Losing Me, Finding You(74)

Shit, I wish I had a f*cking gun, I think as I smash into the back of one of the men and send him flying face first into the muck. But armed robbery and plain old robbery are completely different things. Kimmi and I have always agreed on that, so we never bring weapons. She'd kill me if she knew I even had that damn pocket knife.

I step to the side and narrowly miss being culled by a Goddamn baseball bat, stumbling into another pair of men who have the smarts to grab me on either side and pull my arms back. A third man comes out of the wet foggy air, materializing there like he's Kent's f*cking twin or something. When he hits me, I see stars and it pulls enough of the fight out of me that the three men are able to put me right back where they want me: face down in the water.



Chapter 55

“Amy,” Mireya says with a sigh, looking at me with eyes that are full of so many emotions that they look pitch black, like two orbs filled with the night sky herself. There's hate there and love, anger and acceptance. It's both beautiful and frightening. “Get in the bathroom and lock the door. Take my phone and call Gaine.” She tosses her cell to me and steps back, assuming a position similar to Melissa's. “Or Beck. Get someone over to the bank to help Austin and Kimmi.”

“Knock, knock.” It's Kent's voice, oozing in from the crack in the door. Only the chain is holding it in place now. “Melissa, honey, if you let me in, I might decide to go easy on you.”

“Easy on me?” she scoffs, puffing out her chest and taking a steadying breath. “Selling me off as a whore doesn't sound all that pleasant, so thank you, but I think I'll pass.” Kent laughs and the sound of his voice makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up.

“Why not? That's all you ever were anyway, a f*cking whore. You think you could just sleep around behind my back, and I wouldn't notice?”

“That's just a f*cking excuse for you to use to feel better about yourself, you spineless piece of shit.” This from Mireya who's throwing a death glare my way. “Get in the Goddamn bathroom and make the call,” she growls at me. “Now.”

“I'm sorry, but every business needs to start somewhere. I needed collateral and now I've got it. The three of you combined with Miss Margot should make a suitable down payment.”

“Rot in hell you sack of shit.”

“Mireya, is that you baby?” It's a different voice outside the door this time, one that has a deep, Southern drawl, dark as pitch.

“Walker,” she whispers and it's the fear in Mireya's face that finally gets me moving. I gather a vase and a lamp from a nearby table (they're the closest things to weapons that I can find), and retreat into the bathroom, dragging a chair behind me.

I'm not a moment too soon.

I get about fifteen seconds to pop the lock in and angle the chair in place before the sound of the hotel room door being kicked off the hinges echoes around the enclosed space like a gunshot.



Chapter 56

My vision starts to go black and my lungs fill with water as I struggle the best damn way I know how, fighting for my life with every beat of my heart. I figure these guys must have pretty explicit instructions on me since they're trying too hard to drown me and not knife or shoot me. I guess maybe it has to do with the amount of evidence they're going to have to clean up when I'm gone. Don't think that way Austin, I tell myself as I feel the last bit of air in my lungs escaping, bubbling out of me and leaving my chest tight with water. I think a lot about Amy as I'm drowning, wishing for her with everything I have, realizing in that disgusting, miserable moment that Kimmi is right.

I have all six senses.

And I love her.

Austin Sparks loves a girl he just met.

Kimmi's right – that would make one pretty incredible f*cking book. Just wish I knew how it ended.

My mind starts to get spotty then, and I'm saying my last prayers to God when the pressure on me subsides and my head comes up out of the water, drug by an unseen hand that's shouting and slapping me and calling my name.

“Austin, you f*cking idiot. Wake the hell up!” It's Gaine. He lets go of me to deal with another one of Walker's bitches and I end up collapsing to my knees, coughing and choking and gasping. I suck as much sweet, sweet air into me as I can before I lift my head up and try to pretend that I don't see Beck slitting a man's throat with his knife.

Blood is everywhere now, a whole bath of it, staining the water around my knees and stinking up the place with the scent of hot copper.

“Kimmi?” I gasp as I blink stars from my vision and let Gaine help me to my feet.

“I'm right here, Sparks,” she says, stumbling forward and pausing next to Beck who's covered in sticky red but smilin' anyway. Beck says that when it comes to the bad guys, he doesn't mind taking out the trash. I can't say that I entirely agree with that, but it works. Especially since I'm still a-f*cking-live.

“What the f*ck is going on?” Gaine demands, pausing when he hears his cell phone. His face blanches. “Mireya.” He rips it from his pocket and answers it with a shaking hand. “Mireya, are you alright?” Gaine pauses. “Amy?”

My heart stops beating while I wait for Gaine to say something, to tell me that she's okay and that she's just calling to check in. On Mireya's phone?