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I didn’t. I had no idea who that was.
Ashton said he’d pick me up at Nancy’s, so that meant . . .
Two guys got out from the first SUV. I didn’t know them either.
It was the sight of guns in their hands that had me yelling, “Drive around them!”
I shoved out before they did, not thinking, my heart in my mouth, and I ran into traffic.
So foolish—but I braced myself to get hit.
There were screeching sounds, horns being blasted. I was being yelled at. A ping ping next to me, but ohmygodohmygodohmygod—I kept running, only looking over my shoulder once I hit the sidewalk. Two of those guys were coming after me, but Nick and Amy—thank god—had driven off, speeding around them.
They were safe. They were safe. I had to keep telling myself that, but then one of those guys behind me raised his gun back up and I tensed, preparing to try my rendition of some Matrix-style bullet dodging, but already knowing I was screwed.
Then, suddenly, I heard from ahead of me, “Police! Stop!”
I screamed, looked, and saw two cops running toward me. Their guns were drawn.
I yelled, pointing behind me. “It’s them. I’m being chased.”
The one looked behind me, but yelled at me, “Stop! Stop, right now.”
Wha—but I looked. The guys were gone.
I heard screeching sounds again and looked over. Their SUVs were fishtailing around the corner, turning and racing in the opposite direction.
They were gone.
Oh, thank goodness.
“Miss.”
Shit. I forgot about these cops.
“Put your hands in the air.”
Fuck me.
“Get on your knees.”
I’d been foolish. Dumb.
“And link your fingers behind your head.”
The dumbest.
I needed to stop doing these things.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
ASHTON
We pulled up to Detective Worthing’s place, and I called first.
“Yeah?”
“You have her?” I asked, looking toward his building. Getting a call from Jake Worthing after threatening him, then asking him for a favor, wasn’t what I had expected for the night, but when he told me the events of the evening, I was thankful he’d stepped in. Again. Even though, there was a part of me where I wondered, really wondered, if I was good for Molly. This war would pass. She wouldn’t be in danger at that time. She’d be normal, could be normal. Live a normal life, but not if she was attached to me.
I brought this to her. Guns. Wars. Mafia. That was me. That was this life, so while she ran from me, while I was worried to the point that I wanted to strangle someone, there was a deeper part of me that had to ask the question: Would she be better with someone like Jake Worthing?
Or someone else. Someone normal.
I thought about it and felt like I gutted myself.
I was so far in, too far in. And that was on me because I was too dark, too selfish to let her keep running. That was on me, would be on me. God. I really hated that she’d called him. Though I understood it, I still despised it.
“I do. Gotta say, not liking how she was looking when I mentioned your name.”
My lips thinned. “Can I come up?”
He snorted. “Sure. I mean, what’s the point of hiding our connection anymore? Just come on in. Let’s have a Sunday barbecue while we’re here.”
I ignored the sarcasm. “She spooked before, and I don’t know why. Let me come up and talk to her.”
I heard rustling from his side of the phone before his voice came back, clearer. “I’ll come out.”
Great. Fucking great, but he ended the call, and I couldn’t do anything else except wait and twiddle my fucking thumbs.
Molly was upstairs, in this building. In his apartment.
She’d had the police call him.
I never usually cared about women, about this game, but yeah . . . with Molly, I cared. And she’d called him.
The back door to his place opened, and he came out, a hood pulled low over his head. He was hunched down, in case of security cameras, but cut past the dumpsters, through his parking lot, and into the alley where we were parked.
I got out as he neared the vehicle and motioned for Elijah and Derek to stay inside.
Worthing paused, looking to me, his head craning to the side before he identified me and came the rest of the way. He stopped a few yards away, his eyes smug.
“Is she okay?” I hated that I had to ask him, and I couldn’t ask her.
He laughed. “You are hating this, aren’t you? You actually care for her, don’t you?”
I didn’t answer. I wanted to punch his face but didn’t think that would be wise right now.
He laughed again, shaking his head, but came closer. “She’s okay. You know what happened?”
“No.”
“She was in a car with some of your employees. Two vehicles came up, blocked them in. She recognized they weren’t your men, and said that she yelled for them to drive, while she ran out into traffic.”
