Matt stood outside the doors, eyes on me and they were active which I took as a good sign mainly because, at that point, I was holding on to anything I could get.
The doors closed.
Shit!
Noah took the gun from my head and put it to my back again.
“Noah, this is a bad idea.” I told him.
“I think you know by now, Ava, that my name is Walt,” he replied.
“Okay then, Walt, this is a bad idea,” I repeated.
“Got no leverage. They messed up Kurt, they messed him up bad. Motherfuckers. They aren’t gonna mess me up. Fuck that. You’re the only leverage I got. They won’t come near me if I got you.”
I wasn’t certain that was true. “Noah, I mean Walt, I’ll talk to Luke. Just let me –”
“Time to talk to Stark was after I taped you to a post.”
“I tried, Luke didn’t feel like giving up. He’s not big on that kind of thing. Maybe I can be more convincing this time.”
“You had your chance.”
Shit a-fucking-gain.
The doors opened, we stepped out, Noah stopped, jerking me to a halt and he went still.
I was looking at the floor. My eyes came up and I saw Ren, Sissy, Dom and Uncle Vito standing there, looking like they were waiting for the elevator.
What the fuck?
“Hey guys,” I said, trying to sound casual.
They all had their eyes on Noah.
“Are we having the family meeting?” I asked, still trying to sound casual.
“We were,” Dom replied, his eyes hadn’t left Noah.
“I’m kind of busy right now,” I told Dom.
At that, Ren’s body moved but he halted when Noah put the gun to my temple.
“Move back,” Noah said.
None of them moved. They changed but they didn’t move. Sissy’s face went pale, Ren, Dom and Uncle Vito went solid.
“Move back!” Noah shouted, getting nervous and people turned to stare. I heard a few audible gasps and a small scream when eyes hit us.
I didn’t think Noah getting nervous was a good sign so I said softly, “You guys, please move back.”
“This ain’t a good idea, son,” Uncle Vito advised Noah.
“Move back,” Noah repeated.
“She’s a Zano,” Uncle Vito went on.
“She’s not a Zano,” Noah flashed back.
“She’s a Zano,” Ren said firmly.
For goodness sake, were we going to go through this again? Now?
“It’d really help me out, say, not to get my brains splattered across the Hotel Monaco lobby, if you guys would step back!” I shouted the last part.
“What’s the breakfast hold up?” Shirleen was trundling up. She skidded to a halt, my eyes went to her and hers were wide. “Shit! Is that Noah?” she asked me.
“My name is Walt,” Noah corrected.
“Whatever. You crazy, boy?” Shirleen asked, her gaze moving to Noah.
“Everyone, get out of our way!” Noah demanded, now not only nervous but losing patience and I guessed this was a very bad sign.
“Yeah, you’re crazy. Do you know you got a gun to the head of Luke Stark’s woman?” Shirleen informed him and then continued to share. “He ain’t gonna like that much.”
“Shirleen –” I started.
“Ava…?”
That was my Mom.
Hell.
And.
Damnation!
Mom peeked around Shirleen. “Ava!” she shrieked when she saw me.
“Mom, calm down,” I said.
“What’s happening…? Holy crap,” Marilyn had arrived, Sofia at her side.
Did I already mention my… life… sucked?
“Everyone, get fucking back!” Noah yelled.
“That’s my sister,” Sofia told Noah.
“I don’t care, get fucking back,” Noah clipped.
“You have a gun pointed at my sister’s head!” Sofia screamed.
“Take that gun away from her head, right now, you jerk!” Marilyn shouted.
“Guys, you aren’t helping,” I told them.
“This is outrageous. We’re in the lobby of a nice hotel. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in the lobby of a nice hotel,” my mother snapped. “Not to my daughter anyway. Put the gun down.”
“Ava, get rid of these people,” Noah said in my ear.
“Folks, can we all just –” I began.
“Has anyone called Luke?” Mom asked, she was digging through her bag. “I’m calling Luke. Who has his number?”
I’ll ask again. Why me? Why me? Why me?
“Please, everyone can you just –” I began again.
“Holy shit.” That was Riley, who had come around Sofia’s right side and jerked to a stop at the sight of Noah and me. “What the fuck are you doing?” Riley exploded, staring at Noah and looking not like a mild mannered personal trainer but just like a badass motherfucker.
Even in my current circumstances, I was impressed.
“Do I know you?” Noah asked.
“Yeah, you know me. I’m Ava’s personal trainer. I was at her birthday party last year.”
“Oh yeah. You ever finally get the nerve up to fuck her?” Noah asked, sounding nasty.
There were gasps all around but I heard a couple of growls, one I suspected came from Ren, the other one I knew came from Riley.
I was beginning to wish he’d just shoot me.
Then we heard, “What the fuck!”
It was Ally. She’d rounded the other side of Ren and Daisy rounded her side.
Everyone stopped and stared at the new arrivals.
Ally looked normal, jeans, kickass belt, cowboy boots and vintage AC/DC tee.
She wasn’t the reason everyone stared. Everyone stared because Daisy did not look normal. Daisy had the bottom of her platinum blonde hair in pigtails, the top teased out to maximum volume and she was wearing a baby pink, velour, Juicy Couture tracksuit that was skintight. If that wasn’t reason enough to stare, she had the top zipped down to expose so much cleavage, the actual presence of the top was unnecessary except for the fact that it covered her nipples thus stopping her from being arrested for indecent exposure.
“Well, I’ll be goddamned,” Daisy said, staring at Noah and me.
“What’s the hold up?” We heard from the back. “The longer we take on breakfast, the longer it’ll take to get to the mall –”
The person stopped speaking because she’d pushed her way to the front and we saw it was Olivia.
“Muthafucka,” she breathed when her eyes hit me.
“All right people!” I shouted. “Everyone move back. Back!” I screeched.
Everyone moved back except Ren and Dom because somehow they disappeared, vanished, no longer in sight.
Crap!
Noah moved us forward, my posse stayed close but moved back. We did this all the way across the lobby, everyone else in the hotel watching our progression in stunned silence as I heard the noise of faraway sirens.
When we hit the doors, Noah took the gun from my head, grabbed my hand and pulled us through. He ran down the sidewalk, taking me with him. I stumbled, nearly falling on my high-heeled wedges and I cursed my mother for her meddling into my wardrobe choices (though flip-flops wouldn’t likely have been any better, I had learned that lesson the hard way).
He didn’t break stride and kept dragging me. I righted myself just as we ran into traffic, straight to a car that was stopped at a light.
Noah pulled open the door, shoved the gun in the driver’s face and clipped, “Out.”
“But… this is my car,” the driver said, eyes wide, obviously not thinking clearly because all of a sudden on a sunny Denver day he found himself staring at a gun.
Noah moved the gun to the side, pulling the trigger and drilling a round into the pavement.
I jumped, the driver jumped and then Noah pointed the gun at the driver again.
“Out!” Noah shouted.
<
br /> The driver got out.
Noah shoved me in first. I scrambled over to the passenger side and Noah got in behind me. Before I had myself settled, we took off on a squeal of tires, running the red light and making cars swerve and honk.
“Noah!” I yelled. “I mean, Walt! You’re gonna kill us.”
“Shut up!” Noah shouted.
I put my seatbelt on which wasn’t easy. Noah was driving erratically, jerking the wheel back and forth, passing cars, speeding up then stopping fast and running red lights willy-nilly.
Once I got my belt on, I turned to the front.
You would think I’d be scared. I wasn’t scared. I was pissed way the hell off.
I’d had enough.
“This just cuts it,” I grumbled. “I cannot believe you just kidnapped me. First, you charm your way into my pants. Then you steal my money and Aunt Ella’s jewelry, leave me high and dry and make me swear off men. Then!” My voice was beginning to rise. “I find myself a good guy, the best guy ever, and he wants to protect me and he goes after you. Instead of taking it like a man, you take it out on me.”
“Ava, shut up.”
“I will not shut up. You’re a jerk. You dry humped me. What was that all about?”
“You have a sweet ass,” he said, as if that explained it.
“So? It isn’t your sweet ass anymore, it’s Luke’s,” I snapped. “Did you tell your partner I tasted like cherry pie?”
“You do,” he replied on a reminiscent grin.
I growled then bit off, “Men!”
The phone at my ass started ringing, I leaned forward and pulled it out.
“Don’t answer that,” Noah ordered.
“Fuck you,” I shot back, saw the display said “Luke calling” and flipped it open. “Yo.”
“Babe,” Luke replied.
“I’ve been kidnapped again,” I informed him.
“I know. I’m following.”
I turned my head to look around my seat and saw Luke’s Porsche behind us. He was at the wheel talking to me on the phone. Next to him was Ren’s Jag; Ren driving, Dom sitting beside him. I kept looking and saw Ally’s Mustang behind Ren, Daisy sitting beside Ally, more people in the (I couldn’t really see but I suspected they were my sisters). Olivia’s Lexus was beside Ally, Shirleen sitting next to her what I reckoned was my Mom in the back. I couldn’t be certain but I thought I saw Riley’s Pathfinder trailing the pack. They were all speeding and weaving, following Noah and me down Speer Boulevard in a highish speed chase.
Fuck.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“You got a convoy,” Luke told me.
I turned forward. “I can see that.”
“Get him to slow down,” Luke demanded.
“He isn’t exactly listening to me.”
“Ava, get off the phone,” Noah cut in.
I looked at Noah. “Be quiet, I’m talking to Luke.”
That’s when we heard sirens. Not far away sirens. These were close.
“Fuck!” Noah snapped. “Get off the fuckin’ phone.”
“Kiss my ass!” I yelled.
“Beautiful, not sure it’s a good idea to get him riled,” Luke said in my ear.
“I don’t care if he’s riled,” I told Luke.
“I care if it means he’s gonna put a bullet in you,” Luke returned.
He had a point.
“He’s concentrating on driving,” I assured Luke.
“Ava, I’m not gonna say it again, get off the fucking phone,” Noah shouted.
“Glad to see I’m not the only man in your life who has to repeat himself,” Luke remarked.
“I don’t think you’re funny,” I told Luke even though I kind of did.
I heard his chuckle in my ear as Noah snapped, “I wasn’t being funny.”
“I’m not talking to you,” I told Noah.
A black Explorer pulled out from a road to our right. We shot by him and I saw Lee driving, Matt in the passenger seat. I didn’t have a chance to wrap my head around where they had come from. Instead I looked behind us and saw that Luke and Ren also shot by Lee. The Explorer angled in to cut off Ally and Olivia, aided by a couple of squad cars.
“What’s happening?” I asked Luke, turning forward again.
“You buckled in?” Luke asked me.
“Yeah. What’s happening?”
“Get him to slow down. If he doesn’t slow down, get him to buckle up,” Luke replied.
“Luke, what’s happening?” I demanded.
“Brace, babe, this ends here.”
Disconnect.
Oh shit.
Shittity, shit, shit, shit!
I flipped the phone closed. “Noah, slow down.”
“You should have told him to back off,” Noah returned.
“Noah, seriously, they have something planned, slow down.”
He turned to me, lifted the gun to point at me and said, “Ava, for the past week, you’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass.”
I’d heard that before, kind of. “Well, good,” I flashed back. “You deserve it.”
He kept glancing back and forth to the road and me, gun raised and pointed at me. What with him driving like a freak, his inattention to the road did not make my situation any better.
“Noah, pay attention to the road.”
“Call him back and tell him to stand down,” Noah ordered.
“This is Lucas Stark we’re talking about, he doesn’t stand down,” I explained.
“This is great, just great,” Noah grouched like it was all my fault.
“You could have taken off, gone to Argentina or something. You didn’t have to beat me up and tape me to a post. That was like waving a red flag at a bull. Then you kidnap me? How stupid are you?” I snapped.
“Shut up.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Shut… up.”
“Noah, slow down or buckle up,” I told him, trying to be nice.
He was still driving like a maniac, swinging his eyes to the road and to me. “Buckling up means takin’ the gun off you and how am I gonna shoot you if I put the gun down?”
I had no answer to that and I was done. If he shot me then hopefully, I’d survive. Jules got shot in the belly and chest and now she was happy and preggers. However, if Noah shot me, Luke would rip his head off, no hope for future happiness and babies in his life because he’d be dead.
So I shrugged. “Suit yourself. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“You weren’t this fuckin’ irritating when I was bangin’ you,” he informed me.
“I liked you then, I thought you were a good guy. Now I know you’re slime,” I retorted.
He didn’t reply. I crossed my arms on my chest and then up ahead, I saw another black Explorer pull out in front of us. It didn’t turn, it pulled into the intersection and stopped dead.
Ho-ly shit!
“Noah!” I screamed because he wasn’t watching, he had his eyes on me. Then I saw two squad cars pull out and angle in at the front and back of the Explorer. They stopped too, blocking the intersection entirely.
“Look!” I managed to get out. Noah looked, made a choking sound in his throat, took the gun off me and slammed on the brakes at the last minute.
But we were going way too fast.
We rammed into the back of the Explorer and the front of a squad car and the air was filled with the eerie, frightening sound of crunching steel and breaking glass.
We barreled right through.
I didn’t see much after that because I’d been thrown forward, the air bag popped out and I hit it or it hit me, whatever. We kept going, slower this time, and only stopped when we crashed into something else with a loud bang and more crunching steel.
I sat there dazed for a second then began fighting the air bag. I managed to lean away from it, I turned to look at Noah and immediately bile filled my throat.
He was out of his seat, head and shoulders through the shattered windshield, waist and
hips resting on the steering wheel and air bag. He wasn’t moving but he was groaning, his eyes open and blood was everywhere.
My door was pulled open, the air bag went “poof”, it deflated and I turned to see Luke.
“I think he’s hurt,” I whispered.
Luke didn’t respond and he didn’t look at Noah. He unbuckled me then his hands started roaming, moving along my limbs, his indigo eyes scanning my body, his face hard.
“She’s good,” he clipped, to whom I didn’t know. He shoved his arms in, one under my knees, one at my back and lifted me clear of the car. That’s when I saw Matt.
I blinked as I looked around after Luke got me out of the car, not hesitating as he carried me away. I heard sirens, I saw Hector and Vance on Noah’s side of the car and heard Lee say from somewhere, “Do your best to stabilize him but get him loose.”
Daisy, Ally, Mom, Marilyn, Sofia, Olivia and Shirleen were all rushing forward. Riley was running up after them.
“Back to your cars. Get outta here. Go!” Luke roared and the women started walked slowly backwards then turned and hoofed it to their cars. Riley stopped, eyes on me. He must have been assured at what he saw because he turned and hoofed it too.
Suddenly I was jostled. One second I was in Luke’s arms, the next I was in Ren’s.
“Take care of her,” Luke ordered.
Without hesitation, Ren moved, taking me to his Jag.
“I think I should –” I started but Ren interrupted me.
“Quiet, honey,” he said softly. “Can you stand?”
I nodded. He put me on my feet and opened the passenger side door. I got in and he shut the door. Dom slid in the back, Ren rounded the front and angled behind the wheel. He just started the car when it happened.
Boom!
I jumped and let out a little scream as the car Noah and I had been in exploded.
In a flash, Ren’s hand tagged the back of my neck and he pulled me down toward his lap, his torso landing on top of me. I heard rather than saw pieces of car landing everywhere with sickening thuds, some of it hitting Ren’s Jag, making it bounce.
“Oh my God,” I whispered to Ren’s hard thigh.
After the thuds stopped, Ren came up, I came up and my hand went directly to the door handle as my eyes scanned the landscape. I stopped my attempt to exit the car and find Luke when what I saw penetrated my stunned brain.
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