Hot Redemption (21 page)

“It won't matter if he doesn't make it,” I said between sobs. Soon I cried myself to sleep in Shade's supportive arms.

I awoke to the steady murmurs of the machines monitoring Epic's heart and lung function. One of the siphons had exploded in his chest and collapsed a lung. The doctors had done all they could and we were just waiting for the nanobots inside his system to hopefully finish the job of repairing him. The technology would normally be out of Epic's reach, but a crazy woman wielding a gun filled to the brim with siphons was the same thing as a blank check.

I hadn't left Epic's side for longer than it took to grab some clothes from the gift shop and to clean up a bit. I didn't want Epic to panic when he woke because I was covered in blood and he would be waking up anytime now.

I leaned over his sleeping form and pressed my lips to his forehead. “Can you hear me, baby? Please come back to me. I need you. We need to come up with a plan to get out of here and I can't do that with you playing Sleeping Beauty.”

When he didn't respond, I sat back down and slipped my hand around his. “Epic—please.”

Fresh tears spilled down my face. After all I'd shed, I thought I'd gone dry by now, but I guess when it came to Epic, I would always have a reserve. I bowed my head and pressed my face into Epic's hand. His scent was absent and only the combination of disinfectant and the metallic nanobots lingered on his skin.

“Aww, Nix. I never pegged you as the dramatic type.”

I jerked up and my watery eyes met Epic's baby blues. I let out a very girly squeal and launched myself at him. “Epic! I thought you were going to die!”

I buried my face in Epic's hair as his arm came up to wrap around me slowly. “I think—I think I was dead for a minute. I saw you and Shade, and you were crying.” He ran his hand through my hair. “I felt so peaceful, and I think—yeah—I think I saw my parents.”

I remained silent and just listened to the voice I thought I might not ever get to hear again.

“But seeing Mom and Dad wasn't what I wanted. I think I turned back somehow. I came back for you. Only for you.”

There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but there would never be enough time. So I settled for the most important. “I love you.”

“Yeah, I know, Nixie, and I love you too.” His gaze roamed me from top to bottom “You look good. I'm glad nothing happened to you. Did Ain make it out safely? Did he get shot too?”

“I shot him.”

“You shot him?”

“Yes.”

“He's dead?”

“Yes.”

He closed his eyes for a few seconds and sighed. “Have you killed anyone else?”

“No.”

“We'll have to deal with Ain's death later, but sadly, you can't get rid of me that easily. Based on that truth, I wonder who's crazier, me or you?” He blew out a long breath. “Can you promise to not kill anyone else?”

“I'll do my best.” I pulled away from him and studied his unreadable face. “How are you feeling?”

“Weak still, but I'm alive. So what else did I miss?” He tossed a weak grin at me and I shook my head.

“A lot.”

A little while later, after I had filled Epic in on the, well . . .
epic
mess I'd made out of everything, he told me he wanted to see Shade and Toy. They were right outside the door and they greeted him with both joy and trepidation as we began to discuss what we would do now that Epic was out of the woods health wise.

“Toy, Shade,” Epic's voice shifted to an uncompromising tone, “you need to take care of the rest of our family. We can't all go down.”

As the brothers argued, a plan began to take shape in my mind.

CHAPTER 21

Phoenix

Epic followed along behind me slowly. All his strength hadn't returned yet.

“Do you trust me, Epic?”

“Yeah, you know I do. But what about the nanobots? What'll happen if they aren't extracted?”

“I read an article once that claimed nanobots, if left inside the human body, would lay dormant and only become activated when they were needed. Like if you get another injury or something.”

Epic quirked a blond eyebrow. “So in theory—I'm invincible now?”

I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn't go that far. But my point is, they're not keeping a super close eye on you because they don't think you'll try to leave before they can extract the bots. They probably think you're too scared.”

“I won't lie, I am a bit nervous leaving them in. What if that article was a crock of shit?”

“It's this or some kind of prison . . .” I let my voice trail off, not wanting to say the rest. We'd never see each other again if that happened. Death would be a much gentler punishment. “And besides, at least this way Toy and Shade won't be blamed for any of this. They'll get off scot-free and Mimi and the gang won't have to suffer any more than they already have.

“Where are we anyway?” Epic whispered.

“They've been doing construction on the bottom few floors of the hospital—renovations, which is very convenient for us. We just need to get outside and steal a hover car to make our getaway.”

“And then what? They're going to chase us. This planet is only so big.”

“You just let me worry about that.”

Epic grunted, but I took that as a yes. Once outside, stealing an enforcer car wasn't as difficult as I'd expected. There were tons of cop cars around, and no one would expect us to take one of those, that was for sure. I grabbed harner jackets from the trunk just in case we crashed. All enforcement vehicles kept extra pairs in the back. Each jacket had a parachute lined inside, first-aid kit, breathing device, and packets of dehydrated food for a week. The theory was that if a person fell into space and landed on a planet, that person could survive for a week. Too bad I never discovered what would happen after a week was up.

I may need that information right now.

“I already knew you were nuts, but, baby, this one takes the cake,” Epic muttered under his breath as I slid into the driver's side of the cop car I had chosen for our target. “And why do you get to be the one to drive?”

“Because I said so and you're about to pass out from just traveling to the vehicle.” Putting on my jacket, I handed one to him. “Now put on this jacket.”

“What's this?”

“It's in case we crash and have to evacuate.”

“Are you planning on crashing?” He slipped it on. His face cringed a few times as if it hurt for him to move too much.

“I'm not planning on crashing, but I damn sure am not planning on stopping.” I turned my attention to the dash in the car and shook my head in bewilderment. “I can't believe they don't even have it locked or coded.”

“That's because they don't think anyone is stupid enough to try and steal one right out from under their noses.”

Nervous anticipation caused my heart to thrum loudly as I pushed the button to turn the car on. The engine hummed to life and the dashboard lit up with a bevy of tech stuff, half I'd never even heard of. Locating the drive button, I punched it next and sucked in a deep breath as I began to slowly steer the car away from the hospital.
We're doing it. We're really doing it.
My nerves quickly turned to excitement as the hospital appeared in the rearview sensor screen.

But I'd gotten a little cocky too fast. Suddenly a spotlight shone down into my eyes from above. “Halt where you are.”

Lights began to flash and the red, blue, and purple enforcer lights illuminated the dark night sky.

“Fuck!” Epic swore.

“No,” I said between clenched teeth. “I'm not stopping and I won't lose you. We've both suffered too much in our lives and come too far to give up now.”

Epic's gaze swung to mine and his eyes flicked through a myriad of colors before settling back on their normal cool ice blue. Determination settled into every line in his face. “I'm with you, Nixie baby, and I will be until I take my last breath and probably beyond that.”

I smiled at him like a maniac and hit the button that threw our ride into top gear. We sped off into the night with at least two-dozen enforcer cars on our tail. I let out a high-pitched squeal of excitement. My adrenaline had all my senses on hyper alert, and some sick, twisted part of me was enjoying myself.

“Where are we going?”

“Where ever we can get!” I increased the speed and cried out with unabandoned joy.

“You're beautiful when you lose it.” Epic laughed. “Scary too, but also captivatingly beautiful.”

I dodged traffic signals, aerial transports, and other commuters as we attempted to make our getaway. I was hoping that eventually the enforcers would give up, but I knew better. After all, my father had been one and it took a certain type of dedication to the Duchess to become one. They were all fanatics and would probably chase us to the ends of the planet.

Our luck had been going fairly well until an older woman drove out into the intersection in an older hover craft. I had to veer suddenly to the left and it sent us careening toward a cluster of buildings. I tried to turn the wheel more, but I saw what was coming and we were about to go splat.

I glanced over at Epic and I saw him realize the same thing. Left with no other choice, another crazy idea came to me. “We have to jump.”

Epic's mouth dropped open, but then he nodded. “Not much else to do.”

“Maybe we'll get lucky, maybe we'll survive.”

“Maybe, but if we don't . . .” He grinned at me. “Who wants to live forever anyway? My dad told me to never fall in love with a girl you can't live without. I can't live in this fucked-up galaxy unless you're by my side, so if we die tonight, I'll die a happy man.”

I grinned back at him and reached for the bag containing the money from our disastrous heist. I refused to leave it just in case we did make it. It was blood money, mostly Epic's, and I wasn't going to let him not get his payoff. I opened the escape hatch on the bottom of the car and laced my fingers with Epic's. He leaned over and kissed me briefly, because there wasn't time for anything else. And then we jumped.

Epilogue

Phoenix

“The bodies of Teresa Marie Folino and Epicaderous Malleous Brownstone were never found. Some claim they were incinerated in the fiery explosion caused from the enforcer car hitting the side of the credit building, but others—well, others of the more romantic breed believe that somehow they survived. Some claim to have made sightings in the Serrion district. Others say—”

I switched the viewing screen off and snorted. “As if I would be caught in a place like Serrion district. I'm far too rich and snooty for that now.”

I chuckled to myself as I padded barefoot onto the deck where my husband was strumming his favorite acoustic guitar while gazing off at the rising of our planet's five moons.

“Hey.” His lips formed into a smile, one I wanted to kiss and devour right there on the patio.

“Hey, yourself.” I curled up in his lap. He made room for me by setting his guitar next to his leg. Moonlight hit his skin and reflected off his artificial eyes. He wrapped his arms around me and we sat in contented silence.

Somehow we'd made it. We'd risen up from the ashes of our horrid pasts and found our redemption in each other's hearts. We were both like the phoenix in my tattoo now. Both of us had risen from our seemingly eminent deaths and had walked away stronger, better—re-birthed. It hadn't been easy for Epic to leave everyone and everything behind. But it had been the only way. Although I had a feeling anonymous donations would be appearing in his family's bank account once some more time passed.

Epic's generous heart was one of the many things I loved about him. The other, well—no other man had ever made me so hot for him. He was my savior and my hot—hot redemption. He was my everything.

“What are you thinking about, Nixie baby?” Epic's low voice rumbled against my ear.

I twisted around and straddled him. “Oh, just about how you're my hot, sexy redemption.”

“Does that even make sense?”

“Of course.” I tapped my chest. “I said it.”

“I never would have pegged you for such a corny, romantic sap. But you are, aren't you, baby?”

I stuck my tongue out at him. Without hesitation, he captured it and sucked into his mouth, effectively blanking my mind of everything but him.