Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (23 page)

The guy moved uneasily behind
her. I could feel his nervousness in the air.

I
moved closer. “Whose money do you think it is?”

The guy fidgeted again, but then he tensed, a resolve of some sort coming
into his eyes. Not good.

“It’s mine now!” he yelled. “Turn around and walk away, and I might let her live.”

The knife strained against her throat. I looked at Kaeli, trying to gauge how she was holding up, but she was looking over my head, up at the grimy windows of the house behind me. I saw the knife cut into her flesh as he tightened his hold on her again. A tiny trickle of blood ran down her neck. Kaeli closed her eyes.

Game over
. I checked my aim, and fired.

The guy dropped to the ground, the bullet hitting him right in the middle of his forehead. Kaeli fell to the ground with him, scrambling
on her knees to get away from the dirty fucker. I wanted to go to her, but I had to get rid of Davo first.

“Davo, take
the bag and get it back to the house. Text TJ and tell him what happened, and tell him I’ll make the delivery to Ken when it’s set.”

Davo just nodded, picked the bag up, and disappeared back into the shadows.

I went straight to Kaeli, helping her to her feet. “Are you alright?” I asked, frantic.

She looked up at me, her blue eyes wide. “You shot him.”

I sighed. I knew it was coming. I was actually surprised it took killing someone for her to see the horror in me. “Kaeli, he was going to slit your throat.”

“I know! I didn’t mean that you shouldn’t have, I just can’t…you saved me,” she said, throwing her arms around my neck.

Fuck me! She was happy?! Man, I couldn’t work her out. I gave her a quick hug, wishing I could hold her longer. “Kaeli, we have to get out of here. The police are probably on their way.”

She nodded in understanding and we ran.

Chapter 41

Kaeli

My brain was blank. I was seriously spacing out.

Dead. The guy was dead. And Mitch had shot him. Dead.

Did I mention how the guy was dead?

I
ran beside Mitch, his hand clamped tightly around mine like I was going to fall down at any moment. I wanted to say the chances of that happening were non-existent, but I was probably a lot closer to it becoming a reality than I knew.

I could still feel the point of the knife at my throat. I could still feel the shadow of the panic that had filled me. I could still hear the echo of the gunshot that had pierced the air.

“Not far now,” Mitch said soothingly in my ear.

Mitch was a cop. Wasn’t he? He was allowed to kill that guy because he was about to kill me. Right?

I trembled.

He must’ve been absolutely certain he had a clean shot. Right? He wouldn’t have taken it if he wasn’t. Would he?

The trembling continued.

I was so confused. I just couldn’t seem to get my thoughts straight. Did that really just happen? Maybe it was just a dream…

No. A nightmare.

We stopped
running and Mitch opened a door that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He led me through it and closed it again behind us.

I blinked. We seemed to be standing in a kitchen. A short, stocky guy with dirty blonde hair stood across from us. I knew I’d seen him before, but for the life of me I couldn’t recall his name.

“You call TJ?” Mitch asked him.

He nodded. “Yeah, he’s on his way.” His gaze flashed to me and he cocked his head to the side. “She okay?”

Mitch sighed. “I think she’s in shock. I’m going to take her upstairs.”

The guy nodded and Mitch sent us moving again.

When we made it upstairs, he took me into the bathroom and closed the door. Before I could ask what we were doing – if I could ever figure out how get my tongue to work, he lifted me up to sit me on the bench beside the sink.

I watched him take a wash cloth from the shelf and run it under some warm water before ringing it out again. Then he started washing me. He started with my face and neck, then my hair, wiping sections at a time. Each time he rinsed the cloth under the tap, pink water swirled around the bowl. I wondered what it was.

When he was satisfied with my appearance, he led me from the bathroom and into a bedroom. A familiar voice deep inside my head told me it was Mitch’s room, but I couldn’t seem to put it all together.

“Put your arms up,” he said softly.

I obeyed.

Mitch grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it up over my head. For some reason it didn’t bother me to be standing in front of him in just my jeans and bra. Oh well.

I blinked when he grabbed his own shirt and shucked it off, but then he was pulling it down over my head, covering me back up. Before he pulled it over my hips, he unbuttoned my jeans and lowered the zipper. I stood still as he worked them down each of my legs, encouraging me to lean on him as he lifted each foot to remove my shoes and jeans completely.

When he was done, he gently pushed me backwards towards the bed and guided me to sit on the edge. Satisfied I wasn’t going to topple over, he strode over to the table and poured a splash of amber liquid into a glass before bringing it back over to me and placing it in my hands.

“Drink it,” he said.

I
didn’t argue. I just threw it back and felt it burn down my throat.

Mitch sank down to squat in front of me, his thumbs rubbing circles on my bare thighs. It felt nice.

I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that for, but it seemed like a while before I finally started to feel myself coming back to the land of the living.

Inhaling deeply, I drew it down, deep into my lungs, before
letting it back out again, slowly. “I’m glad you can shoot straight,” I said.

A wide grin broke out on Mitch’s face. All the tension I hadn’t noticed he’d been holding onto immediately left him. “Best there is,” he said.

Without another thought, I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, lowering myself onto my knees between his legs. I held him as close to me as I could, and after a few heartbeats, his arms came around me and he held me back.

That was my green light, and
I didn’t hesitate. I knew what I needed and I was going to do my best to get it. Pulling back a little, I turned my head and pressed my lips to his.

Mitch’s whole body stilled. I knew I’d caught him by sur
prise. I just hoped he didn’t stop me.

Slowly, I moved my hands over his shoulders, sliding one to cup the back of his neck, and the other to the side of his neck so I could stroke my thumb over the stubble on his jaw. At the same time, I licked
that lip ring I was beginning to love so much.

His response was instantaneous. His hands tightened around me, pulling me even closer, if that was possible, and his mouth opened to accept my inquisitive tongue. When his tongue joined mine in the game of exploration, my body erupted
in sensation, and we were suddenly in a free for all. Neither of us could seem to get enough of the other.

Mitch’s hands m
oved greedily, sliding under the shirt I was wearing to glide over the bare skin of my stomach, then around to the small of my back, stroking down over my ass to the backs of my thighs, before making the trek back up again and around to cup by breasts.

I moaned when he gave each of my nipples a little squeeze through my bra. “Oh
, god,” I breathed. “Mitch...”

Mitch’s whole body went still, his hands still cupping my breasts. I stilled with him, wondering what was wrong. Was someone coming?

I pulled back so I could read his face, but his eyes were closed. I listened out for sound beyond the closed bedroom door, but heard nothing. I was just about to ask him what happened, but before I could open my mouth, his hands disappeared and he was pushing himself back to stand up.

I blinked with confusion, sitting back on my heels. What did I do? I thought back to what I was doing when he froze. All I’d done is groan out his na-

Oh shit.

It took all of three seconds for my mind to flash back to the last couple of times we’d made out and he’d stopped it. The same thing had happened those times too.

I’d moaned his name and he’d stopped.

God da
mn it. Why hadn’t I thought of that already? If he was a cop, of course he wouldn’t be using his real name.

His name wasn’t Mitch.

Chapter 42

Noah

It was torture. Plain and simple. To have her so close but not be able to
have
her was a pain I’d never experienced before. It cut me deep.

Pacing the room, I tried to gather my thoughts and direct them towards the big goal.

It didn’t work.

All I could think about was t
he feel of her under my hands. The taste of her on my tongue. The sound of her breath in my ears. It was maddening.

I knew I was probably confusing the fuck out of her, and that just gave me another shot of guilt to add to all the rest. Fuck my life.

I turned back to face her, expecting to see hurt and confusion in her expression, but the look on her face was neither of those things. Instead, it was apologetic and sympathetic.

Caught off guard, I blanched. I didn’t understand.

“Kaeli-” I started.

A pounding on the door stopped me. “Mitch! We need to talk!”

Shit. TJ.

Kaeli’s eyes widened, then one second later, she ripped the shirt
she was wearing over her head, dumping it unceremoniously on the floor. I froze. What the hell was she doing?

“Mitch?!” TJ yelled again.

Fuck. “Ah…yeah…hang on…”

Kaeli scrambled – in her bra and panties – onto my bed, climbing under the covers. It wasn’t until she started unhooking her bra that I finally
got on the same page.

Acting fast, I stripped down to my boxers and threw my jeans on the floor with the rest of the discarded clothing. Kaeli threw her bra on the floor and curled up under the blankets in a protective ball.

With one quick look back at her, I opened the door, allowing enough of an opening for TJ to see her. I hated it, but it was necessary. “Hey, man. What’s up?”

He gazed past me to where Kaeli was huddled in my bed and exhaled heavily.
“We’re on lockdown. The alleys are crawling with cops.”

I ran my hand over my hair and went for a
n irritated look. “I’d say I was sorry, but that arrogant fucker pissed me the fuck off.”

TJ shook his head. “No, it’s all good. I’m glad you took the fucker out. You know if he was working for anyone?”

I blew out an exasperated breath. “It was definitely a job. I heard him talking to her before I showed myself. He said he was told she was a hot piece of ass, and that he had to cover his tracks and kill her.”

I didn’t need to pretend to be pissed off. Just remembering
it was Aaron behind it all, and the way that piece of shit had looked at her had me seeing red.

I watched TJ’s eyes narrow. “A connection to Ken?” he asked.

I didn’t want to lead TJ to Aaron too much, but he wasn’t stupid. There had to be some truth in there or he’d see through it. “Not Ken, I don’t think. Maybe his son though. He’s made some connections over the last couple of months and could’ve mentioned the girl’s involvement when he was wasted or something…”

TJ nodded. I could see the wheels turning inside his head.
“Yeah, I could see that.”

He fell silent for a little while as he thought it over then huffed. Looking over my shoulder, his eyes zer
oed in on Kaeli and he smirked.

I automatically turned to see what he was smirking at and almost flinched. Kaeli was cowering
against my bed head with the covers clamped tight to her chest, looking like she’d been well and truly used and abused. My stomach twisted at the sight.

“You better get used to it
, sweetheart,” TJ said. “You’re going to be here for a while.”

Kaeli’s eyes widened and she jerked
up straighter, the sheet still clutched to her chest. “What? No. I can’t stay here. My Mom…my mom will get worried. She’ll call the police…”

I rolled my eyes like she was being dramatic and gave TJ a pointed look. “Maybe you should get a message through to Ken to smooth it over with her old lady.”

He stepped back from the door and laughed. “Yeah, if she’s anything like her daughter then I think that might be best.”

With that, he turned and disappeared down the hall.

Closing the door, I quickly locked it and rested my forehead against the frame. I was doing a really poor job of keeping her safe. Steeling myself, I turned to gauge how she was taking the news.