Robin in the Hood (Robbin' Hearts Series Book 1) (28 page)

I heaved the deepest sigh of relief I’d felt in ages.

Leaning my head back, I rubbed the smooth, ruby heart between my fingers.

“I have no idea how much is in those accounts,” I said. “But it might change our lives.”

“Not for a
l
o
n
g
time, baby,” Creek replied mysteriously.

I could feel Sadie slowing way down on the gravel road as Creek braked to make a turn into a really black stand of woods.

“We barely made it out of there tonight. We’re just lucky Tweedle and Co. don’t know where we live,” Creek said. “But let me tell you something. Smart crooks don’t make hasty changes—that’s how idiots get caught. So as far as we’re concerned, we pay for Brandi’s health care, and that’s it. No frills.”

I bit my lip and nodded.

It would be so nice to move my dad into a more comfortable apartment with better amenities, but I could see Creek’s point. It wasn’t worth coming out of hiding and getting us all arrested.

The limo dipped and swayed over the forest road until Creek brought it to a stop.

“C’mon,” he cut the engine. “Let’s head for our tree stand and sleep for, I dunno, maybe three days.”

I laughed a little. Sounded perfect to me.

When Creek opened his door, no dome light stung my eyes. He’d turned it off in case anyone was on the prowl. But still being gallant, he walked around the front of Sadie to open my door. I sank my bare feet into the cool dirt and stood up—Brandi’s pretty high heels had been casualties of our crazy sprint across the lawn to escape the house.

“Mademoiselle,” Creek said, taking my hand.

He stared at my bare feet in the moonlight, and I could almost hear him smile.

“I have to say, this has been one of the most amazing nights of my whole life. And a hell of a thrill ride.”

Creek’s lips pressed against mine in the dark.

A soft—exhausted—and totally enchanting kiss.

I wanted to fold into his arms right there and fall to the soft forest floor, then sleep for perhaps a thousand years.

But there was something still nagging at me, something I couldn’t shake.

And I was unable to pretend it didn’t matter any more.

“Creek,” I asked as his lips pulled from mine. He gave me one last kiss on the forehead and tugged on my hand to lead us away from the limo, deeper into the woods. “We’ve been through so much together,” I continued, walking alongside him. “I mean, we could’ve failed tonight and gotten caught, and never seen each other again. So I want to know, I mean, I think I deserve to know—”

Creek stopped and turned to face me.

He was stunning even at night, with the way the moonlight highlighted his features and made strands of his blonde hair look pale as an angel’s.

“Say it, Robin,” he sighed. “You can be straight with me. What do you want to know?”

“What did you say to my dad? Behind the gypsy wagon at the hoedown? Neither one of you will tell me, and you both dodge it every time I ask.”

“Shhh,” Creek gently put a finger to my mouth. Before I knew it, his lips met mine again.

Only this time, it was the kind of kiss that made me feel as if he were pouring his soul into mine, tinged with blood, sweat, and even a few slivers of glass.

His arms enveloped me in the moonlight and he held me close. When he finally lifted his lips, he edged them to my ear.

“I told him . . . I love you,” he whispered.

I know he said it in his very softest voice, but his words resounded in my heart like a kettle drum.

“And I asked him,” Creek paused, “if some day he’d let me have your hand. I wanted an answer while he was still well enough to speak.”

White-hot tingles coursed up and down my body and fanned out to my limbs, making me feel like I glowed from within. I opened my mouth to let out squeal, but Creek slipped his palm over my lips.

“Robin,” he said quietly, “your dad bowed his head and cried. He knows I’ve made you a criminal.”

I wriggled fiercely from his grip until I’d broken free.

“But we don’t have to stay that way,” I countered. “I love you, too! What if we pay back Cinci Federal from the Swiss bank accounts? We don’t know how much is in there—it could be millions. And we didn’t take anything from Bob or Tweedle that didn’t really belong to other people. Think about it, Creek. We don’t have to let any of this define us. There’s still a chance we can start over—”

An eerie, white light suddenly flooded the woods.

I half-thought it was my own euphoria from Creek admitting he loved me. But the light was so bright it cast black tree shadows all around us and made our eyes burn.

We turned to what looked like the source and heard heavy engines roar. Two huge Hummers plowed through the woods with enormous light racks mounted on their roofs. They were headed straight for Turtle Shores.

Creek clutched my hand and dived behind some brush. He grabbed my shoulders in a panic.

“Tweedle’s got henchmen?” he cried. “Robin, why didn’t you tell me—I never would have come back here!”

“I—I thought everybody knew!” I said, spitting leaves. “I mean, they were always just rumors in Cincinnati, but—”

“God dammit! Don’t you know rumors mean facts in the underworld? No, no,” he hugged me close, “of course you don’t. You weren’t raised on the wrong side of the tracks. Listen,” he pointed to the Turtle Shores compound. “If Tweedle’s men have come here, then that means he knows all about your dad’s roots, including where the trailer park is. Maybe that Mother Superior chick filled him in. We have to be crafty as foxes to get him out of there.”

“Who?”

“Your dad! Don’t you get it? They’ll use him to make you fork over the ruby and anything else they think you’ve got. Whatever’s important to you they’ll take for ransom. Just keep hold of my hand, and don’t make any noise. I know a back way they won’t suspect.”

Creek began to crawl on his knees and I followed suit, hating myself for mourning the total destruction of my dress. Surely it wasn’t as important as my dad! Yet with each rip and tear, I had to shake my head. My one beautiful moment in life was over. We were back to reality now, and the rocks on the ground cut and bruised my knees. After a few minutes of sneaking through shadows, beneath the scope of the Hummer headlights, Creek stood and tugged on my hand until I stumbled to my feet.

He hugged me so tight that we blended in with the long, tall shadow of a tree. We could still hear vehicles crashing through the woods and voices hollering, but we couldn’t make out their words over the racket. Creek grasped my hand and splayed my fingers to feel something against the tree trunk—a wooden plank. Then he patted my shoulder and I could feel his body brush against mine as he ascended up the tree. Must be a ladder, I realized. I tucked the ruby into my cleavage and hoisted up the hem of my tattered gown to follow him.

When I reached the top, I felt for a tree branch but instead touched a wide board. Creek snatched my arm and lifted me to stand on a plank that I assumed must connect between trees. I’d never dared to walk on one of them before like Dooley, let alone in a ball gown—

“Go, Robin!” Creek whispered. I could see his dark figure moving across the plank, and I tested it with my bare foot, feeling like I was about to step on a highwire. But the problem was I’m not an acrobat! Carefully, I padded across the wood, holding out my arms for balance, until I got so scared that I just scampered to the other end, breathless.

“Good job,” Creek whispered, giving me a high-five. “Now only fifteen more.”

“What?” I gasped.

“You heard me,” he stepped out on the next plank. “Let’s get a move on!”

My heart beat as fast as a hummingbird’s as we criss-crossed from tree to tree. Thank God the planks were stable. And the fact that I was barefoot helped me grip the wood with my toes and steady myself each time my balance wavered. I carefully inched over each one, watching Creek’s silhouette in the moonlight trot easily across the boards. In his dashing tux, he looked like a character from a fairy tale who could magically skip between trees. That thought made me giggle for a second, and I lost my footing and found my body pitching into the night air . . .

There’s nothing like falling under a canopy of stars in a sparkly ball gown to make your life seem completely surreal.

The ground met my back with a cruel thud. Reality check—

“Robin, you okay?” Creek dropped from the tree and was instantly at my side.

Roaring engines sounded perilously close, and we could see the bright lights of the trucks closing in. Creek quickly laid on top of me, covering my iridescent dress with his black suit.

“Ow,” I whispered. “You’re really heavy.”

My complaints were interrupted by an awful silence.

Creek and I both held our breaths.

We could hear the Hummer doors slam shut, then the sickening crunch of boots through brush.

“They gotta be here somewhere. We saw their car.”

“You know these backwoods types. They can vanish like groundhogs.”

I elbowed Creek. “That’s Tweedle’s voice,” I panicked. “He came with them.”

“Shit, these woods go on for miles. They could be anywhere.”

“Then shoot.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Tweedle ordered. “Open fire and flush ’em out.”

“What if we hit one of ’em?”

“What do you care? You get five grand a piece no matter what. You can bury them out here and nobody’ll know.”

I swallowed hard.

Oh my God, five grand is all we were worth? Before the ball, the very dress I was wearing could’ve commanded five figures—maybe six! We should’ve just sold it to pay for Brandi’s treatments. But then we would never have found my mother’s heart—

I wriggled my hand over the bust line of my dress, relieved to find the ruby was still there.

Creek gripped my fingers with a painful urgency, as though it might be the last thing he ever did.

“I love you, baby,” he whispered, before he buried his face against mine.

Shots rang out through the darkness.

A million times a minute, I could hear the horrible sound of machine gun bullets pummeling the trees—

Creek covered my mouth to stifle my scream.

All around us, birds, deer, rabbits, everything dashed for safety.

But Creek held me stone still.

“Ain’t here, boss.”

“Then hit the damn Trailer Park.”

“There could be a lot of people in there.”

“Ten grand a piece. Fucking hear me? I want that ruby and that little bitch! Pull her dad out by his hair if you have to and shoot ’em all.”

My cheeks writhed in a grimace. I was so scared. We were out-manned, out-gunned, out-everythinged! How could we possibly defeat these people?

Creek clamped his body down on me harder to keep the crystal facets on my dress from giving us away.

Then I heard a soft, tinkling sound in the distance.

Like the ringing of little bells.

Choking down my fear, I inhaled a shallow breath of relief. The bells! The folks at Turtle Shores had rung the alarm bells, so they’d be in the bunkers by the time Tweedle’s gang got there—

We could hear the men walking through the brush back to their vehicles. Slowly, the bright lights faded as the roar of the Hummers became more distant. When all was completely quiet, Creek got up and pulled me to my feet.

“Watch out!” he whispered, holding on to my waist.

Beside us was a black lump that looked like a boulder in the dark. I reached out briefly to touch it. It felt soft and warm.

I yanked back my hand in shock.

It was a dead deer.

Shaking my head, I felt the hot vomit rise to my throat. I swallowed as hard as I could to try and keep it down.

Creek grasped my shoulders, his face inches from mine.

“Robin, this is it. Worst case scenario. Hear me? You’ve gotta be tough. Tougher and meaner than they are—got that? Tell me you can do it!”

I nodded my head, gritting my teeth.

“I don’t know how this is gonna end, but we
f
i
g
h
t
for our people at Turtle Shores. Never give in! Now listen—”

Creek brushed back the hair from my forehead.

“These guys are smart. They might’ve guessed there are bunkers. Chances are they’re searching the trailers right now. C’mon, we gotta flush ’em out before they get to your dad. He’s got no defenses, sweetheart.”

I nodded again, biting the inside of my cheeks to keep my eyes from tearing up over fear for my dad.

“So we’re gonna enter the compound from the back way. Hold my hand, baby. Let’s go!”

We ran as though all hell broke loose through the woods. My feet were scratched and bruised beyond belief, but I couldn’t even feel it anymore with the mad adrenaline shooting through my veins. My lungs burned as I tried with all my might to keep up with Creek, weaving past trees and bushes and leaping over logs. Just as I thought my chest was about to burst, Creek slowed to a stop.

Heaving, I leaned my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

“Do you hear that?” Creek whispered.

Over my gulping sounds, I could hear doors slamming—

Creek grasped my hand again and we edged toward the clearing, staying in shadows.

It was as bright as daytime from the Hummer lights, but not a soul was to be found except for Tweedle’s henchmen. One guy was waist high in one of the TNT Twins’ holes, covered in red goop, while the rest had guns in their hands and were going from trailer to trailer.

“We can kill ’em. Easy,” a strange voice whispered beside me.

I nearly leaped to the stars!

It was Bixby. He stood next to us with his foot-long hunting knife raised and glinting from the Hummer lights.

Creek shot me a glance. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was weighing the homicide option.

“It would make things quicker,” Creek admitted, pulling something from inside his tuxedo pocket. A knife suddenly flashed into view—a switchblade. “But then it won’t end tonight. It won’t
n
e
v
e
r
end. We’ll be dealing with Tweedle’s gang forever, and they ain’t worth it.”