Invincible (5 page)

6.

(Wes)

What the fuck was I thinking?

I had no business trying to find Rose. And now I had a gunshot wound to the shoulder as my thanks. Not to mention Rose in the passenger seat with me as I sped away from the restaurant apartment set up. I should have known better, for sure. It was a different part of town and the entire place smelled of
family
stuff. That meant if Aton wanted Rose dead, she was part of a different family and if there was a problem, it went deeper than anything I could do.

In other words, I was now going to be a target. And I had no good reason for it either.

My mind raced.

I turned my head once to look at Rose and I realized something.

She was alive.

She hadn
’
t gotten into her car.

Yet.

I gritted my teeth as I drove, knowing I had no choice but to take her back to my apartment. Shit. Whoever had been trying to kill her would be coming again. And if it was Aton
’
s guys and they saw me
…

“
I don
’
t know what I
’
m supposed to say right now,
”
Rose said in a low voice, almost a whisper.

“
Did your car blow up?
”
I asked.

“
Why would you ask that?
”

“
I don
’
t have time for banter. Tell me right now.
”

“
I guess. Yes. Sure. Maybe.
”

“
Pick a fucking answer, sweetie,
”
I said.

I took a hard right and the tires squealed on the car. My heart and adrenaline were going too fast for me to slow down or calm down. Usually when I got this fired up I was facing someone who expected me to beat the shit out of them. The difference now
…
I was sitting next a drop dead beautiful woman who was knee deep in something really dirty.

“
My brother told me to stay in the apartment,
”
Rose said.
“
He said someone was going to kill me. He said something about my car being wired, okay? I didn
’
t see the car. I obviously wasn
’
t in the car
…
and how do you know all this?
”

“
That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that we get somewhere safe, right now.
”

“
Where is that?
”
Rose asked.

I turned my head.
Goddamn, she
’
s beautiful. Just naturally beautiful.
“
Don
’
t worry about that.
”

I stared straight ahead. My shoulder throbbed in pain. My fucking leather jacket was going to have a damn hole in it.

The entire thing kept rolling through my mind all night. I woke up three times, turning on the light to look at Rose
’
s picture. It got the damn best of me and now it was getting the worst of me.

“
You can just drop me off wherever you want,
”
Rose said.

“
What?
”

“
You shouldn
’
t be involved.
”

“
Too late, sweetie. I got shot. I found your picture
…”
In your car. When I helped set it up to blow up.

“
Where did you find it?
”

I made another sharp turn. I didn
’
t respond.

When we finally got to my apartment, I grabbed Rose
’
s bag out of the car and hurried her into the apartment. I opened the door and knew the place wasn
’
t exactly company ready. But fuck it, I wasn
’
t meant to have company over right now either.

At least my room was cleaned up thanks to Tommy and Aton
’
s other goon.

Fucking Tommy.

I thought about him under the hood, setting up wires and explosives.

“
This is my place,
”
I said.
“
I don
’
t know if we
’
re actually safe here. But it
’
s better than being out on the street.
”

“
I guess.
”

I dropped Rose
’
s bag and walked toward the table. I took off my leather jacket and dropped it on the table. I made a line for the bathroom and took off my shirt.

My shoulder felt worse than it actually looked. There was a good chunk of skin cut, oozing blood, but there wasn
’
t a bullet lodged inside me. I probably needed stitches, but my career choice didn
’
t come with a health plan. There was living and there was dying. That was it.

I grabbed a towel and touched my shoulder, wincing. It damn stung like hot fire. I wetted the towel and dabbed the wound. One thing about being a fighter I always had bandages hanging around. I opened the bathroom sink cabinet and grabbed bandages, tape, and some antibacterial spray that was going to hurt like fuck.

I put everything on the sink and looked at my reflection.

You damn fool, Wes. You goddamn fool.

I grabbed the antibacterial spray and bit the cap off. I spit it into the trashcan.

“
Nice shot.
”

I turned and saw Rose standing in the doorway.

Christ, she was naturally beautiful. She didn
’
t need blood red lipstick, hairspray, or anything fancy to wear. Standing right there with her hair let down, no makeup on, and in a t-shirt and jeans, she was driving me damn mad.

I saved her and I had no clue why. I had no reason why. Now we were both in trouble.

“
What?
”
I asked.

“
Let me help,
”
she whispered.
“
I know what to do.
”

“
You have experience with bullet wounds?
”

“
Actually, I do. And knife wounds. And fighting wounds.
”

I raised an eyebrow.
Who in the hell are you, sweetie?

I dropped my hand from my shoulder and stood there, leaning against the sink. Rose stepped into the bathroom and touched my arm. I felt my dick ache in my jeans. Had I really been reduced to this? One picture of a beautiful woman and I suddenly become some kind of vigilante savior. Worse yet, Aton wanted Rose
’
s car to explode. He wanted her dead. But she wasn
’
t dead. She was alive, in my bathroom, and she was opening a bandage to put on my shoulder.

“
Do you want me to sit down?
”
I asked.

“
That would be nice,
”
she whispered.

I stepped to the side and sat on the toilet. Now I had Rose looking down at me. Her hair falling forward, letting me catch a little smell of her bed, of sleep, hints of her shampoo. She carefully put the bandage on the sink. She wiped my arm again and my shoulder jumped.

“
Sorry.
”

“
Don
’
t be,
”
I said.
“
You didn
’
t pull the trigger.
”

“
Why were you there?
”
she asked.

“
To check on you.
”

“
Still doesn
’
t make sense to me.
”

“
Maybe it
’
s not supposed to,
”
I said.

Rose looked at me. We had a couple seconds of complete silence. Staring at each other. Goddamn, it was half soothing to have someone in my apartment with me. Not just some woman for a quick go in bed and then to sleep off a few shots of whiskey. It was someone who could understand a little about my life.

“
Why would your car get blown up?
”
I asked.
“
What did you do?
”

Rose grabbed the antibacterial spray.
“
This is going to sting.
”

She pressed on the top of the bottle and it sprayed all over my shoulder.

“
Fuck!
”
I yelled and jumped up.

The spray hurt worse than getting shot. I moved forward and slammed my hand against the wall. Every muscle in my body flexed as I sucked in a breath, waiting for the pain to subside.

“
I thought you were a fighter,
”
Rose said.
“
You had to have worse than that.
”

I looked back at her.
“
Thanks for that.
”

She grabbed my wrist and pulled at me. I sat back down, feeling my heart beating in my damn shoulder.

“
You ignored my question,
”
I said.

“
I know.
”

“
So we
’
re not going to get anywhere? I put my ass on the line
…”

“
I didn
’
t ask for it.
”

I put a hand to her waist and pushed. She grabbed my hand but didn
’
t move it away. I reached up with my other hand, my shoulder burning in pain, and I touched her chin.

“
I know who wanted you dead,
”
I whispered.
“
I shouldn
’
t have done what I did for you. I now have a target on my back because of you.
”

Rose swatted my hand from her face. She curled her lip at me.
“
Oh yeah?
”

She grabbed the bandage and slapped it to my shoulder, sending pain through my entire body. She ripped at the medical tape and wrapped it around my arm. She leaned down, bit the tape, then patted my shoulder.
More burning. More pain.

“
There,
”
she said.

She turned to move and I grabbed her again. She tripped and fell back onto my lap. My hand slipped around to her stomach. I didn
’
t mean to do that, but I wasn
’
t going to fight it.

She put her hand to the sink but didn
’
t try to stand up.

“
Listen, sweetie, maybe we should start over here,
”
I said.
“
My name is Wes. I
’
m a fighter. My boss asked me to help with something last night. You know what that was?
”

“
What?
”
Rose asked.

“
It was to help one of his guys rig up a car to explode. I found a picture of you in the glovebox with an address on it. That
’
s how I found you.
”

“
You tried to kill me,
”
Rose said.

“
No. I checked to make sure you were alive,
”
I said.

Rose stood up.
“
But you thought I might be dead. You tried to bomb me. You put my
…”

Rose
’
s eyes filled with tears.

I was never good with women. I stood up, shirtless, and looked at Rose.
“
How about you take your turn now. Tell me why the fuck someone would want to kill you. You
’
re beautiful and you
’
re a wanted woman like that?
”

“
You don
’
t know about my life.
”

“
I
’
m asking.
”

“
Don
’
t.
”

“
So you know how to patch up someone who
’
s been shot? You live in a small apartment above a restaurant. It
’
s all connected. I can sense it all over you. And someone tried to kill you today, sweetie. That had nothing to do with me other than saving your ass.
”

“
Well remind me to get you a thank you card,
”
Rose said.
“
And the reason why blood and bullets don
’
t bother me is because I grew up in the world, okay? My father ran underground fighting for years. My brother was a fighter for a long time. He was one of the best, one of the scariest. His last fight got him in serious trouble because of what happened.
”

“
What
’
s his name?
”
I asked.

“
Luke.
”

Luke.

Didn
’
t ring a bell in my mind. Then again, I
’
d fought hundreds of guys throughout my life. There weren
’
t many worth remembering. Except for the one who wore the black mask. The one who killed Shane.

Rose wiped the corner of her eyes and moved for the door. I went after her and the damn woman started to run. She barreled through my apartment. I managed to get my hand to the door as she touched the doorknob. She turned away from me, shaking.

“
What is it?
”
I whispered.

“
You fucking tried to kill me. And now you
’
re trying to save me? Who are you?
”

I gritted my teeth.
“
I
’
m not a killer. I don
’
t do that stuff, sweetie. I had a
…
a bad fight. My boss was pissed. He asked me to help with a favor. I never touched a wire in your damn car. And you have yet to tell me what you did to deserve it.
”