The Hunt for Summer (NSC Industries) (37 page)

She furrowed her
brow and pursed her lips in thought.

My heart stopped
right then as the reason for Kenny’s visit hit me like a fucking freight train.

“FUCK!” I shouted as
I flew out of the room and made my way to the elevator, Ava hot on my trail.

Chapter 42

Lucas

I’d heard Red shout
‘fuck’ and then she seemed to have disappeared.

The way she had
shouted it had made my stomach clench, her terror or shock at something had been
evident in the way she sounded, but I was damned if I could find her.

What the hell was
going on?

I had repeatedly
rang her, texted her and looked everywhere for her but so far, nothing and I
was starting to get worried.

I climbed in my car
after telling Nate something was wrong and my floor was unmanned. He had told
me Ava was missing as well and then urged me away to find them both. The man
was an epic boss and I knew I owed him a decent bottle of whisky.

My first port of
call was Mason’s, that being where she was staying at the moment and my heart
started beating again when I saw Ava’s jeep parked up outside.

I just hoped Red was
with her.

I went to knock on
the door but it was already a little open, and I stilled when I heard Red’s
desperate pleas.

“Kenny, please don’t
do this.”

Something was going
down and I crept slowly into the hallway, trying desperately to keep my
breathing quiet so I could hear what was going on.

The voices were
coming from the living room and I slowly tiptoed across the hardwood floor,
silently cursing Mason for getting the noisiest flooring possible.

“Kenny, no. He’s my
friend, Ken, one of my best friends. I will never forgive you for this.”

“Yeah Kay, but he
took down all my friends, one by fucking one.” Kenny spat and I frowned at the
anger towards Red. She was his sister, why was he angry with her?

“Please…” Ava now
begged and I could hear the fear in her voice, the choke of a sob being
released as she pleaded.

I stopped dead when
I saw the scene in the room reflected into the huge hall mirror and I closed my
eyes for a moment to steal myself.

Anger and fear
choked my throat and I desperately tried to control it. I needed to keep calm
now.

Think Lucas, think.

Kenny had an arm
around Mason’s throat and a gun pointed into his side. Red was stood in front
of Ava protectively as she tried to calm her brother down, but she was inching
closer and I knew what she was going to do.

My heart exploded in
my chest when Kenny realised what she was doing and he shook his head sinisterly
at her. “Plum, don’t do it. I can’t protect you against Ricky. You know him;
he’ll expect me to take you with him.”

“You take Mason,
Kenny, then you take me as well. I won’t stand here and let you do this.” She
said and I knew it was a promise.

I noticed Ava
stealthily sneaking her hand into her bag, her action being hidden by Red’s
body and I wondered if Red knew Ava was going to take out her brother.

I didn’t blame Ava,
her loyalty and love lay with Mason and anybody would take out somebody else’s
brother to save the person they loved, but it was Red I was worried for.

I knew she was going
to lose her brother or her best friend today. Only one of them would survive
but the question was which one?

“I can protect you,
Kenny. If I’d known you were Lay’s brother then you wouldn’t have been on the
list. You wanna job with me, you’re in” Mason told him and Kenny frowned at him
as he turned to look at him.

I knew as soon as
Kenny looked at Mason what was coming and I tried desperately to get my legs to
move but they just seemed to stumble as I strove to take the distance between
Red and her brother.

Red flung herself at
Kenny; both of them seemed to spin in the air slowly before they fell to the
ground, Kenny landing heavily on top of Red.

Two gunshots
resounded and my legs quavered when I saw blood pool on the floor beside Red.

Both she and Kenny
were still and I couldn’t move, my whole body stood stock still as I shook my
head at Red’s motionlessness.

“No” I whispered,
the hoarse sound all I could manage as Mason bent beside them both.

“Call an ambulance,
NOW!”

“Fuck!” Ava declared
as she pulled out her phone and I forced my legs to carry me across the room
towards the still rigid Red, underneath Kenny’s obvious dead body.

His back was covered
in blood, his shirt now a deep red colour as his veins emptied rapidly out of
the hole Ava had put in his back.

Mason rolled Kenny
from Red and my legs completely gave way when the cavity in her stomach was
revealed to us.

“No… No…” Mason choked
out as he pressed his fists against Red’s wounds.

Ava dropped to the
side of him and bent her ear to Red’s mouth “She’s not breathing Mason, she’s
not breathing.”

“Shush baby, calm
down.”

I just sat there, my
legs under me as I stared dreamlike at the scene before me.

No, Red was fine,
she was okay. It was just Kenny’s blood, it wasn’t Red’s, no it wasn’t, it
wasn’t Red’s. She was just fine, she was good, she was fine, fine. Fine.

 “R..R..Red… Baby,
p…p..please look at me… Red…” I don’t know if I vocalised or imagined the words
but nobody turned to look at me. I wanted Red to look at me but the stubborn
woman was refusing to look at me. Always so bloody obstinate, she was.

I was going to spank
her arse ten ways to Sunday for doing this to me.

I was almost
trampled in the rush from the paramedics as they stormed past me and I watched
from afar as they pulled Mason out of the way and started to work on her, one
of them desperately trying to find one of Red’s veins as the other pulled out
the defibrillator.

What the hell did he
need a defibrillator for? Red was fine, she was just asleep, she was just
tired, that’s all, tired.

Her body jerked as
an electric current flowed through her and I clambered onto my hands and knees,
frantically crawling across the floor to help her. They were hurting her, her
tiny little body jolting wildly with each shock they put her through.

I could hear a funny
noise, it was kind of low and long but at the same time high-pitched and I
squinted at it as I unsuccessfully pulled myself along the floor towards her.

“Red... wake up now
baby, they’re hurting you.” I tried to say but the sound was getting louder and
something was bubbling up my throat.

I reeled back in
shock when my stomach pumped its entire contents all over the floor just as the
high-pitched sound turned into a scream and left my throat at an alarming
velocity.

Mason was crouched
before me saying something, his lips were moving but I couldn’t make out what
he was saying as my ears roared and my blood pumped wildly.

“No…” I managed to
choke out this time. The scream had seemed to clear my airway and I grabbed
hold of Mason, “Help her, please… help her… Mason, please….”

His face was pained
and he turned to Ava, utter desolation and alarm expressed openly.

Ava now appeared
beside me and she wrapped both arms around me.

It was only then I
realised how badly I was trembling, my whole body seemed to quake and shake violently
as she pulled me against her.

“Shush Lucas,
they’re doing everything they can for her, I promise, I promise Lucas.”

“You have to help
her Ava, they’re hurting her. She won’t like the electric thing, she’ll hate
that. It will hurt her…”

She nodded and
gestured her chin towards the paramedics “They’ve stopped look, they’re not
using the defibrillator now, look.”

I turned to look but
the whine came back and I quickly diverted my gaze again. Every time I looked
at Red, my heart seemed to stop beating and my ears pounded as a high-pitched
whine came from inside me, choking me and suffocating me.

So I didn’t look.

I refused to look.

I refused to
acknowledge.

She was fine.

She was fine.

Chapter 43

Layla

So dark.
Everywhere, darkness flooded me and I squinted to find anything I could
concentrate on.

“Hey, baby.”

“Ry?” I gasped as
I turned to the voice behind me.

His deep laugh
made me smile. “What are you doing here, Ry?”

“I should be
asking you that, Kay. What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”

“I’m not even
sure where we are, Ry.”

He patted the
bench beside him and I frowned, I was sure that wasn’t there a moment ago.

I settled beside
him and curled into his strong chest when he lifted his arm for me.

His hand stroked
my hair gently and I calmed immensely and relished myself in his scent and
hold.

“I miss you” I
whispered to him and his arm tightened around me.

“Me too, baby.”

We remained
silent for a while, both of us revelling in each other’s presence. “You need to
go back now, Kay. You don’t belong here.”

I turned to look
up at him, “But…”

He shook his head
firmly, “Not yet, Kay. I’m doing okay without you, you need to get back. Lucas
needs you.”

I nodded but
didn’t move. “Will you look after Kenny?”

He nodded. “And
you Todd?”

I nodded in
acknowledgment before he kissed the top of my head and pulled back.

“Oh, and by the
way, don’t be a bloody hero again” he scolded softly.

I nodded “No, it
wasn’t one of my best ideas.”

He chuckled
lightly then pressed his mouth against my forehead as he took my hand in his,
“Always, Kay” he whispered.

“Always, Ry.”

***

His back was to me
when I opened my eyes. His gaze through the window, his shirt was wrinkled and
plastered to his strong back with his sweat and his hand was running through
his wild hair.

I knew then how much
I loved him and how much he loved me, and I knew I would never find another man
who loved me as much as Lucas did.

I felt Ryan’s hand
slide from mine as he handed me over to another, to a man who would protect me
with his life and his very soul, and I, he.

As if he sensed my
consciousness, he turned slowly and gripped the window frame as he saw my open
eyes.

I tried to say
something but the tube that fed through my nose, and lined my throat into my
lungs prevented me.

“Red?”

I smiled slowly but
I managed it.

“Oh God, Red…” he
choked out.

He stumbled over to
me and dropped to his knees by the bed as he took both my hands in his. His
head came down to rest on top of them and then he cried, loudly and
uncontrollably, as he chanted my name over and over.

“Red, baby. God, I
love you, I love you…” over and over until I slid one hand from his and lifted
it to my mouth, kissed two fingers and placed them on his lips.

He stood and leaned
into me, his face hovering over mine as he returned my kiss with a soft gentle
touch of his lips on mine. “You are in for one hell of a fucking spanking,
Red.”

I smiled and nodded as
eagerly as I could, then flinched at the pain in my stomach.

“Hang on baby, I’ll
get a nurse.”

He disappeared and I
smiled gently as Ryan blew me a kiss from the corner of the room and then
vanished.

“Bye, baby” I
whispered to him, knowing he was okay, he was doing fine and he would wait a
while longer for me.