reacts to Daley and turn to face him, seeing his eyes zone in on J and then divert to me.
Turning to the guys, we start to talk about the plan from here and what we’re going to do. I told them they could bunk at mine until we find something more permanent which Daley said shouldn’t take too long.
How the hell five of us were going to get on staying in a two bed apartment was anyone’s guess. We’d make it work though.
“Scotch,” Daley says, coming to stand next to me.
Jackson waits with his hands on the bar and his brow raised. “Forgetting something?”
“Please.” Daley smirks and rolls his eyes but I notice them drift back over to J.
“No, Ava?” he asks, turning his eyes to me and picking his glass up when Jackson puts it down in front of him.
“Not yet, she’ll be here soon,” I say and shoot her a message.
The little tick doesn’t show that it’s sent but I think nothing of it and turn to Chad, trying to distract myself from getting into my car and going to find her.
Now that I’m back in the same
town, all I want to do is touch her, feel her and see her. Damn, just thinking about her gets me all hot and bothered.
Staring at the bag that contains a lot of stacks of notes, I shake my head and wonder for the millionth time if I’m doing the right thing. I could do so much with this money but instead it’s going to someone who doesn’t appreciate me bailing them out. I mean, he’s blackmailing me so it really does show how much of an evil person he is.
Pressing the button to light up the screen on my cell, I take a deep breath and zip the bag up.
I check that I have Corey’s gun in the waistband of my jeans and feel relieved at having something to protect myself with.
I don’t intend to use it but knowing it’s there makes me feel safer. After having numerous nightmares about what could happen if someone found out I was carrying this much money around with me, I decided it was better for me to have something to protect myself with.
I take a cab to the place that he said to meet. I tried to tell him that we should do it somewhere closer to me because I didn’t want to carry this amount of money around with me for so long, but he wouldn’t budge so now I’m heading to the other side of town.
Stepping out of the cab, I squint my eyes in the darkness and walk down to the bar called ‘Jessie’s’ where he said he’d meet me.
My feet shuffle on the spot, my nerves going haywire the longer I have to wait.
I spot a figure in the distance, swerving from side to side and I know that it’s him.
“Come on,” he slurs and waves his hand when he’s closer. I hesitate for a second and look around me.
“Why?” I ask, not sure I want to go anywhere that I can’t be seen.
“I’m not doing this here, girl,” he sneers. “Now get!”
I huff and move towards him, swerving away from him when he tries to grab my arm. Walking a step behind him, I follow him down the sidewalk and around the corner.
Then he walks into an alley.
“I’m not going in there,” I say and shake my head. I can’t see past the opening, it’s that dark in there. My hands start to shake and I just know that this isn’t going to go well.
Walk away Ava. Walk. Away.
Flying Free Page 19