No One's Hero (Chadwell Hearts) (24 page)

The door opens and Megan is with Felix and Matt. “Please don’t make me do this,” she begs as she clutches at her brother’s arm. “Do you have any idea how mad Mom would be if she found out you’re mixed up in this mess? Don’t hurt her like Dad has.” Megan is almost unrecognizable as the spunky girl with a friendly smile I met the night I moved into the dorm. Her eyes have lost some of their light, her hair is in severe need of brushing, and she’s got a new flightiness about her, as if she’s ready to flee at any moment.

Matt backhands her across the face and the sound of his fist hitting her cheekbone churns my stomach. She whimpers, but says no more. “Which one is Alexis?” Matt snarls as he pulls a gun from his waistband.

Megan flinches at the sight of it, but her brother won’t let her flee, though she obviously wants to. “I don’t know,” Megan wails.

“You two, apart.” Matt waves his gun at us, but I don’t budge, and I keep a tight hold on Amelia’s hand. As long as we stand together, and stay together, they can’t shoot one of us without shooting the other. At least not from across the room. And in order to claim the hefty ransom I know they’re hoping for, they will need to show that we’re alive. Kevin will never let Axel turn over the money otherwise.

“Which one?” Matt asks again, causing Megan to cringe.

“I don’t know,” she mumbles, not meeting my eyes. I have no idea what her part is in this, but at least she doesn’t look like she’s here of her own free will either. It really sucks to think I might have been betrayed by the only friend I’ve made so far at college. Her brother raises his hand to strike her again and she shrieks. “It’s hard, okay. Maybe if you’d let me go back to school rather than forcing me to stay here I’d be able to tell. But I can’t.”

So that’s where she’s been. I wonder what she saw or heard that made them keep her here, but I don’t think it matters right now.

Felix laughs. “Right, so you could run back to your little friend and tell her Matty-boy here sent that car to run her off the road.”

I guess that answers my question. Matt and Felix must have had Megan use Tanner to get me away from Kevin. I don’t know how much Megan knew before hand, or how much she was just doing as her brother asked, but she still participated and knowing that hurts. I trusted her, and I shouldn’t have.

Matt keeps his attention on us, rather than on his sister. “I told you two to move. Apart. Don’t make me tell you again, and don’t think I won’t shoot you both.”

I tilt my chin up defiantly. “If you shoot us both, Axel Chadwell will never pay your ransom.”

Matt sighs. “Felix. Move them.”

Felix steps into the room, striding toward me with a wicked gleam in his eye. Blood rushes in my ears as my heart beats frantically. I grip Amelia’s hand harder, and wait, knowing I’m only going to get one chance for my plan to work.

—-♥—-

L
exi

Felix licks his lips as he reaches for my shoulder.

I force myself to wait, biding my time just a little longer. I need him to come in closer, so as much as I don’t want his grubby hands on me, that’s exactly what I need to wait for. Amelia’s hand is clammy in mine; she’s as nervous as I am. My own palms are sweating as I adjust my grip. It’s almost like everything is moving in slow motion as Felix grabs my shoulder. As soon as his fingers make contact, I swing my other hand around and slam the top half of a wine bottle into the side of his head. I force myself not to recoil, not to temper the blow even as I want to shy away from such a violent move, reminding myself that right now it’s them or us.

Felix yelps as he stumbles backward, his hand clutching the side of his head. It’s at this moment that I drop Amelia’s hand to lunge forward, grabbing the gun from Felix’s waistband. I try to shove it into Amelia’s hand, but she’s frozen in place. Megan screams—why, I’m not sure—and Matt shoves her out of his way as he storms toward me.

I can only imagine how I must look, brandishing a broken wine bottle in one hand and a wobbling gun in my other. I think I should drop the bottle and focus on steadying the gun, but I can’t seem to make my fingers release the handle. Amelia and I searched all the boxes in here, and the only things of use we found were a few bottles of wine. We smashed this one to create a make-shift weapon. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I’m not too sure. Although it did at least let me get a hold of a gun.

Matt reaches for me and I swing my wine bottle, forcing him to jump backwards. It only takes a moment for him to recover and lunge again. I thrust forward with all my strength, committed to the blow. Matt darts to the side to avoid the sharp edges of the bottle, and I see my opening. “Go!” I shout at Amelia, jerking my head toward the open doorway. Megan is just now rising to her feet from when her brother shoved her and for a moment she looks like she’s going to stand in my way.

But she doesn’t. She hurries into the hall ahead of us and doesn’t stop me when I slam the door closed. For a moment she and I look at each other, and I see the apology in her eyes. She punches a code on the number pad that’s beside the door. “That will only hold them long enough for them to radio up front for one of the others to come let them out.”

I nod, understanding. She’s bought us time, but not safety. It’s more than I expected, so I’m not complaining. “Come with us,” I say. “If we’re caught, I’ll say I forced you to help us at gunpoint.” I’m worried that if I don’t keep her with me they’ll punish her for helping us. But I’m not going to waste time trying to convince her, either. Two rights and a left, I remind myself, heading the way I think we came from.

“They’re going to find us,” Amelia quietly sobs behind me.

I think we’re almost out when I hear voices and several pair of footsteps not far behind. “In here,” Megan opens a side door and I make a snap decision to trust her, following her into the room. The door closes behind us and we’re plunged into darkness. “Feel your way to the back, there’s a row of lockers.” Megan’s low whisper comes from somewhere to my right.

Amelia is easy to find, she’s the one quietly sniffling. I pull her with me by the hand and quickly find the lockers Megan mentioned. It’s cramped, and dark, but I manage to shut us inside one. Thank goodness they are at least three times the size of my old high school locker, or we never would have fit in together. And after just finding her, I can’t bear the thought of being out of reach. The inside of the locker smells of sweat and grime so I force myself to only take shallow breaths, trying not to smell it any more than I have to.

Footsteps pass in the hall and I hold my breath, afraid of being discovered at any moment. When their steps recede I slowly release the breath and nearby I hear Amelia do the same. “What now?” she whispers.

“I don’t know,” I admit. We could try to make it to the exit, but they’ve got my keys so we won’t make it far. We fall silent again as another set of footsteps pass, and this time we remain quiet even after they are gone.

The next set of footsteps we hear doesn’t pass, instead they open the door. I suck in a sharp breath and will each of my muscles to hold perfectly still. He’s got a radio with him, and I hear someone asking for everyone to check in. “The back door alarm is still set. They didn’t go out that way.  I think they’re still in the building.” It sounds like Matt, but I’m not sure. A few others report, each of them stating that they’ve seen no sign of us. “Felix, you there?” He’s met with silence. Maybe I hit Felix harder than I thought. I can’t help being a bit proud. “Mickey, what about your way?”

Mickey doesn’t answer either, and the man outside the lockers curses under his breath. “Someone check the electrical room. Mickey was supposed to check there.”

A light floods the room as Matt—who I can now see through the slats on the locker—flips a switch and glances around the room. His eyes narrow as his gaze rests on the lockers, and my heart stutters. Each step he takes towards my hiding place is agonizing. I think that my life should be flashing before my eyes right now, but it isn’t. Instead, I’m engulfed with a deep sense of regret. I’ve wasted so much time by being reckless with the life I was given, not valuing it because it felt cursed, overshadowed by my sister’s death. I never really felt like my life was my own, and now it’s going to be too late.

Amelia’s fingers find mine and I wonder if this is how we were in the womb, holding on to each other tightly while not ready for the world on the other side. Maybe it’s only fitting that this is how we should die. Or one of us, at least.

I take another deep breath, steeling myself for the locker door to open.

The latch makes a metallic click as Matt lifts it and then harsh light assaults my eyes. Matt’s gaze is cold as he levels the barrel of his gun directly at my head. “If I had to take a guess,” he says, “you’re Alexis. Nick was right when he said you were nothing but trouble. But fortunately for him, you won’t be for much longer.”

My arms tremble as I squeeze my eyes closed at the same time as I tense my finger on the trigger of the gun I stole from Felix. It doesn’t give as easily as I thought it would; I have to put some effort into it. My eyes are still closed tight, not wanting to see anything as noise explodes from the gun—which gun I’m not even sure. I feel no pain, not yet anyway, and I wonder if that means I’m dead. I hear a girl scream, and still I keep my eyes closed, afraid to see.

The locker beside me clangs open and then I hear Megan crying. “Matt, oh my God, Matt.”

“Lexi?” Amelia whispers.

My shoulders are heaving as I finally pry my eyes open. Megan is crouched over her brother, clinging to his chest as a red stain blossoms on his shoulder. His eyes are open, and he’s definitely still breathing. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about that. I look down at my own chest and see no wounds. I feel my head with my free hand, still tightly clutching the gun with my other. “I shot him,” I say incredulously, sure now that it was my gun that went off.

Dizziness swarms through my head, threatening to drown my senses in a whirlpool of disbelief. Before I can finish processing the scene before me a frantic shout echoes through the hallway.

“Lexi!” Kevin roars.

Kevin! He’s here. I knew he would come, but I didn’t know if it would be in time. My limbs work of their own accord without any intentional input from me and I climb from the locker, leap over Matt’s fallen form and dash toward the door. If I can just get to Kevin, everything will be all right. I think I’m clear of Matt when a hand grabs my ankle and I go down, hard. I flail wildly, trying to catch my balance and when I fall it’s all wrong. The bone in my forearm snaps as my palm hits the concrete and white hot pain blurs my vision.

I blink just in time to see Megan lifting Matt’s gun, aiming it at me. “You shot my brother.”

“Megan, don’t,” I beg. “He hit you, remember? Matt isn’t a good person, but you are.”

She shakes her head. “Not anymore.”

“You don’t have to do this,” I plead.

The pain in my arm is intense, probably the most painful thing I’ve ever felt, and it’s all I can do not to succumb to it.

Megan is clearly torn, caught between hating the things her brother has done, and loving him unconditionally. And I get it. I’ve loved Amelia as many days as I’ve hated her, and I only met her today. But when it comes down to it, she’s my sister and that’s all that matters. I hated her for dying as much as I hated myself for living. Not a bit of it was rational, but it was all true. And that’s where Megan is now, lost in irrational turmoil.

Kevin’s solid frame crashes into the doorway, a hard look on his face. “Don’t,” I choke out. I don’t know if he hears me, but he doesn’t listen. Kevin lines up a shot and fires, shooting the gun out of Megan’s hand. She screams as the gun drops to the floor and clutches her hand to her chest, cradling it with her other hand.

“You shot me. You fucking shot me!” she wails.

Amelia is climbing out of the locker with a stunned look plastered across her face. Kevin looks from me to her and back to me again. “Holy shit.”

I give him a pained nod. “There are at least three others here. I don’t know if they are all armed, or not.” I look over at Matt and though he’s still breathing his eyes are now closed. He probably needs to see a doctor, and soon. For that matter, so do I.

“They’ve already been neutralized.” Kevin kneels just long enough to scoop me into his arms. His face is tight with worry and guilt. “This was a really stupid thing to do.”

As sirens wail in the distance, I reach up with my non-injured hand, lightly touching his cheek. “It’s okay. I knew you’d come.”

—-♥—-

K
evin

Lexi made me wait in the hallway while the ER doctor set her broken arm. I think she was afraid I might hit him, and she wasn’t far off base. Seeing pain reflected in her eyes destroys me, and I’m definitely feeling the need to pound on someone for a while. And it’s not like I can take my anger out on her, even if she is the one I’m mad at. I can’t believe she was this freaking stupid.

Actually, scratch that. I can definitely believe she was this freaking stupid. She’s reckless, impulsive, and selfless, and I’m going to wring her neck for making me fall hopelessly in love with her. She’s so wrong for me. She challenges me at every turn, won’t let me keep her safe and will constantly make me worry. And yet she makes me feel alive again, and I can’t imagine wanting anyone else.

The doctor pulls back the curtain and Lexi gives me a lazy-half smile as she attempts to climb off the exam bed, wobbling in the process. I dart forward and wrap her in my arms to steady her. Her smile spreads, but it’s off. I glare questioningly at the doctor.

“We gave Ms. Feron some pretty strong painkillers. She might be a bit out of it for a few hours.” He shoves a small square of paper into my hands. “Here’s a prescription for more.”

“She’s cleared to go then?”

“Yes, you can take her home. Have her follow up with an orthopedic doctor in two weeks. The number for one I recommend will be on her discharge paperwork, which a nurse should have for you at the desk. Good luck.”