On The Rocks (46 page)

“Oh, ho ho!” Lennox said. “You don’t know
about Martina, do you, Kizzie? Bet he hasn’t brought that up for
pillow talk. Do you know the kind of sick shit Johnny-Boy does to
his girls?”

“Kiz,” Xander said with a calm he didn’t
feel, “I need you to go wait in the car for me.”

Yes, the same car they’d just wrecked and
had to crawl out of. He’d have told her to wait on the far side of
the moon if that were an option. Anywhere would be better than
right here.

Blood spatter had a tendency to travel…

“But that’s not the half of it,” Lennox
said. “Hurtin’ ‘em ain’t enough. No, when he’s done the
relationship is well and truly over. Bullet to the heart kind of
over.”

“Princess…”

She didn’t move.

“‘Princess,’ is it? Well,
princess
,
run along like a good little girl. Johnny doesn’t want you to see
what he really is.” Rolling onto his back, Lennox stretched his
arms wide like he was being crucified for some worthy cause. He
pinned Xander with a harsh glare. “G’head. Show her you ain’t shit
but a killer like me.”

Xander smiled thinly. “She knows. And I’m
much
worse.” To Kizzie, “Haul ass. The leash on my temper’s
not gonna hold, and you don’t need to see this.”

Amazing how rage and adrenaline masked pain.
It was as though he hadn’t just been in an accident. All Xander
knew was the madness, so consumed by it a spaceship could land on
the grass behind him and he wouldn’t notice.

“Was it jealousy, John? Is that why you
killed her?” Lennox smiled again, that gap in his teeth a perfect
bullseye. “That’s what it was. You got hot I fucked your
bitch?”

“Not at all. But I may have been mildly
annoyed you flipped her.”

“So you put a slug in her?”

“Two slugs,” Xander corrected, voice full of
sand. “I should have gutted her after you tried to have her kill
me. She was a poor shot, though; clipped my wing. Guess I was
feeling merciful. But I don’t feel shit for you.”

The gun bucked in his hand.

Lennox howled and rolled to his side. Knee
curled to his chest, he writhed on the ground, gripping the foot
with a fresh bullet hole in it. “You fffff
uckin’
asshole.
You shot me!”

“You’re smarter than I gave you credit for.
But how many did you use? Six, wasn’t it? Three in the back. Two in
the leg. One in the heh… head…” His voice died out. Rage and
sadness threatened to undo him but he beat them back, turned his
tone to steel. “Five more to go. Then the fun starts.”

“It was just business, John. Retribution
from her family. I was just the hired gun.”

Xander leaned forward and whispered, “I know
that. But he didn’t.”

Lennox’s eyes flared with understanding.

Xander nodded. Shifted his shoulders. “Where
do you want this one?”

“Fuck you, John. I didn’t know.”

No one knew.

No one was supposed to know.

Xander cocked the hammer back.

“X, wait.”

“Not now, Princess.” Kizzie put her hand on
his back and it took everything in him not to scream at her.
“Kizzie.”

“I need information. Just… Just give me
three minutes.
Please
.”

“Sixty seconds,” he bit out. To Lennox,
“Then I’m gonna clean up your mistake.”

Slow breath in. Hold… two… three… four…

Slow breath out.

Kizzie had no idea how much he was giving
her right now. Had it been anyone else, they’d have had to get this
info through a séance or a Ouija board, ‘cause Lennox would be
lying here with his head on the other side of the road.

“What was your job, Lennox?” she asked.

“
Chuchu
…” Lennox pleaded. Xander
wasn’t sure what the endearment meant, but he didn’t like it. Not
even a little bit. “You don’t understand.”

Kizzie took a step nearer to Lennox. A low
growl started in Xander’s throat and she stopped. She glanced at
him, went back to Lennox. “You said you were Bill’s hired gun. So
you still are. What was your job? Was it Galletti?”

Lennox gazed up at her, eyes soft and filled
with longing. Realization dawned, and Xander almost squeezed off a
round before Kizzie’s sixty seconds were up.

He loved her.

It was there, plain as day in the way Lennox
looked at her like she was his. Would always be his. And Kizzie
knew it. Did she feel the same?

Xander couldn’t risk turning his head and
taking his eyes off the bastard on the ground.

Couldn’t risk turning his head and seeing
that same love reflected back. From her to someone other than
him.

He snuck a peek anyway.

“Tate, no more secrets, right?” Kizzie said.
“It was Galletti, wasn’t it? Which one, Abrahan? Sanzio?”

“Minute’s up,” Xander said calmly.

Kizzie screamed, “Dammit, Tate, tell me!
Metis wasn’t your job, so who were you sent to kill? Sabine?”

“No.” Before Xander could react, Lennox
pulled a pistol from his ankle holster. Pointed it right at Kizzie,
his aim true. “I was sent to kill you.”

“WHAT?”

KIZZIE’S CONFUSED voice floated over to
Lennox’s ears, but he kept his eyes on John. Or Xander. Or whoever
the hell this guy was.

“Do it, John.” Angled awkwardly on the
ground, he had both hands on the gun and kept it steady on his
girl. It made him sick to his stomach, but he was out of options.
“Pull the trigger. You might get me, but I’ll get her. Not that you
care. She’s probably just another pawn in your game.”

Kizzie inched away and the barrel followed
her.

“Don’t move,
chuchu
.” Lennox snapped
his head to her, and then went back to John. “Please. I don’t want
to hurt you. You
know
I don’t want to hurt you. But it’s up
to him. He puts the gun down, you live. If not, at least we’ll be
together on the other side.”

John cursed.

“What’s it gonna be, John? You putting that
piece down or are you walking out of here solo?”

“X, don’t even think about it.”

But John wouldn’t risk her. Lennox knew it.
Still, he had to force the other man’s hand. “Five seconds, and
I’ll make the decision for you… Four… Three…”

Sure enough, John glared at him, but he
tossed his gun away.

Lennox breathed a silent sigh. The threat on
him was gone, but he kept Kizzie in his crosshairs so John didn’t
attack. Rolling to his knees took some effort, but once he got
there he wedged his good foot under him. Powering up on one leg, he
gingerly set his injured foot on the ground. Eased his weight onto
it and grimaced as pain exploded into his limb strong enough to
double him over.

“You have to come with me, Kizzie.”

She shook her head. “Who wants me dead?”

“
Chuchu
, we have to leave. Now.”

“Why me, Lennox?”

“What’d I first tell you when you came to
me? I told you, you’re an asset until you’re a liability. Then
you’re dead.”

“That doesn’t explain why. I deserve to know
why.” She rubbed her hands over her bare arms like she was
freezing.

Lennox tipped his head toward John. “If I
had to guess, it’s the company you keep. Bill must know about
him.”

“
Bill
? Connolly sent you?” Twisting
her head, she chuckled softly. “Because he knew you wouldn’t
hesitate to put a bullet in me.”

“Kizzie, we have to go. Now.”

She held her arms out. Her chest heaved from
the harsh breaths thundering out of her throat. “No. You want to
kill me, do it right here.”

Couldn’t she see he would
never
hurt
her?

Couldn’t she see he was trying to save her
life?

She had to come with him so he could keep
her safe.

He turned and trained the weapon on John.
“You come with me and he lives.”

Her head snapped to the right. She took a
step forward, automatic as breathing.

“Goddammit, Princess, stop!” John
barked.

“Keep coming,
chuchu
, or I kill
him.”

Kizzie glanced at John. “You’re not dying
because of me, X.”

Then she stepped through the debris,
carefully picking her way closer.

“Toss me my rucksack.” Lennox said, keeping
his eye on John. His bag came barreling toward him and he caught
it. Motioned to hers. “Grab yours. Your clothes are already in the
car.”

She nodded. Shoved her arms through the
loops of her bag and tugged the straps down tight.

“Come on.”

Once she was close enough, he reached out
and spun her around so they could back out of there. No way was he
turning his back on John Barken. Not a chance in hell.

John took a step forward and Lennox hooked
his arm around Kizzie’s neck, forcing her into a chokehold. “Don’t
think I won’t kill you, John. And I’ll make sure you stay dead this
go ‘round.”

Kizzie’s hands came up and tugged at his
forearm. “Lennox, you’re hurting me.”

“Tell your man to stop and everybody walks
out of here alive.”

“We’re gonna do that anyway, Tate.” Kizzie
said. “And I’m
not
going with you.”

Lennox almost stumbled over his feet. He
frowned. “You have to.”

“No. This is so you don’t kill him and he
doesn’t kill you. That’s it. Once you’re into the trees, you’re
going to let me go.”

“Kizzie, you have to come with me. I’ll keep
you safe.”

She shook her head. “You’ll have to kill
me.”

A branch snapped and Lennox looked up.
“Don’t make me do it, John. Don’t make me kill you in front of her.
Don’t make her hate me forever.”

John took another step forward. Lennox
planted a bullet in a tree by his head.

Kizzie gasped. “X, stop.
Please
,” she
begged, her voice full of emotion Lennox wished she held for
him.

John stopped short.

The wound in Lennox’s foot hurt like hell,
and his shoe was soggy. He had to convince Kizzie to come with him,
but time was not on his side. John had that wild, glittery look in
his eye, the one a guy in love got when his girl was threatened.
The one that said no risk was too great if it saved her. Lennox
recognized it easily. It was the same feral look he imagined he
wore a moment ago when John had his filthy paws on
his
girl.

“Come with me, Kizzie,” he whispered.

Kizzie shook her head and his heart sank to
the center of the Earth. He had to go now. He had to say goodbye to
her again and the pain of that made him wish John or Xander or
whoever the man standing across from them was hadn’t wasted that
goddamned bullet by putting it in his foot. Had at least had the
common sense to aim for his inner thigh. Nicked that femoral artery
and let him bleed out fast instead of this slow death by
rejection.

Gun still trained on the guy he’d put in a
pine box years before, Lennox pressed his mouth to Kizzie’s ear.
Rattled off a number.

“You got that?” She nodded subtly and he
added, “Change your mind. Please,
chuchu
, change your
mind.”

The pause gave him hope.

“No,” she said.

He let out a shaky breath. Swallowed back
the lump in his throat.

Melded the muzzle to her temple and let his
fingertip caress the trigger.

“Tate!” John called. “It’s me you want. Let
her go.”

Lennox ignored him. “Then I might as well
kill you now, Kizzie, ‘cause Connolly won’t stop until you’re dead.
Whatever you did, whatever you know, he’ll use every weapon at his
disposal to find you. He’ll hunt you until he stops you. Chances of
you seeing next week are slim to none.”

“You do what you gotta do, Lennox. But you
need to know I forgive you. Either way I forgive you. For now. For
Belém. Don’t carry that with you anymore, okay.”

Kizzie angled her head, twisting into the
barrel to look over her shoulder at him. “I owe you. More than
you’ll ever know I owe you. And I’m sorry you carried it this long,
but let it go now.”

That gutted him.

Her forgiveness ripped him open wide and
left an already seeping wound flooding. All this open air and he
couldn’t catch his breath.

“Let me guess,” she motioned toward the
house, “You were making s’mores? There are easier ways to burn a
mission, Tate.”

She chuckled and Lennox joined in, not
wanting to laugh at all but he needed to share just one more moment
with her. Store one more memory away to last him the rest of his
days.

He pressed his lips to the soft skin at the
base of her neck. Inhaled her scent. Let his forehead linger
against the mass of brown and honey hair his fingers longed to
stroke.

“You remember the numbers?” he choked out,
stalling to avoid the inevitable. Her nod sent vibrations down the
barrel of the gun. “If you need me, for
anything
, rook, I’m
always here.”

One of her classic silences came back to him
saying more than words ever could.

He wouldn’t see her again, trouble or
not.

He had to let her go.

Lennox flicked his gaze up once more. “She
better be more than a fuckin’ job for you, John.”

He hugged Kizzie to him a little tighter. “I
lo—”

She stiffened and the admission died on his
tongue.

Hope died with it.

“It’ll always be you,
chuchu
.” One
more kiss to her neck. “Stay safe.”

Lennox shoved her forward, then picked his
way through the sparse trees, dissolving into the darkness.

Between the injured foot and the pain in his
heart, his escape was slow going. He had to keep moving though. Had
to put as much distance between himself and Kizzie, or he’d do
something stupid like go back and get his heart broken all over
again.

Bill thought he knew nothing about taking
one for the team. Lennox had been taking one for the team for
nearly a decade.

Even knowing she didn’t love him, he still
wanted Kizzie so badly it hurt. And that she was with
John
?
That made the ache all the more prevalent.