Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)(71)

He’ll be here Bill, just take it easy.

Impossible.

Flashes of the night at the garage almost two weeks ago whipped wildly through my head; changing frames with each thump of the bass from the speakers. Bill sounded identical to the violent Bill from behind the garage-all that was missing was his calmer sidekick, Max.

Clearly I’d had too much to drink and my mind was playing tricks on me. Bill’s imposing stature and snarling voice set off warning bells in my head, but he was a creepy looking guy. I shook my head in an attempt to think rationally.

“Um, sorry, we haven’t been introduced.” I pointed my eyes to Bill’s friend.

“This guy,” Bill interjected, “works with us at DROP, too. He’s the community educator.”

“Oh, so you must be Tristan MacMillian?” I stuck out my hand as the bass from the stereo volleyed for position in my head over my heartbeat.

“Tristan’s my dad’s name,” he smiled as he stuck out his hand, “my friends call me Max.”

Run.





Chapter Twenty-Three

Are you crazy? Run!

My brain shouted to my frozen body as terror took over. It tasted like cayenne infused wine; it was disorienting and pulled beads of sweat to the surface of my forehead. I took one prey-like step back as my senses scrambled. In the last twenty minutes my brain received two very important pieces of information; one, Bill Holder is blackmailing Bo, two, the two men in front of me were most definitely the “Bill and Max” duo from the garage nearly two weeks ago.

“Hey, you ok?” Max reached out for my arm and I reflexively flinched back.

“I, uh, just need to get some air. I’ve had a lot to drink.” My eyes moved from Max’s to Bill’s, and back again.

Turning my head to the dance floor, I finally caught Bo’s sight. He put his hand on Ainsley’s shoulder, mumbled something, and tore through the crowd toward me.

“Ember?” Bo gripped his hand on my sweat-soaked back.

“Get me out of here, now!” I raced toward the exit, not looking back.

Bo was just a second behind me as I sucked the cool, calming air in to my lungs outside McCarthy’s.

“What the hell happened? Ainsley just-”

“This isn’t about Ainsley, Bo. Those - those guys, Bill . . . and Max . . .” My erratic breathing was doing nothing to help my voice.

Bo grasped my shoulders and squared me to him, “They what, Ember? Did they say anything to you?” His fingers pressed in deep urgency against my skin.

“No. Those f*cking guys were the ones, the ones behind the garage that I dropped my car off at two weeks ago. Why the f*ck were they in Barnstable? Are they blackmailing other people?” I spewed all at once.

I became more aware of the sound of my breathing in the silent night. My eyes darted around, noting the desertion around Bo and me.

“I don’t think so, Ember.” Bo looked toward the door in growing fear.

“Well I’ve got news for you, they beat the hell out of some guy named Spike, and I-”

“What the f*ck did you do, Cavanaugh?” the all-too familiar sneer followed us out to the sidewalk.

“Bill, not now.” Bo stood in front of me so I wasn’t in the line of verbal fire.

“She knows something, Golden Boy, or she wouldn’t have called you by your high school football name - no one calls you that anymore.”

Bo’s back stiffened as Bill’s words hammered incoherently in to my head.

“Wait . . .” I stepped back slowly, dragging my toes with each step.

Bo turned to me and his pain-seared face nearly knocked me over.

“S-spike, is your nickname?” My head swirled as blackness overtook my peripheral vision.

In a flash, Bill was lunging past Bo and toward me. Bo threw up his forearm like a steel beam and stopped Bill from colliding with me; but he still managed to grab at my shoulder, knocking me off balance. Bo turned to steady me, giving Bill another swipe at me. He wrapped his hand around my arm.

“What’d he tell you, huh? Did he tell you about his slutty sister? Tell you how much money she owes me, that I took the job with DROP to get it back, but it wasn’t coming fast enough?” He spoke through adrenaline, as Bo was lunging toward him.

I tried to pull my arm away but he only tightened his grip. Tears threatened, but for some reason I couldn’t scream. I ducked in time for Bo’s fist to connect with Bill’s face, causing him to release my arm.

“Run, Ember! Go!” Bo hollered right through me. Thankfully, my fight-or-flight response chose flight in agreement with Bo, and I turned and ran. I heard nothing other than my heart beat and my heels on the sidewalk. My shoes did nothing to steady my frantic gait as I realized I had no idea where I was going.

Away.

My sight cleared as I focused on someone walking - no, running - down the sidewalk in my direction.

Adrian.

“Adrian! Adrian, help!” I managed a scream that tore through the quaint street.

I paid less attention to the scene behind me, and more attention to his face as we got closer. In one step, the pavement was no longer under my feet - it was under my face.

“Ember! What the hell is going on?” Adrian knelt beside me and grabbed my shoulders.

Stallion-like foot beats approached behind me as I pushed myself from the sidewalk. Ouch. For the first time since I ran, I looked back. Bo, Bill, and Max were a block behind me and Bo was holding them both back; but just barely.