by M. M. Koenig
“I’m going with you,” Jackson demanded.
Wade opened his mouth to argue, but Trey shoved him so hard that he flew into the truck. Trey held his hand up for Wade to stay out of it. He cursed and got into the truck. Trey put an arm on Jackson’s shoulder. “No, you need to stay here. Someone has to answer the questions the cops are going to have, and keep tabs on Shane and Jayden.”
Jackson went between Trey and me with more sorrow on his face than I’d ever seen before. I couldn’t stop my tears from falling. I shuffled over to him and rested a hand on his other shoulder. “Trey’s right. Keep us posted on them,” I said in between sniffles.
Trey gave Jackson a no-nonsense look as he got into the truck. I looked away from the defeat spreading across Jackson’s face. He grabbed my chin to force me to endure more of what was something I’d never be able to apologize for. His brother was in bad shape because of me.
“You should stay with me. Then, you’re safe. Trey and Wade can meet the others,” Jackson said in a desperate whisper. His grip on my face strengthened with each word.
I loosened his hold, grabbed his hand with both of mine, and gave it a tight squeeze before letting it go. “I can’t stay here. Wherever I am, people are sure to be searching. I won’t bring you any more pain than I already have tonight. I’m so sorry. I have to finish this out now. We’ll return as soon as we can,” I said feebly before stepping away and opening the truck door.
“These people aren’t going to stop until they have you. Please don’t go!” Jackson begged.
I glanced over my shoulder and said, “I have to. I’m sorry.”
I slammed the door shut and signaled for Wade to go. In Trey’s passenger side mirror, I saw Jackson slump to the ground in utter defeat. My heart squelched and I forced myself to look away, but it did nothing to stop my anguish. When I glanced at the blood-soaked mess behind me, it took everything inside of me not to fall apart completely. I faced forward with tears dripping down my face. I’d never be able to fix what just happened. The iron pokers stabbing at my heart confirmed that much as they continued to slice away what was left of me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lightning Rod
Now that we weren’t being followed by anyone, Wade’s driving was less erratic.
“Can you maybe get this puppy up to seventy-five? You’re barely driving the speed limit,” I pointed out, annoyed.
Trey forced out a tight laugh. Wade glanced over his shoulder to scowl at me. I raised both eyebrows, looking for him to dispute the fact that he was driving like an eighty-year old woman.
“I heard you’ve already spent a little time in the clink this week. If it’s quite alright with you, I’d rather not have the pigs chase us. We have enough problems,” Wade snapped.
“Cut her a break man. You’re lucky she’s not decking you over the head with the amount of shit she’s trying to deal with. Those are our friends back there,” Trey defended quietly.
Wade remained quiet without changing his speed. I sank into my seat and kept my mouth shut. My eyelids closed for a moment to ease the buzzing in my head. It was practically in two pieces. I opened my eyes as we hit the edge of the South Side.
Our rendezvous point was a block away from F. F. & Sweeney. It was an old garage that probably resembled more of a junkyard. Wade pulled into the lot and circled around to the back entrance. He killed the engine before letting out a heavy sigh and opening his door. Trey and I hopped out at the same time. He pressed me into the truck with a clear indication not to move a muscle until he said so. He walked around the truck as Wade checked out the back entrance.
My teeth started to chatter with the frigid air. I wrapped my arms around myself to bring my body a little warmth and to hold myself together. My stomach churned with the stillness of the night. Things didn’t sit any better with me than they had when we were downtown. As I sat in my stupor, it started to snow. My eyes fluttered against the huge snowflakes falling around me. Yearning for anything to aid my barren body, I stuck out my tongue to capture a few. Memories of Micah, Trey, and I flitted through my mind. The first snowfall was our favorite. We’d spend the entire day making snowmen and snow forts together while getting lost in a world that was all our own. They always teased me for doing what I just did, but something about it brought me a strange sense of peace. I never knew why.
“Still a snow catcher, huh?” Trey spoke up, startling me.
He strolled up next to me and brushed his shoulder against mine with a tiny smirk. My eyes watered as more memories filtered through my head. Trey reached up to wipe away a tear that was about to drop. He shook his head, his eyes demanding that I stay strong.
“What can I say? Old habits die hard,” I forced out.
“That they do. I sure hope your boyfriend hurries up,” Trey said impatiently.
I nodded as Wade strode up. We leaned against the truck and stood in silence. The snow started to come down in heavier chunks as the wind picked up around us. The conditions were becoming blizzard-like as the visibility fell to a few feet in front of us.
I started to pace in front of the guys before walking to the back of the truck to open it. I reached over and grabbed Jayden’s backpack. Wade collected the gear he’d been working on and shoved it into the backpack too. Trey joined us. He fished out the guns from the coats and stuffed them inside the bag before I zipped it up and slipped it over my shoulders.
A loud explosion broke our silence. I whipped around to see large fireballs engulfing the sky. My heart stopped beating when I pieced together the location. Without thinking, I sprinted around to the front with Trey right behind me. My feet skidded across the snow when I came to an abrupt stop. I fell to my knees as the left side of Ethan’s office went up in flames.
Everything inside of me fractured as I watched smoke and debris stream through the sky. It was as bright as the Fourth of July as the fire rained from the heavens. After what felt like a lifetime, I scrambled to my feet and began running again. I refused to believe Ethan was inside and needed confirmation of that to keep my heart beating.
“Mia, stop! We have to get out of here!” Trey shouted, grabbing me from behind and making me sail across the snow. Before I hit the ground, he swept me up and walked backwards as I struggled in his arms.
“Trey, what if Ethan was in there? Let me go!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Making matters worse, several black cars slid across the slick road and onto our street. As soon as they spotted us, the windows came down and guns poked out. It was enough for me to stop resisting Trey and run like hell to the back of the garage.
Wade shot off the lock and kicked the door open. We filed in quickly as machine guns fired down the street. Wade barricaded the door and looked around the shop. There were two black Aston Martins in the stalls. Wade wheeled around to let out a loud whistle. I shuffled towards the cars as the gunshots grew closer.
Trey was less enthused as he went to open the passenger side door of the first car. Before he opened it, a blistering round of shots had Wade and me diving in opposite directions. As I hit the ground, the cool metal tore through my flesh to leave a streak of flames in its wake. I glanced at my arm. It was only a flesh wound so I wasn’t too worried. I forced my arms over my head as the front of the garage got blown to pieces. With shots still firing, I raised my head just enough to see Trey, who was about to dive into the car from his crouched position.
“Trey, no!” I screamed. My heart beat out of my chest as he collapsed to the pavement. I scrambled to my knees and crawled over to him.
His eyes were wide as he clutched his stomach. Wade shuffled past me with two guns in his hands. He fired shots out of the broken windows as he weaved his way over to a spot that gave him a better view. I hovered over Trey. His eyes started to flicker as blood started to stream out of the corner of his mouth. I put my hands over his and exerted all of my body weight on his wound. My eyes began to water as he continued to slip away. I let go of his hands and squeez
ed his cheeks with all my might. Trey gazed at me with his eyelids drooping.
“Don’t you dare die! You hear me Trey!” I yelled. His eyes closed. I squeezed even harder until he opened them again. “You can’t die. You’re going to be a Daddy. Bri needs you. Your baby needs you. Keep fighting,” I begged with everything I had left. The tears in my eyes overflowed.
Trey’s eyes sprang open as a tiny wave of happiness flickered across his face. His gray eyes demanded to know if I was telling the truth. Answering his unspoken question, I nodded and released my grip on his face to put pressure on his wound again. He silently urged me to slide us closer to the car, so I did.
The next few minutes felt like nanoseconds. From behind us, a sewer lid popped up and skidded across the concrete as sparks of fire spackled along the surface. A chorus of coughing echoed throughout the garage. I glanced around to see Wade lying flat on his back with his arms and legs twitching.
“Wade!”
I screamed his name again but he was lifeless. I had to pick one, and I’d never leave Trey. There would never be enough words to describe how much I hated myself in that moment. As Wade took his last breaths, my heart shattered and my eyes continued to water relentlessly as I tried to figure out what to do next. In the bitterness of the cold, a blaze of heat traveled up my back.
“Mia, we need to get out of here. Where are Wade and the others?” Ethan coughed.
My hands remained on Trey. I glanced over my shoulder to see him on his knees and covered in soot. From behind him, I saw Dom and Tristan pull Ziggy up from the sewers. They looked exactly like Ethan and were coughing just as profusely. Tristan had his hands on Ziggy’s side as they rose to their feet. I couldn’t speak, so my body did all the talking and nodded towards the spot in front of me. Tristan and Dom settled Ziggy into the backseat of the second car before running towards Wade.
Ethan wasn’t as quick to move as them. His hand was stuck to his side as blood dripped from his fingers. He gazed at me before his eyes flicked to the back of his head and he slumped over. Air evaded me as I reached over to check his pulse. He was still breathing with a strong heartbeat. I lightly slapped his face to get him to open his eyes. His eyelids slowly opened, but his breathing was becoming raspy. I started to shut down at the prospect of losing him. My vision started to spin like I was on a fairground ride. My stomach confirmed that much as I started to gag against the continuous spinning in my head.
“FUCK!” Dom screamed.
He fell to his knees next to Wade and Tristan did the same on his other side. They started to beat the shit out of the cement before Dom picked up a handgun and fired it repeatedly, forcing Tristan to tackle him. They wrestled across the floor until Tristan had Dom’s arms locked behind his back.
“Damn dude. We don’t need to draw any more attention to ourselves. Our dynamite show has every cop in the metro area flying in this direction. We need to get to the hospital. Get your shit together man!” Tristan yelled.
When Dom stopped struggling, Tristan released him. They scooped up Wade and laid him in the second car with Ziggy. They went to help Ethan, but he had forced himself into an upright position. They shrugged and turned to me as if they were approaching a deer. Their eyes showed that they were just going to help, so I released the pressure on Trey’s wound. Tristan and Dom picked up Trey with great care and placed him in the car next to us. They were about to come over to help Ethan up when gunshots rang through the garage.
I jumped up and came face-to-face with Kieran. If I had had any ability to really process a feeling for more than two seconds, I would’ve probably been more terrified than I was. Before I had a chance to shoot him or flee, he grabbed me. I brought my leg up to kick him in the balls, but he was just as quick to stop me. He turned me to face Ethan, Tristan and Dom. Riley, Finn, and Grady had already detained them. The pistol Kieran started to tap on my skull made me stop any effort from trying to run away and had me standing like a statue.
Ethan spit out blood and twisted his arms free from Riley. “I warned you I’d kill you if you touched my girlfriend.”
A high-pitched laugh filled my ears as the smell of stale cigarettes wafted across my face. Kieran tightened his hold around me and waved his gun in the air. “Cousin, you can barely stand up, let alone fight me. We’ll be going now. We have what we came for.”
Ethan’s face filled with rage as he started to close the distance. Kieran fired a shot so close to my head that my hair stood on end. I whimpered at first but reined it in to grab Ethan’s attention. My eyes begged for him to stand down. There was a set of familiar green eyes standing off to the side of Finn that promised to be our savior. His green eyes subtly urged me to play into Kieran’s game.
“Kieran, I’ll go without a struggle if you free them,” I offered.
“Mia, I’ve always liked you, so I’ll give you this one,” Kieran accepted, surprisingly.
He whistled for the others to release Tristan and Dom. They went to stand next to Ethan, who was in a standoff with Kieran. I quietly cleared my throat for him to look at me. He glanced my way with hard eyes. I mouthed for him to trust me. I was absolutely insane to even believe he’d actually do it, but to my surprise he remained still, though his expression demanded that I had better have a pretty damn good plan. Kieran shoved me towards green eyes and he caught me before I tripped.
“Brody, take Mia to my dad’s. He’ll want her next to him on the flight. Don’t fuck up,” Kieran ordered over his shoulder as he strutted towards the door with his brothers.
“No problem. There’s just one thing before you go,” Brody sneered, with a gun in each hand.
As if he had a firing squad next to him, Brody shot Kieran, Finn, Grady, and Riley. He was classy about it though. He made sure they were looking right at him as he shot them each in the head. I hunched over to my knees as every part of my stomach raced up my windpipe. When I was able to rid my body of that extra weight, I stood up and gazed at green eyes in utter shock.
“I don’t know how you figured it out. If you are who everyone says you are I think you’ll have the resources I need to fall off the radar,” Brody said, shoving a piece of paper into my jacket pocket before pushing me towards Ethan.
My feet weren’t supporting my body weight any longer and Ethan grabbed me before I fell. He pulled me into his chest where the frantic beats of his heart matched my own. Dom slid across the hood of the car next to us, got in, and pulled out with Ziggy, Wade, and Trey. Tristan jogged over to start the remaining car and honked the horn for us to hurry up.
“Get out of here. I’ll take care of this mess,” Brody said with a wave of his hand. We didn’t move. Our shock had effectively frozen us. “You need to get out of here. I don’t have much time before your little firework display stops being the distraction I need. Go!”
Ethan opened the back door of the car and placed me inside before collapsing next to me. Tristan revved up the engine before flying out of the garage. The back end of the car slid across the snowy streets as he drove away from Ethan’s office. After Tristan got control of the car, he pulled out his phone. From the tail end of his conversation, he was confirming where Dom had gone with the others.
With Ethan safely by my side, my body reminded me that I’d been shot too. It was becoming really hard for me to focus as he drifted in and out of my view. His uneven breaths steadied when he wrapped his arms tightly around me. I reached up to wipe away the black streaks covering his cheeks before fumbling around in my pocket for my cell.
“How did you know he’d help us?” Ethan asked in complete awe.
“It’s in the eyes, babe,” I whispered, dialing Olivia’s number.
“Mia, we’ve been trying to get a hold of someone for hours. Kane thinks something is wrong with Wade. He hasn’t stopped mumbling about a psychic shock that hit him. Eli is backing up that theory because he keeps calling and demanding to hear from Wade,” Olivia answered frantically.
I inhaled a raspy breath as my eyes started t
o droop. The blood trickling down my right arm was starting to flow like a river. “Olivia, this is going to be really hard …”
“Oh my God! Is Tristan OK?”
I coughed to force more air through my body and rasped, “Yes, he’s fine. We’re on our way to the hospital. I need you to remain calm because Bri is going to need you. Trey is—”
Olivia gasped. “Is he dead?”
“Not that I know of, but I’m not with him. Dom has him in a separate car. Olivia, I’m really sorry, but Wade’s gone,” I said in an anguished whisper. His last breaths echoed in my mind. It pushed me right off the narrow ledge of sanity I was standing on. Darkness was near my eyes and I was ready to cross over to it. Olivia started to sob. It was enough for me to get out what I could before passing out. “Trey’s in bad shape so you may want to make sure a nurse is nearby when Bri gets there. She’ll probably need one. Call Tristan for the hospital …”
My voice was a faint whisper as my head eased into Ethan’s shoulder. I thought I heard Tristan shouting at me to stay awake, but it was one voice among many in my head. My body craved to silence them as the blackness behind my eyelids captured me.
“Wake up Sophia. It’s snowing!” Daddy says.
He’s next to me with a big smile. I sit up and glance out my window to see perfect diamond flakes sprinkling in the sky. I smile wider than my daddy.
“It’s night-time. Are we still going outside?”
“We sure are. Let’s get you ready. Mommy is waiting for us.”
I jump out of bed. Daddy hands me my snow gear. I get it on faster than I ever have before. Daddy chuckles as he watches me. We walk downstairs. Mommy is waiting for us at the bottom with a bright smile. She scoops me up and gives me a kiss on the nose.
“There’s my girl,” Mommy says.
Daddy opens the door and we walk outside into the magical place the snow always is for us. Daddy stands next to Mommy with his arm around her with me in the middle of them and we watch the snow sparkle in the streetlights. They kiss my cheeks and put me down. I turn around with a silly smile before I stick out my tongue to get as many snowflakes as I can.