Twenty seconds later, I was free.
Sixty seconds later, I was a murderer.
Mia Bryant
Home.
That’s what Adam had called it when we’d returned from Trish and Tony’s place near dusk.
Home.
It had a nice ring to it.
And somehow, the house even felt like a home to me now.
But I didn’t want to be home.
I wanted to go back to that ranch and spend more uninterrupted time with Adam, I wanted to pet the horses, feed the goats, do all kinds of lazy things, and just relax.
But no.
Adam had gotten a call from the office and we’d had to come back.
Home.
“Baby, I’m gonna run the bags upstairs real quick,” Adam called out and I gave him a shouted, “Okay!”
I walked into the kitchen, pulled a glass from the cabinet, filled it with ice water, and took a long deep gulp. That two hour car ride had me parched. I wondered if Adam was parched too.
Just as I put the glass down, I felt Adam’s heat hit my back and his lips on my neck.
“That was fast,” I said softly, wondering if he’d just thrown our bags on the bedroom floor to hurry back to me. The thought was actually calming.
“My heart, Freckles,” he muttered, lips against my skin and that wasn’t anything close to the response I’d expected, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy all the weight his words held.
I turned in his arms.
I reached up to brush my thumb across his jaw, and without thinking, I told him the truth, “You’re my heart too, Adam.”
His eyes told me my words meant the world to him. He meant the world to me too.
“Freckles, I know this is going fast for you, but I swear to God, this past week - minus the bad - has been the best week I’ve had in six years, and I want to keep having weeks just like this with you. I want you to have the proper wedding you deserve.”
And at the word wedding, his hand covered mine on his jaw. He pulled my hand down, and next thing I knew, he was sliding something onto my finger.
“Adam,” I whispered like a prayer.
I looked down and tears stung my eyes at the sight of my old, plain, white gold wedding ring.
“We’ll get new ones, but for now, these’ll do.” He kissed the ring on my finger and I noticed the ring on his own hand. His old ring. That’s when my sob broke free and Adam hugged me. “Never took it off, Baby. Over a year and I never took it off.”
I was overwhelmed with happiness, sadness, regret and relief, and when he pulled back, I hated losing his warmth.
His fingers grazed my stomach and it tightened against his touch. “I really hope your body is working its magic already, Baby, because I want you pregnant. I long for it. I want to be here for you and I want to experience it all with you, Mia.”
“I want that too,” I breathed.
He got quiet as he towered over me, gazing into my eyes, letting me see every bit of truth in them.
“I love you,” Adam rumbled so low and deep I could feel it.
“I love you, Adam. So much,” I whispered back as I gazed up into his eyes and prayed that he could see the same love in my eyes that I saw in his.
And then he smiled tenderly and touched my bottom lip with his thumb, just before he touched his lips to mine for a quick, deep kiss.
He pulled away, smiled down at me…
My entire body jerked.
The blast echoed throughout the room, so loud it was deafening to my ears. I couldn’t even hear myself screaming, “Noooooooo,” when my back slammed into the counter as all of Adam’s weight landed on me.
My arms automatically wrapped around his back to hold him up and I cried, “Adam! No! Please!”
I heard him grunt in my ear, but he said nothing. “Adam, please answer me!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max standing in the doorway and I was shaking, earth-rocking quakes, as I screamed, “What did you do?”
Adam slumped further and my hand hit a wet spot on his back. I couldn’t bring myself to look down, but I sobbed as my entire world shattered to pieces, like my heart had been made of glass.
“Fuck, it burns,” Adam hissed in my ear.
“Oh God, Baby, please get up. Please!” I begged through my sobs. He groaned and to my complete and utter astonishment, he lifted and stood tall. I gaped at him through my tears. His breathing was ragged and I raised my hands to touch his chest just to confirm he was still breathing before me. It wasn’t until he turned that I saw blood seeping through the back of his shirt.
“Oh God,” I whispered.
I moved to run across the kitchen to the phone, not caring for a second about Max until he shouted, “Don’t fucking move, Mia!”
I spun around and screamed through my tears, “Fuck you!”
He raised his gun in Adam’s direction and I froze in fear.
“Mia, stop,” Adam ordered low, rough and pained. I looked at him through my tears. He was holding his left arm, and I wondered why since that wasn’t where he was shot.
“You shot him in the back,” I hissed at Max before roaring, “You shot him in the fucking back, you piece of shit coward!”
The barrel of his gun landed on my face and I narrowed my eyes as I held his soulless ones.
“Baby, stop,” Adam said giving me a dangerously low command, and I listened, but only because I was terrified Max would shoot him again.
Oh God. He needs a hospital.
“What do you want?” Adam demanded to know and his words were clipped, but his voice was gravelly, hoarse and filled with pain.
A nasty smile grew on Max’s face. He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he trained his gun on Adam and walked toward him. He got in Adam’s face, put the gun to his cheek and barked, “Move,” so loud that I jumped.
Uncontrollable tears rained down my face, but they weren’t in sadness, they were in helplessness. My body shook as I watched in horror while Max walked to a chair, wrenched Adam’s left arm behind his back and heard Adam cursing in agony, “Motherfucker!”
I saw his eyes squeeze shut from the pain and I screamed, “Max, stop!”
Max moved to swing the gun in my direction, and that was all the time Adam needed. He swung around, so fast I never saw it coming. He slammed his head into Max’s nose and blood gushed. He body slammed Max to the floor and shouted out in pain when his left side hit the floor.
Max’s gun hit the floor, but not before a shot was fired beside my head.
I dropped to my knees as they fought, and I could see Max was having trouble using his left hand, but one wrong move and Max was digging his finger into the wound in Adam’s back.
In no time at all, Max’s gun was back in his hand, and back in Adam’s face, which was the only way Max was able to handcuff Adam to the chair on the floor.
Max was breathing hard and bleeding nastily from his nose. Adam looked sick and pale.
“Kill me. If that’s why you’re here, just kill me. Leave him alone,” I begged in a whisper.
He faced me and sneered, “Don’t worry, bitch, you’re good as dead, but not until I get what I need. But if you want him to live, you’ll do whatever the fuck I say.”
“Anything,” I responded without hesitation.
Adam barked, “Don’t do a fuckin’ thing, Mia.”
But I had to. I couldn’t let him die.
“I’ll do whatever you want as long as I can call him an ambulance.”
“Then you better hurry the fuck up,” Max snapped. “I’ll give you thirty minutes to get what I need. I’m pretty sure I didn’t hit anything vital, but if you don’t make it back by then, Adam’s dead either way. And bitch, you call the police, you call anybody, I’ll kill him before I kill myself.”
I looked in Adam’s devastated eyes and read in them what he couldn’t say out loud. They were telling me that if I left this house, I better not come back. That I better call for help and live my
life without him. But he was out of his ever-loving mind if he thought for a second I’d live without him again and I let my eyes tell him just that.
If I had to play this out Romeo and Juliet style, so fuckin’ be it.
“Mia,” Adam growled in warning, but all that did was confirm that he understood me.
And sixty seconds later, I had all the information I needed and I grabbed Adam’s keys off the counter.
“Mia, don’t do this,” Adam pleaded roughly.
I stared into his eyes as he sat uncomfortably on the floor and I said, “I love you.”
His eyes closed at the determination in my voice and on my face. He didn’t want me to do this, I knew that, but I didn’t have a choice.
My eyes moved to narrow on Max’s disgusting face and I threatened, “Not sure if you remember, because you’re pretty fucked in the head, but I have a fantastic memory. A fan-fucking-tastic memory, and I’ll get you the account number you need, but the only way you’re going to get it is when the numbers come out of my mouth. No paper, I’m not writing it down. You touch another motherfucking hair on his head, and you’ll have to kill me before I give you shit.”
I couldn’t help but take pleasure in watching Max’s breathing accelerate as every muscle in his face twitched.
Fuck him.
It took fifteen minutes to get to my apartment on a normal day, but obviously today was far from normal. I made it in seven-point-five minutes and as long as the account number Max wanted was exactly where he’d said it was, I’d have just enough time to make it back to either save Adam, or die with him…
Well, that had been the plan, and like most of my plans, it didn’t go quite like I’d expected.
The moment I walked into my darkened apartment, something or someone slammed into my back, shoved me against the wall and - surprise, surprise - another gun was pointed in my face.
Now, I was pissed off, and a little crazed. I didn’t have time for this shit.
“Get the fuck off me,” I hissed at whoever’s hand was shoved in my back.
But they ignored me and stayed put. I tried to twist my head around, but I couldn’t, and a nanosecond later, I heard a muttered, “Ay dios mio.”
I didn’t know what it meant, but the guy sounded annoyed.
“Don’t move,” the voice ordered again and I noted it was heavily accented.
Like I’d said earlier, had this been a normal day, I wouldn’t have done a lot of things, but it wasn’t normal, which is exactly why I said, “Look, I really don’t have time for this shit.”
But of course he ignored me.
He dropped the gun, but didn’t drop his hand from my back and next thing I heard was him talking, and it sounded like he was on the phone. All his words were in Spanish and I growled because I couldn’t understand him, and I was frustrated as hell. My tears threatened to spill, but I refused to let myself fall apart when my entire world was on the line.
I heard him finish the call and suddenly I was free. I spun around, but it was dim, and the only light came from the open door - which was slammed shut a moment later by the man holding me hostage. And then a lamp was turned on.
I was surprised the light bulb had survived the devastation.
“Tres minutos,” he said, and any person living in the state of Texas would know he’d said, “Three minutes”, but why he’d said it, was another question.
“Three minutes for what? I don’t have one minute to spare let alone three,” I snapped, but all he did was lift his gun, point it at my face and I bit my tongue.
I kept it that way for three of the longest minutes of my life - I’d counted. Counting to sixty, three times over, sucked when you were in a hurry.
When the front door opened, I sucked in a sharp breath at what…or who I saw.
I could see perfectly and at what I saw, I decided there was no way this dude was a bad guy. He just couldn’t be. He was way too good looking to be a bad guy.
However, he looked killing mad and I took a step back as he stalked me like a tiger until his eyes held me in their death grip. All I could see were his eyes, bright, piercing, hazel eyes that stared into mine and demanded I tell him everything he wanted to know.
“Please let me go. I have to hurry,” I breathed.
“You know where my money is, Sirenita. And you know where Max is,” hazel eyes stated without a hint of doubt and I stiffened when realization set in. Then I panicked.
This was Alfredo, the drug lord that Max owed money to.
Oh my God!
I said nothing, because if I told him, he’d probably kill me before I could get back to Adam, but I knew if I didn’t tell him, he might kill me anyway.
Before I could decide whether I should talk or not, he said something that made my face pale. “You belong to the cop.” His voice was husky and firm and it wasn’t a question. My heart sank. I didn’t know if belonging to the cop was a bad thing or a good thing because his face gave nothing away.
But how does he know that?
“Yes,” I whispered, deciding to tell him the truth, because I didn’t have time to waste considering every word I should or shouldn’t say. “Max is going to kill him and I don’t have much time. I have to leave now.”
Surprisingly, hazel eyes nodded. “Entiendo, Sirenita. I understand we can’t let anything happen to your cop, but we’re going to make a little deal first.”
I growled and narrowed my eyes on his face, feeling completely indifferent to who he was or what he could do to me. “Okay, but make it quick, because I’m really tired of men fucking with my life. And what the hell does Sirenita mean, anyway?”
I should have gotten shot for speaking to a drug lord that way, but no. What did I get? I got lit up hazel eyes, perfectly straight white teeth and dimples.
Not the face of a bad guy.
“Mermaid, Babe. Sirenita means mermaid. For you hair.”
Well, okay then.
“You’re lucky you fuckin’ made it in time. Four more minutes and he’d be dead,” Max shouted when I walked in, but I only had eyes for Adam, who looked pale, yet furious. He’d been moved and was now sitting in the chair with his hands behind his back instead of sitting on the floor cuffed to it.
“Baby, tell me you’re okay,” I whispered.
His frustrated eyes were already on mine and I knew he was upset that I’d come back for him.
“I love you,” I pushed, because I had to make him understand that everything was going to be okay. I could feel it deep down in the pit of my stomach.
“My heart, Freckles,” he growled back, regardless of his frustration, as if me being his heart was something that would never change, no matter what happened.
My first tear escaped.
“Shut the fuck up and give me the goddamn account number!” Max shouted again.
“Uncuff him and let him go first, or I won’t give you shit.”
He put his gun to Adam’s temple and Adam closed his eyes. I didn’t let my fear show, but everything nerve in my system seized in terror.
“Mia, he’ll kill me anyway. Get the fuck out of here,” Adam said, sounding tired, but I ignored him. No way was I leaving.
“Give me the number and I’ll let him go,” Max countered.
“Max, I don’t think you understand me. Uncuff Adam or I won’t give you shit, and if you’re not going to, kill me now and get it over with!” I shouted in return.
The pussy.
“Mia,” Adam warned through a groan.
Max narrowed his eyes and studied my face as if there was a chance in hell I might actually change my mind. Then, clearly seeing the seriousness in my eyes, he dropped the gun to his side and I considered making my move, but Adam wasn’t free yet.
I’d never risk him.
Max bent - never letting go of his gun - I heard the click of the lock and Adam did exactly what he wasn’t supposed to do. I wouldn’t have even thought he’d be able to move through his injury, but I’d underestimated his strengt
h.
“Adam, no!” I screamed when he lunged and used his good arm to swing and knock the gun out of Max’s hand.
“Get out of here, Mia!” Adam ordered on a shout, trying to be the hero I already knew he was, but this wasn’t supposed to happen, this hadn’t been the plan. But Adam had changed the game and I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing even though, not surprisingly, gunshot wound and all, Adam was kicking Max’s ass.
Until Max - the disgrace to all men in the universe that he was - pulled a knife from the front pocket of his jeans.
“Adam, move!” I shouted in a tone filled with so much alarm I didn’t even recognize my own voice. Adam heard it and lifted as much as he could, but his wound debilitated him while he still tried to fight off Max, but it wasn’t enough.
My hands were shaking, my arms were shaking, but I walked closer and didn’t even think. I just reacted. And like Adam had taught me six years ago, I gripped the gun tight in my hands, aimed at Max’s head and pulled the fucking trigger.
But I missed and hit Max in the shoulder, only not before he stabbed Adam in his side.
“No!” I screamed when Adam fell to the floor and Max shuffled out from underneath him. I was shaking so bad that I knew I couldn’t shoot again.
“You fucking bitch,” Max hollered in pain, reached for his gun, aimed it at me, but he wasn’t fast enough.
The next gun shot came from my right and this one didn’t miss.
Hazel eyes shot Max straight between the eyes and I watched it all happen in slow motion, but it didn’t even phase me.
I dropped the gun Alfredo had given me earlier, ran to Adam, but stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen when Hazel eyes shouted, “Stay where you are, Mia!”
He knew my name.
My eyes flew to him and I watched as he walked directly to Adam, bent at the knees, gripped him under the arms and dragged him as far away from Max as possible. I could have kissed him, because it wasn’t until then that I saw all the blood. I covered my mouth with my hand and swallowed hard.
Adam, Enough Said (This Can't be Happening) Page 31