Stone Cold: A Bad Boy Romance (15 page)

Emma slept with her head on my chest. She breathed softly, her chest expanding against me. I couldn't help but stare at her even though I was so exhausted. What the fuck just happened? Emma was better than the thousands of sluts I'd been with
and
it was her first time. This girl I actually had a connection with. I wasn't ready to throw her away like all the others. Emma needed to be fucked regularly and I was ready to give it to her.

I wanted to stay in bed with her all day and fuck her as many times as my cock could handle. But it was almost noon and I needed to get some things squared away before the O'Malleys sent their dogs after me.

I tried my best to carefully lift Emma's head without waking her so I could get up. Her eyes slowly opened and she purred as she wrapped her arms around me. I wasn't going to get away that easily.

“I have some things I need to get done today. I'll be back before you know it.” I didn't want her to know all the gritty details yet. She'd know soon enough. I just wanted her to enjoy this morning as much as possible. She deserved it after the hell she'd overcome.

I got dressed as quickly as possible. I didn't have any clean clothes but that didn't matter. We'd have plenty of time to buy new stuff while we were on the run. I checked my phone and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Liam hadn't tried to contact me again.

“What's going on?” Emma asked, sitting up and tucking the sheets under her arms to cover her chest. Her hard nipples poked through the white sheet and I couldn't help thinking about what it would feel like to have my hard cock rest between her tits until I came all over them.

“Nothing is going on, Emma. Just go back to sleep. You need your rest before I come back and ravage you again.” I thought I could get her to smile but her face remained serious.

“I can hear it in your tone that something's wrong. Tell me. I want to know.”

I couldn't keep it from her anymore. Emma would need to know soon enough. I took a deep breath in to focus my thoughts. “My boss wants me to bring you in. He wants to interrogate you himself.”

Emma began to move out of her chair, looking for a door to run for. That was what I was afraid of. Even after our night together, she still thought I was just a bad guy. A guy that would give her up at the first chance he got.

“I'm not going to do it, Emma. I'd never hand you over to them.” I put my hand on hers. “We have to go on the run. It's the only way to get out of this alive.”

Emma settled back in her seat. Her clammy hand entangled mine. “But we'll have to look over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.”

I nodded. Living on the run wasn't going to be easy. “Better than being buried six feet under.”

Emma was scared, her chest expanding and contracting faster. “Where are we going to run to?”

“I don't know all the details yet. But I know that anywhere else is better than here.”

Emma took one last bite of breakfast and stood up. “What are we waiting for? Let's go right now. I don't even have anything to pack.” She looked so brave standing there, ready to go along with anything I asked.

“I have a few loose ends I need to take care of before we go. I want you to stay here and wait until I come back.”

Emma shook her head back and forth. “No way. I'm coming with you.”

“The O'Malleys won't be looking for us yet. I already told Liam this morning that I'm going to bring you in. He won't send his thugs out for us just yet. He has no idea I'm going to betray him.”

Betray. That was a tough word to swallow. Liam and I'd been through so much together. I owed him everything. And now I was going to go against his orders—for her.

“Don't worry. You'll be safe here. I'll only be gone an hour at the most. If I'm not back within two, then you need to leave without me.”

Emma shook her head again, her brown eyes wide. “I can't leave without you. I won't.” I admired her defiance.

“You'll have to. Get out of town as fast as you can and don't look back,” I replied. “But don't worry, I'll be back. Try to think of some places we can run off to while I'm gone.”

Emma nodded with tears streaming down her cheek. I wanted to reassure her that everything was going to be all right but I wasn't sure myself. The O'Malleys had ways of tracking people down. Even with our head start, they could be on us in days. I'd have to be smart about it. But first I needed to get to my stash.

I kissed Emma passionately one last time. It could be my last. “Don't worry, I'll be back for you. Just promise me you'll run if I don't make it back in time.”

She looked up at me with doubt behind her eyes.

I squeezed her shoulders. “Emma, promise me.”

She sighed. “I promise.”

I turned and walked out of the door without looking back. My throat choked up. I needed to get back to her as soon as possible. Nothing would stop me.

Roman left me and I fell against the door in a crying mess. There was no way I could leave him if he didn't come back. I wasn't as strong as him. I couldn't go on the run by myself.
You're a fucking idiot, Emma.
I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for drugs. I would have never met that bastard Jenkins. And Roman's life wouldn't have gotten ruined too.

But I wouldn't have met Roman if it hadn't been for the drugs. I wiped the tears from my face. No time to be a pussy. Time to man up.

I went to Roman's bedroom and searched the closet for a suitcase. I didn't want to be useless. I could get us a bag packed before Roman came back. That would get us out of here that much quicker. I found an old dusty duffel bag deep down under a pile of dirty clothes.

The bag was a little heavy and I set it on the bed and opened it up. A shotgun sat at the bottom with a collection of loose shells. I'd never seen a real gun before. Never held one in my hands. I pulled out the boomstick and it was heavy in my hands. Felt good. Felt powerful. I could take on the world with this. Roman would probably want to bring it along. I set it to the side on the bed.

I went back to the closet to look for some clothes. Roman had only one white shirt left on a hanger. The man didn't do laundry very often. I folded the shirt and placed it in the duffel. I scoured the rest of the apartment searching for anything that Roman might want to take with him. His place was just as barren as my heroin den.

A knock at the door startled me.
Could Roman be back so soon?
I didn't have any way of telling time but it couldn't have been more that twenty minutes since he left. I peeked out from the bedroom, down the hallway and to the front door. Another knock pounded at the door.

“Who is it?” I yelled out.

My heart froze when there was no reply. The front door burst open and two men with black ski masks came rushing in. My screams echoed through the apartment. I shut the bedroom door and ran to the bathroom. I saw the shotgun out of the corner of my eye and grabbed it. The men were already pounding at the bedroom door when I escaped into the bathroom.

Just like when Roman brought me here the first time and I was hopped up on heroin—there was no place for me to escape to. I could hear the door to the bedroom crash open. It would only be a few moments until they were upon me. I gripped the shotgun and pointed it at the closed bathroom door. My heart was beating in my ears. My hands quivered as I tried to steady the gun.

The bathroom door exploded open and I screamed, pulling the trigger.

Nothing happened. I tried squeezing one more time and nothing. Suddenly, I remembered the loose shotgun shells. I needed to load the damn thing.
Stupid Emma.

The two men had pistols and rushed me. I tried to use the shotgun like a bat but the first guy caught my swing and stole the gun from me. I clawed and kicked as much as I could until the other man hit me over the head with his gun.

The room spun around in circles until...blackness.

It took every ounce of strength to leave that hot piece of ass in my apartment. My balls were screaming at me to stay behind. Fuck her as many times as I could before the O'Malleys came for us. I was only kidding myself. Even if Emma and I were able to pull this off. Liam would never let me go. He'd use his last breath to hunt me down and kill me.

But I had to try...for Emma. If we could actually escape, I could feel her warm body beneath me, my cock sinking into her every night. It was worth a shot.

I killed the engine to my Dodge Charger next to an abandoned building on sixth street. I stepped out into the sun and looked up at the boarding school that housed me for years. The same place where I met the O'Malley brothers and this whole thing got started.

The gate had a rusted sign that said: The Walter Payton Boarding School for Boys. A long chain and lock kept the place safe but that wouldn't stop a guy like me. I could pick it if I needed to but the walls were low enough. I heaved myself over and landed in a patch of overgrown weeds and grass. Nobody stepped foot in this place anymore and I didn't blame them. Too many bad memories.

I went around the decrepit mausoleum and came to the playground. I could still remember kids screaming and running around, playing handball and climbing on the jungle gym. I walked to the back wall of the boarding school and ran my fingers across the red bricks. Most of them were chipped and marked up. This was the spot that I finally found the courage to fight back.

Kids were beating the hell out of me daily. None of the adults cared. It wasn't until Liam took me under his wing and taught me how to use my fists, that I learned self-reliance.

This spot in the back of the boarding school was where I fought back for the first time in my life. The bullies stayed away from me after I sent that boy to the hospital. I had solved my problem with my fists and I didn't regret it for one second.

I knocked a couple loose bricks out and knew I'd hit the right spot. I reached my hand in as far as I could, straining and stretching. I pulled out a small rectangular tin box—the same box that I kept under my bed when I was kid.

I wiped the dirt off the top and opened it. A few ziploc bags full of cash were inside. I didn't even know how much was in there. I had stopped counting a long time ago. A guy in my line of work couldn't keep their money in a bank. If I were ever sent to jail, the cops could confiscate all my assets. This tin box was my little secret stash that nobody knew about—not even the O'Malleys.

I stuffed the bags of cash into plastic grocery bags and carried them back to my car. That should be enough to get Emma and I started in a new country. Mexico would be good place this time of year. I imagined Emma and I sipping margaritas on the beach, listening to the crash of the waves, enjoying the beautiful sun.

But we had to escape first.

I raced back to my apartment, doing my best to stay under the speed limit and not break any laws. I couldn't afford any heat at this point. If the cops stopped me with all this cash in the passenger seat, they'd surely bring me downtown to ask some question. Better to be safe than sorry.

I parked my Dodge a few blocks away from my apartment in an alleyway where nobody would find it. When the O'Malleys started looking for us, they would start with my car since it will be missing from my house. That will allow Emma and I just a little bit more time.

I came upstairs to my apartment to find the door wide open. My heart jumped into my throat and my hands curled into fists. “Emma?” I called out. The front door had been kicked in. I raced through the apartment clearing each room. I spotted my old duffel bag sitting on the bed. My shotgun lay on the floor in the bathroom. I picked it up and examined the gun. It hadn't been fired or loaded.

A spot of blood lay on the cracked wood floorboards.

The O'Malleys had taken Emma.