by Sienna Blake
He flinches with visible pain and I feel a stab of guilt in my gut. His features harden. “Don’t lock the door. And don’t take too long.”
Fuck him. And his orders.
I slam the door in his face and turn the lock just to spite him. With smug satisfaction, I hear him cursing at me outside.
First I turn on the tap so that the sound of running water will cover up any noises I make. I open the cupboard and crouch down. Thank God. The gun is still there. I slowly pull one end of the tape until the gun is loose. Now that I have it in my hands I can see it’s a 9mm Smith and Wesson M&P. I check the cartridge. All ten rounds are loaded.
I’m still wearing this ridiculous off-the-shoulder shirt which shows off some of my belly, so I can’t tuck the gun into my waistband. Luckily these sweatpants are baggy enough for me to put the gun in my pocket. I check myself in the mirror and am satisfied that the gun bulge doesn’t show.
I flush the toilet and while the water is rushing I close the cupboard back up. I take my time in washing my hands and splash water on my face before turning off the tap. I glance up at the mirror and catch my reflection. I see the aching sadness hidden underneath the anger in her eyes. My eyes.
I wipe my face and firm up my resolve. When I open the door, Caden is still standing at the doorway, arms crossed over his broad chest, looking furious. “I thought I told you not to lock the door.”
I cross my arms and mimic his stance. “You gonna stand here and block my way all night? We’re wasting time. I’m sure your friends are missing you by now.”
He makes an exasperated noise. “They’re not my friends. And I’m not the one fucking around, Miss I-gotta-go-pee.”
I roll my eyes and stalk past him. “Whatever.”
I pause when I notice an overnight bag on the bed which hadn’t been there before. That looks like my bag from my apartment; light blue with a top zip, two pale handles and a strap. I stride over to it and unzip the top of the bag.
“Sure. Just look through whatever you want,” Caden mutters as he steps to my side.
I ignore him. Inside the bag are a few of my shirts and pants as well as a pair of my sneakers, deodorant and my toothbrush. I frown.
Caden’s voice is soft when he speaks, “I went by your place first, just in case. I picked up some of your stuff. I thought you might need it when I found you. You should put your shoes on.”
My chest clenches as my fingers trail one of my shoes before I take them out and slip them onto my feet. His thoughtfulness hurts.
“You kept my notes,” he says quietly. “All of them.”
My cheeks flame. He found them all in my bedside drawer. “So? Don’t embarrass yourself by making a bigger deal out of it than it is.”
“Kitten−”
“Now that I have my stuff I’ll be on my way.”
I rezip the bag and grab the handles with my left hand. I barely blink before a line of cold metal clamps around my wrist.
Click.
I stare down at the metal bracelet around my wrist and follow the small chain to the other bracelet which he closes around his right wrist.
Muthafucker.
He has cuffed us together.
“Take this off now,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Nope.”
I let out a long string of curse words which only serves to make Caden smirk. “Colorful. Very ladylike.”
I start to throw punches at him with my free hand, which he blocks with his free arm. “Do it now. I am not staying cuffed to you.”
“No can do.” He manages to kick out one of my feet, making me unstable. Before I can right myself he has spun me and I find myself with my back against his chest and his thick arm around me. My skin alights at his nearness and I feel myself shudder internally. “Even if I wanted to uncuff you from my side, which I don’t by the way, I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“I left the key in the car.”
Bastard.
My imagination starts running on a different track. Caden. Me. Cuffed together. He spins me out and pushes me back to the bed, falling down after me. I can feel his weight crushing me along the length of my body and his erection pressing at my thigh. The familiar ache throbs to life in me. God damn him. How can he still make me want him so much? Even after everything. He groans against the pulse in my neck. “See what you do to me, kitten.” He grabs my cuffed hand and places it on his…
Dammit. I blink and stare at the empty bed in front of me. I can’t be this close to Caden. He makes me crazy. I need to get away from him. “Let go of me.” I struggle against him. I look down and try and slam my heel into his instep, but he just lifts me up so my feet are helplessly dangling off the floor. I wriggle harder, trying to slip loose from his grip. I can’t get loose. I let out another string of curse words directed at him.
He sighs. “You can either walk out of here with me peacefully or I can knock you unconscious and carry you out.”
Fury swirls inside me and mixes unabashedly with heat. “Fuck you.”
“Unconscious it is.” He reaches up to my neck with his free hand. Dammit. I will not be carried out of here like some rolled-up rug. I resign myself to give in. I’m not going to win this. Not at this moment. I need to pick my battles.
“Okay, okay,” I gasp out. “I’ll come peacefully.”
“You sure?” I can hear the disbelief in his voice.
I inject as much submission as I can bear into my voice. “I won’t cause any trouble.”
“Why do I not believe you?” he mutters as he slowly sets me down and releases me. He grabs my bag with his free hand.
I try to snatch it off him. “I can carry my own damn bag.”
He mutters under his breath. I catch the words “stubborn” and “pain-in-the-ass” as he swings the bag out of my reach and over his head so that the long strap slings over his body and rests on his back. He starts for the door, not bothering to shorten his long strides, and he drags me along with him. I stumble after him.
He stops at the door, opens it and peers out. He turns briefly to me and pulls his gun out from his belt. “Coast is clear. Let’s go.”
He pulls me along the short length of corridor, his gun leading the way. We reach the fire escape and slip inside the cold, dank stairwell. He pushes the light on and the staircase is coated in a sickly light.
“You think they might be here?” I ask.
“They don’t know about this place. But better safe than sorry.”
When we get to the ground floor the back exit is lit up by the green glowing exit sign above the door. He presses down the door handle with the butt of his gun, pushes the door open a slip and peers out.
“Stay close,” he whispers to me.
I snort. “Like I have a choice.”
We slip out into the dark night. He presses against the building and slides along until he gets to the corner. Along the side fence is a slim path overgrown with untrimmed bushes.
He pauses and turns back to whisper, “My car is the black sedan parked directly across the road from the entrance. Walk calmly with me to the driver’s side, wait for me to open the door and climb through to the passenger’s side. Got it?”
“I know how to walk to a getaway vehicle.”
He gives me an exasperated look before reaching into his pocket with his cuffed hand. In turn it yanks my hand forward and I almost touch his crotch. My cheeks heat. Damn him. He pulls out his car key and gives the street another cursory look.
“Let’s go,” he says, and he takes off into the open, gripping the gun to his side.
The metal of my cuff cuts into my skin and I wince, but I force myself not to make a peep. I won’t give him the satisfaction. I’m itching to pull out my gun, still hidden in my pants, and put a bullet in one of his long legs. That’d slow the bastard down. I don’t. I need to bide my time. I need to be obedient with him and lull him into trusting me. Once I have the damn cuff off me, I can pull out the gun and
take pleasure in watching his face turn when he realizes he has been fooled. Like the bastard fooled me.
The openness of the street feels like a savannah. I imagine predators lurking in the shadows, watching us. My gaze darts around, my skin alert. God, why do my shoes have to be so loud? My footsteps are ricocheting like bullets off the inside of cave walls.
We almost reach the car when I hear a deep voice calling from behind us. “Well, well, well.”
Shit.
Caden turns, shooting an arm out to push me behind him. Over his shoulder I can see the barrel of a gun pointing at us from the open driver’s side window of a dark car parked silently in the shadows. The car door opens and a dark figure steps out. “Drop the gun, Caden, and kick it over to me.”
Caden laughs. “What game are you playin’, Mack?”
Click.
“I ain’t playin’. Do it or I shoot.”
“Okay, okay.” Caden drops his gun. It clatters on the gravel and he kicks it over to the man named Mack still hidden in the shadows. Cade lifts his hands, pulling my cuffed hand up with it, and I raise my other hand to follow.
“I always knew there was something off about you,” Mack says. “When I spoke to Valentine, she said you were too much of a pussy to fuck her, even though you told everyone you did. I mean, who the fuck turns down Valentine?”
Valentine. The matchbook. The woman on the other end of the line.
“So I got suspicious,” Mack continued. “And when this familiar-looking broad shows up on our lot, you start acting mighty strange. It’s a good thing I decided to follow you.”
He moves forward so that the streetlight shines dimly across his hook nose. It’s the guy who recognized me at the lot. I flinch and draw closer to Caden. My heart thunders like a wild horse, desperate for escape. They’ve found me. Jacob has found me.
“That’s fuckin’ bullshit, mate. You’re just mad ‘cause I got to her before you,” says Cade. “I’m taking her in to the boss right now. I don’t need your help to handle her.”
“Do you think I’m fuckin’ stupid?” Mack moves around the car towards us. Caden shuffles back slightly against me and I grip his arm. “What’s Jacob gonna say when I tell him I found you cozying up to his girl? Looks like you’re going to get your wish, Caden. You’ll finally get to meet the big man in person.” Mack jerks his gun. “Both of you, hands on the boot of the car.”
“What do we do?” I whisper to Caden.
“Just do what he says,” he whispers back. I can see in his eyes the look of defiance. He hasn’t given up. He’s trying to find a way out of this mess.
My resolve firms up. I’m not giving up either.
We walk slowly to the car boot and place our hands on the bonnet. It’s warmed from the engine. I hear Mack step behind us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him thrust the barrel of his gun into Caden’s back as he pats him down. Mack finds a second gun holstered under Cade’s pants around his ankle. He belts this gun and steps back. He rummages through my bag before he’s satisfied there are no more weapons.
“Caden, you’re gonna drive so I can keep an eye on you two. But you’re gonna uncuff yourself from her first.”
“I don’t have the key.”
Mack laughs. “You wanna do things the hard way, huh? How ‘bout I’ll give you two choices. One, you uncuff yourself. Or two,” I hear a flick. I turn my head to see the moonlight glinting off a knife. “I’ll cut her pretty little hand off.”
I whimper.
“Alright, fine,” Caden says. He reaches down with his free hand.
“Hands back up.”
“Chill. I’m just getting the key.”
“Okay, but any wrong moves and you’ll be breathing through the holes in your back.”
Caden reaches into his pocket then presents a small silver key to Mack before uncuffing us.
“Sonofabitch,” I mutter, “you said the key was in your car.”
I hear Mack smirking as I glare at Cade. He rolls his eyes as if to say, Really? You wanna get angry about that now?
I rub my wrist when the cuff comes off.
“Alright, kids. We’re gonna go for a little drive.”
Mack directs Caden to sit in the front seat of his black sedan and me in the passenger seat. With the gun trained on Caden the entire time, Mack gets in the back seat behind Caden and tosses my bag on the floor next to him. He throws the car keys into Caden’s lap and stabs the gun at his shoulder. “Drive. Back to the lot. And no funny business.”
Caden turns on the car ignition and pulls away from the curb. I grab the seatbelt and clip it on. The seatbelt presses a hard object against my side. Oh my God. The gun. Mack didn’t search me. I still have Caden’s gun.
We have a chance to get of here, but… how? How do I let Caden know that I have it? I eye the houses that we pass. I know from when I followed Caden that it’ll take us around twenty-five minutes to get to the lot. I have twenty-five minutes to come up with a plan. Think.
Think…
An idea strikes me.
I fold my arms across my chest. “Bastard,” I mutter.
I feel the gun barrel bruise me in the shoulder. “Watch your mouth, girlie.”
I retract my shoulder away from Mack’s gun. “Not you. Him.” I glare at Caden to emphasize my point. “I knew I was better off on my own.”
Caden glances over and catches my look. “What the fuck have I done now?”
Mack smirks and settles back in his seat. He’s clearly enjoying the animosity between us. I have to keep this going.
“I found the box of condoms that you hide under your sink, Caden.”
Caden frowns as he drives. “What?”
Shit. He isn’t getting it.
“Yeah, the condoms that you keep hidden under your sink. I know that you haven’t been using them with me seeing as I’m on the pill. So why the hell do you need that extra protection?”
His frown deepens.
Come on. Come on. Get it.
Then I see it. The light goes on behind his eyes. Yes, he knows I am talking about his gun.
He’s silent for a moment before speaking slowly. I can tell he is choosing his words carefully. “You found them huh? The protection under my sink.”
“Yep. And I have all the evidence on me to know that you are cheating on me.”
Mack is chuckling in the back. “Oh, boy. Jacob’s gonna love that you’ve been banging his girl, Caden. You are so fucking dead. He’s gonna love me for bringin’ the both of you in.”
I can tell Caden is barely listening to Mack. His eyebrows are furrowed and he’s leaning forward slightly in his seat, pretending to be concentrating on driving. I slip my hand into my right pocket and close my fingers around the handle. I pull out the gun and hold it against my thigh.
“So what are we going to do about this third person in our relationship now that I have the evidence in my lap?”
Mack can’t see the gun from his seat behind us, but Caden can. He glances over to me. His eyes widen almost imperceptibly. I know he can see the gun.
“I’m sorry, kitten. I never meant to put you in this situation. But it’s all up to you.”
I swallow. I know what he’s telling me. He’s telling me I’m the one who is going to have to shoot Mack. “So I’m going to use this evidence to get rid of her.”
“Yes. And I’ll brake it off.”
My head bobs like a toy. Shit. Okay. I think I understand what he’s telling me. I have to shoot Mack and Caden’s going to brake hard at the same time so that Mack doesn’t have time to shoot back. Oh God. Can I really do this? What if I crap out, or miss, or Caden gets shot as well?”
“Kitten,” Caden’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. “When you’re ready, put your hand in mine. We’ll do this together.”
This is it. Stay strong.
My breathing is unsteady as I reach out with my left hand and place it into his. I slip my hand holding the gun up to my chest and hold it flat against my breast.
I prepare myself.
His hand squeezes mine.
Several things happen at once and it seems like slow motion. I spin my torso, bring the gun up to point at Mack and pull the trigger. The gun booms inside the small space of the car. Mack’s eyes widen. Caden slams his foot on the brakes and I feel myself lurching forward. Caden lets go of my hand and throws out his right arm across my body. A second boom goes off as Mack pulls his trigger.
This second shot ricochets inside my head like an echo. I don’t feel any pain.
Please, not Caden. He can’t have shot Caden. I glance over to him. His eyes are wide and startled. Oh God. He’s been shot.
My seatbelt and Caden’s arm catch across my chest and I whiplash around them. As I snap back into my seat everything speeds up again. In the back seat Mack has a blood stain spreading across one shoulder. He isn’t dead. He lifts his gun barrel up to me.
I scream as I point again and pull the trigger.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Until the noise turns to click, click, click. The bullets are all gone. Spent. Mack slumps back against the seat and is still. I drop the gun.
“Caden?” I shriek as I look over to him and start to paw at his chest. The bullet wound. Where is the bullet wound?
His hands come up to grab mine. “It’s okay,” he shushes at me. “I’m okay. He didn’t get me.”
I melt forward into his hands. I can’t help the sob that escapes me. I close my eyes as he runs his hands flat on my back. Mack just keeps staring at me, even with my eyes closed he’s staring at me, his pupils two accusing orbs. And blood. Blood all over the back windshield. Turns out I’m a monster just like Jacob.
Blood on the walls. Blood on the glass. “Oh my God. I just killed him.”
“Open your eyes,” his voice breaks into my thoughts. I do, but my vision is shaky and I feel like I could just float away. His voice is the only thing that anchors me. “Hey, don’t look at him, look at me. At me, kitten. That’s it. I know you’re probably feeling the need to freak out right about now, but you can’t. Not yet. We’re still not out of danger, okay? I need you.”
I want to sink back into his arms and forget about the world, but I know he’s right. I think I nod.