He wasn’t stupid.
In three strides, he had the phone from her grasp. Her gasp told him even before he looked at the screen.
Something in him sank. A cold, wet feeling of betrayal pooled in his belly. He stared at the three numbers blinking, black against sharp white.
“I can’t stay here!” she blurted. “I need to go home.”
There were no words as he deleted the emergency numbers and stuffed the phone into his pocket. He pocketed the Glock he’d given her earlier as well, in case she got any other bright ideas, and turned away, back to the window. He peered out, though nothing had changed, except the bag had broken free of the post and was lost somewhere he couldn’t see.
“You can’t blame me,” Ava said, her voice desperate.
“I don’t,” he murmured, meaning it. “But pull something like that again and you’ll never get the phone.”
She said nothing.
It was nearly noon and the day was beginning to dwindle into nothing. Ava was starting to shift uncomfortably in her chair and he could hear her stomach grumbling from across the room. But he had no plan. There was no concrete way to get Ava somewhere safely when he had no idea where that was. He couldn’t take her to John Paul, not until after the first chair hearing. He didn’t trust the man not to go back on his word as soon as he had Ava. He couldn’t take her to the compound, not with Elena and his brother there—especially not Ivan. He would never leave Ava alone with him. Plus, it was just the kind of leverage his mother had been waiting for her entire life. It was the perfect way to hit John Paul where it hurt. If Dimitri had figured that out, Elena would for sure. He couldn’t trust Ava alone either, nor could he take her with him when he went to get voted in.
“Dimitri?”
Temples thrumming, he glanced over his shoulder at the small, pale figure watching him from the shadows of the room. “Yeah?”
She shifted in discomfort, making the chair squeak under her. “Why did you take me?” The question came out grated through her clenched teeth. “Why am I here?”
He didn’t owe her an explanation. He knew he could tell her as much. But a part of him needed her to understand his reasoning, needed her to walk away from this in the next few days not completely hating him, because despite everything, he really was trying to do the right thing.
“I’m taking McClary’s place.”
Ava blinked. “The northern chair?”
He nodded. “I need John Paul to back me.”
“So, you’re blackmailing him into it?” The dismay in her outrage was almost entertaining.
“I asked nicely. He said no.” Dimitri shrugged. “I had to convince him.”
“By taking me.” She pursed her lips. “That’s cheating.”
“That’s business,” he corrected. “Politics, even in my world, are bloody and only the most cutthroat win.”
She sighed the way a mother would when her child was being particularly difficult. “How many votes do you have?”
“Three, including John Paul.”
She nodded slowly. “There are five territories … four,” she corrected. “Currently, but you’d only need three to win. You’re already ahead.”
Her knowledge of his world didn’t surprise him. Between him and John Paul, she was probably the most informed person in the city.
“What are you going to do with it?” She searched his face. “The north is a place of honor, of power and influence. Are you going to keep it clean like it was before McClary’s death or are you going to let the other four houses peddle their garbage through it?”
It was so much like what John Paul had said to him that he couldn’t help but wonder if John Paul hadn’t told her. Nevertheless, it was a question he needed to expect. It was one he’d be asked often during the process.
But there was no right answer. It was a fine line between what he wanted and what was realistic. The lines of his world weren’t as clean and clear cut as the ones above ground. It was all smudges of gray. And Dimitri was a businessman. He knew the importance of trade, of giving and taking, and exchange. Guns, drugs, and prostitution may have been foul, but even he would not be able to stop all of it in its tracks. McClary certainly couldn’t. It was about compromising.
“Not in the city,” he told her. “Not near the children. Business will commence along the outer perimeters and be done with discretion.”
Her chin went up a notch, narrowing her eyes warily. “You’re not going to try and stop it entirely?”
Dimitri frowned. “You can’t stop the underground movement. Anyone who thinks they can, is an idiot. But you can try and organize it.”
“Are you ready for that kind of power?”
“I was—”
His phone buzzed. He dug it from his pocket and answered it without glancing at the screen.
“Hey, where are you?” Stephen’s voice cut through the speaker, tight and apprehensive.
“What’s going on?” Dimitri turned his back.
“Is that John Paul?”
He ignored Ava in the background.
“What happened?”
“Let me talk to him!” Ava yelled.
“That chick you’re with,” Stephen spoke up over the rapid clicking of a keyboard. “Someone called the police with information on her whereabouts. It came over the police scanner about five minutes ago, some motel out on highway 1. The owner claims she just rented a room to her and a guy matching your description … and the one the cops are looking for.”
Dimitri cursed. He threw back the curtains and peered more closely at the empty roads. There were no cops … yet, but another few minutes and that place would be lit up like a Christmas tree.
He turned to Ava. “We need to go.”
“Is that—”
“No.”
He hung up on Stephen and stalked to where she was kneeling on the chair. He scooped her up into his arms and marched to the Jeep. Ava was placed into her seat. Dimitri started around the hood when the office door flew open with a bang and the woman charged out, waving her arms.
He ignored her as he hopped behind the wheel and sped out of there as though the backend were on fire.
“What happened?” Ava demanded.
“The cops know where you are.” He pressed a little harder on the gas. “The motel owner recognized your picture from the news. She called it in.”
“Okay, but why am I running from the police? I can just talk to them—”
“Because we can’t trust anyone.” And after your stunt with the phone, I don’t trust you either, he wanted to add, but didn’t. “A lot of these cops are bought and until I know who’s after you, you’re not leaving my sights.”
“This is getting ridiculous!” she shouted. “This isn’t going to end in a couple of days, is it? Even after you get the chair and take over the north, I’ll still have a bloody bounty on my head.”
“No, you won’t.” He tossed a glance into the rearview mirror. “Because I’ll have the power to stop them.” He paused, then added quieter, “I’ll protect you.”
She shot him a dry glower. “Like how you kidnapped me, held me hostage, threatened to kill me … need I go on?”
He rolled his eyes. “I never hurt you.”
“No…” she agreed grudgingly. “But if you’d told me that you needed my help convincing John Paul to support you, I would have. Then, maybe, I wouldn’t be nearly as angry with you as I am. You could have handled things differently.”
He chose to ignore the last comment. “You would have talked to him?”
Ava nodded. “Of course. I think you’re perfect as one of the heads of the Syndicate.”
It stunned him how casual she said it, like they were talking about him running for mayor or opening up his own shop. It was all so surreal.
“How do you know?”
She shot him that droll stare. “Because I know you. You might not think I do, but I do. Of all the criminals in the city, you’re the only one who has never hurt a
nyone … who didn’t deserve it,” she added quickly when he shot her a frown. “I mean, you’re practically Robin Hood the way you steal from other criminals and give back to the people who need it.”
The Jeep swerved wildly, spitting up dirt and bits of rock into the air and filling the road with a plume of dust.
“How the fuck…?” He would have stopped driving if he wasn’t worried about getting caught arguing on the side of the road. “How do you know any of that? How do you know about me?”
“Because I’m not stupid!” she snapped. “You seem to think I’m an idiot, but I pay attention. I notice things.”
“Ava!”
Her temper flared right alongside his. “What?”
He did stop then. He jerked the wheel hard right and skidded to a halt along the shoulder of a dirt road. He turned in his seat to properly glower at her.
“How?”
There was a hot glow in her cheeks from her anger. “Your body!” she shouted. “Okay? I notice your body in the surveillance videos the police show on the news.” Her voice softened. “I know it. I know you. I know your build and your shape. I know how you walk and hold yourself when you’re standing still.” She averted her eyes, took a shaky breath. “I know your voice and your eyes, even with a mask on. I know you better than I know myself.”
He said nothing. He couldn’t. There were no words to explain the wave of emotions crashing into him. It took all he had not to drag her into his lap, not to kiss her until he’d consumed her whole.
“How?” He had no recollection of speaking, but the question poured out of him.
It took longer for her to speak, and when she did, it was while she studied the deck on the Jeep. “I love you.”
Love. Not loved. He didn’t miss the difference. His gut, his heart, his brain didn’t miss the difference.
“After everything?”
Her eyes rolled and he caught the glint of moisture a split second before a tear slipped down her cheek. She snorted a laugh and quickly brushed it away, still not looking at him.
“Maybe I am stupid.”
In the movies, that would be the moment the boy reaches across the console, grabs the girl by the back of her head, pulls her close and kisses her. In a perfect world where the girl’s life wasn’t in danger and the boy wasn’t about to delve deeper into the bowels of hell, that would have sealed everything, the perfect conclusion to a perfect love story.
But his world wasn’t perfect. He definitely wasn’t. And Ava didn’t belong with him.
“You can’t tell anyone,” he bit out, putting as much frustration, rage, and dismissal as he could into those three words.
It hurt. The pain in her eyes when they flicked up at him, the disappointment, the way she quickly looked away, was like having his gut ripped open. But he steeled himself against it, reminding himself the agony was better than attending her funeral.
He put the Jeep into drive and continued on in no clear direction.
He drove them to another motel, this one cleaner with actual people parked outside. But more importantly, by the time they arrived, it was dark enough to park the Jeep out of sight and sneak Ava into the suite when no one was looking.
She immediately went to the first bed and flopped down on it, groaning her pleasure as all her muscles unfurled from the long drive. She hadn’t said anything since her earlier confession and he’d been grateful for it. Things had already become too complicated. He wasn’t even sure how he was going to let her go when the time came.
He closed the blinds and turned the locks in the door before facing her. “Are you hungry?”
She had to be. They hadn’t had a thing to eat since the night before.
“I am not leaving this bed,” she moaned, eyes closed. “Ever.”
He moved to check the bathroom and closet before returning to the beds.
“I’ll see if the restaurant delivers.”
They didn’t. The weary woman apologized and hung up.
Dimitri sighed, checked his pockets for his wallet. “I’ll be back. Stay here, yeah?”
She gave him a pathetic one armed wave before her arm flopped back down onto the mattress.
“I’m serious, Ava.”
She grumbled something into the pillow.
Taking that as compliance, he ducked out of the room and locked the door behind him.
The restaurant attached to the motel was an old style steakhouse catering mostly to truckers and families on vacation. It swam with smells and sounds that made his temples pound, but he placed his order and counted every second before it was brought out to him. He hurried back to the room and found Ava already asleep, face down, naked from the waist down where her top had rolled up over the supple curve of her ass.
Dimitri shook his head as he closed the door. He’d never seen so much off-limit pussy in his life, all in the span of a single day. It only made him wonder who he’d pissed off in a past life.
Relatching the door, he set the untouched food on the table, double checked the parking lot, then took his food and sat down for a long night of TV watching.
It was nearly four in the morning when he heard it, the subtle scuffle of approaching feet, the faint click of guns being cocked. In the silence of the other slumbering guests, each interruption punctured the night, alerting his senses even before the boots hit the pavement outside the door.
Dimitri didn’t wait. He grabbed Ava and dragged her off the bed and onto the floor a split second before the bang of the door being kicked in crashed through the room and the crack of gunfire rained over them.
Ava screamed into his collarbone where he held her to him, shielding her from the rapid spray. Her fingers gripped him, clutching him close as her entire body trembled beneath him.
He wanted to tell her it was all right, but comfort would have to wait as he bid each horrific second until the click of clips being emptied silenced the reign of terror.
Releasing Ava, he lunged to his feet. Both Glocks were torn from the waistband of his pants, aimed and fired in rapid succession. All without pause. Each bullet struck a chest, an arm, a head. Bodies dropped to the threshold with sickening thumps until there was no one left but an empty doorway open to the murky night.
“Come on!”
He grabbed Ava’s elbow and hauled her up. He shoved one of the guns into her hand, but kept a firm grip on the other as he dragged her around the ruined mattress to the door. He kept her tucked half behind him, keeping her shielded by his body as they made it out into the open.
The parking lot was dark save for the bursts of light shining from the lamps stationed in a semicircle along the curbs. Several more lights had flicked on inside the rooms. The windows were painted a faint gold and shadows shifted beyond the curtains. That was their cue to leave.
But it was the sea of shiny cars blocking their path from door to Jeep that concerned him. The absence of movement didn’t exactly mean an absence of threat. There were four men at his feet, but what if there were more waiting for them to come out?
“Stay close,” he told Ava, never taking his eyes off the swaying shadows.
She said nothing, but he could feel the fear rolling off her, could practically hear the chatter of her teeth. Her skin vibrated beneath his grip, hard enough to make him quake. It was moments like this he was reminded that this wasn’t a common day for her. The last few days was all the reasons he had stayed away from her. If anything happened to her, it would be on him.
He relinquished his grip on her elbow and let his fingers slip down to take hers. They were sweaty and shaky, but she clasped his back tightly.
“I’ve got you, myskha,” he murmured quietly over his shoulder. “I promise.”
Her response was the squeezing of their fingers, but it was filled with a confidence in his abilities he wasn’t sure he deserved. Nevertheless, he pulled in a lungful of breath and edged through the doorway.
Eerie stillness greeted them. The light above their heads buzzed with electricity.
It sounded too loud in the quiet. Their feet stepped over the bodies and onto concrete.
Nothing happened.
The night continued to hum, unbroken by any further violence. Dimitri took that as a sign and quickly pulled Ava in the direction of the Jeep.
Midway, he paused, remembering her bare feet and turned, turned just in time to see the movement. A full second before he heard the click. He had just enough time to grab her when the crack splintered the calm. But even with all the time he’d been given, he wasn’t fast enough to pull her free of the bullet’s path. Ava cried out. The momentum of the impact shoved her forward.
Dimitri swung out both arms. One to catch her. The other dislodged a second bullet through the parking lot. It collided dead center of the man’s head, snapping it back. He hit the ground once again, joining his two other fallen comrades in the doorway of the hotel room. This time, with a deadlier wound other than the one Dimitri had given him earlier in the arm.
It ended there. There was no one left to get up.
Dimitri turned to the woman in his arms, the hot blood slickening her side and dampening his grip on her.
“Ava?”
There was no concealing the raw terror that gripped him. He no longer cared as he dropped the gun with a noisy clatter and pulled her up into his chest.
She was breathing, hard and loud, which was music to his ears, but she wasn’t moving.
“Ava?”
“I’m okay,” she panted, lying horrible.
“Where were you hit?”
His hands were fumbling over her, tugging at ruined clothes and searching for the source.
She choked on a gasp. “I don’t know, but it fucking hurts.”
“Okay.” He held her closer. “Hang on. Don’t … just hang on.”
He ran to the car, gun forgotten on the concrete, nothing mattering, except getting Ava to a doctor.
Chapter Eight
Ava opened her eyes to the sweet scent of jasmine and honeysuckles. They drifted around her in soothing waves that made her want to sink into them and go back to sleep. Instead, her eyes opened and she found herself in a beautiful room painted a robin egg blue. White curtains hung from a bay window at the foot of a chestnut brown bed. A fan circled overhead in lazy loops, swirling the calming scent.
The Devil's Beauty (Crime Lord Interconnected Standalone Book 2) Page 13