"Aren't we being too loud?" I asked, my heart hammering in my chest.
"Course not. They can't hear us. Besides, we need to figure out how to get the hell back to the Range Rover. Did you leave the door unlocked?"
"Yes, of course I did!"
"If I'm able to navigate us quickly enough then perhaps we can get the hell out of here."
I didn't ask the one question that played on my brain over and over again. I knew he shot his mother but I wondered if he killed her. I couldn't ask because some questions were better left unknown.
The tunnel ended abruptly. Max set me down and I stood, testing the weight on my leg where I'd been shot. A pain shot up my leg but I ignored it and nodded toward him. "I can make it."
"Are you sure?" He slid a hand against my face and leaned in toward me before he kissed my forehead. "I can carry you back to the car."
"No!" I exclaimed forcefully. "This was our plan and we said we'd do it together. She didn't even shoot me with a real goddamn bullet. I can make it and I will carry my own weight. When you open that door, don't fucking look back at me. I will be on your heels. We can't afford to make mistakes tonight."
Max's blue-green eyes were vivid in the dim light before he nodded once. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
"I know what you want to hear but we have plenty of time to get mushy when we're far the fuck away from here."
He smirked before he stole a quick kiss from my lips.
Max turned the deadbolt, opened the door slowly and we made a run for it. I wish I could say it was easy but every time I put pressure on my right leg, I felt like collapsing. Would it really be so bad to die here? I knew I was loved and the pain seemed to get worse the more I ran. I couldn't keep this up for long without crying out in tremendous agony.
We finally reached the Range Rover and I quickly got into the back seat and kept my head low. Max jumped into the driver's seat and threw the suitcase on the floor in front of the passenger seat before I tossed him the keys.
The next few moments seemed unreal. Multiple calibers of weapons shot at the vehicle as we raced toward the front gates, which were open. In the distance, sirens could be heard. Max went the opposite way of the sirens and drove steadily until we reached Boca Beach Club. We didn't bother trying to valet park. Instead, we pulled in next to a white Nissan Armada.
Max turned toward me. "I'm gonna get us into the Armada but I need you to be able to stay here. I need to get our suitcases out of the hotel. You have a change of clothes in there and everything we need is still in there."
I nodded. "Hurry. I don't know if we have much time. This car isn't exactly stellar now that it's been shot up a few times. All we need is someone to get nosy or better yet, call the cops."
He smiled. "Have faith in us-I do. Time is on our side."
I couldn't help but laugh as he left the SUV and ran off towards the hotel.
My heart thundered in my chest the whole time he was gone.
A million scenarios raced through my mind and every one of them ended up with Max abandoning me with a shit load of money but never returning.
Four months ago, I wouldn't have cared. The money would have been fine because I knew my life had only just begun and I had no one else to care about except myself. I would be able to travel to all the places I'd always wanted to see but never got the chance. Paris, Berlin, London, Rome, Venice, Edinburgh, Dublin-they all flashed before my eyes and I could feel the light coldness of Autumn on my skin. The weak sun, the sounds, the people, and the traffic-it was all a lovely, bittersweet dream with a soundtrack provided by Sia, Massive Attack and Lana Del Rey.
Perhaps I could start again and in this new life, I wasn't angry or jaded. When a man approached me with a warm smile and a hard dick, I smiled back. I reveled in our useless chitchat about our different cultures and the places that had shaped us into the people we were. The hotel room-mine, of course-would be a delightful setting where we could share in the delight the human flesh provided when it was stroked, touched and massaged the right way. We would make each other come, screaming the other's name and then have a late night snack while reveling in the new found status from casual acquaintance to lover in the span of an evening.
The funny part about my wacky daydream was every man eventually turned into Max until I gave up and imagined us in those places. Maybe then and there, I could tell him I loved him, even if it felt like insta-love that percolated in a bad coffeemaker and hadn't quite steeped long enough. The feelings couldn't be real and genuine because how could we possibly know we liked anything about each other past our stellar looks?
I smiled to myself. Max had a great personality, dry wit and made me laugh. He could also make me jealous, angry, suspicious and downright petty. Yes, he was God's gift to women but when I looked into those gorgeous aquamarine eyes of his, I lost and found myself all at the same time. The caress of his skin against my cheek was one of the sexiest moves he could make followed by the way his right hand gripped my swan neck in a possessive but gentle squeeze. I melted around him and sadly, I couldn't see past him. Maybe I should have told him I loved him too and I wouldn't have sat alone, miserable in a piss soaked dress that had begun to smell up the car with that awful, acidic stench. He would leave and never come back because he had no reason to return to me ever again.
I should have said something; I should have given him a reason to stay with me instead of a million excuses of why he'd be better off without me.
The back door suddenly opened and Max stood against the car as I sat up as quickly as my bum leg would allow me.
"Come on, I brought some wet towels. It's as good as we're going to get to clean you up for the time being. Out of your dress. Now."
I took off my dirty dress and slid out of my panties, tossing them on the floor. He did a general wipe off before concentrating on the area between my legs and my buttocks. Tenderly, he helped me step out of the vehicle where I was exposed. I had nothing covering my body except three tattoos-a magnolia vine on my right thigh that had been untouched by the bullet, a snub-nosed pistol below my right ribcage surrounded by the words, "Love Hurts," and another magnolia vine on my left shoulder blade.
Max quickly dressed me in a black t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts that came just above the knee. The flesh wound was hidden beneath the jeans and dressed with a large Band-Aid until we could get to the hospital.
He ran a brush through my hair before he set about breaking into the Armada and transferring all our belongings into the SUV.
"So, here's the plan. We're gonna drive as fast as we can to Orlando International Airport. Once there, we'll get tickets for a flight out of the country. Then, we're going to drive this stolen SUV and go to some shitty county hospital in the worst part of the city. Hopefully the car is stolen again-we can take a cab back to the airport. We have to get you treated before we leave the country, baby," Max explained before he kissed my lips, his own lingering longer than necessary.
I nodded. "What if they're looking for us?"
"They are but we can't get far before getting you treated. I swear to God, we are on the first thing smokin' that is leavin' the country. I don't care where it takes us, just as long as we get the fuck out of U.S. airspace-you got that?"
"Okay," I whispered.
Max helped me into the Armada before he raced over to the driver's seat and used a special kit. First, he disabled the LoJack system, rendering the device useless. Apparently the family kept a spare set of keys somewhere in the car because the light to the push button ignition flared orange and the engine turned over as soon as Max pressed it with his foot on the break. Moments later we were safely driving on the highway heading North on I-95 toward Orlando. I'd never been so relieved or so scared in my whole entire life but I held on to the faith that Max and I had each other.
Nothing was truly lost to us and we could take on the world together. We'd survived this and I refused to believe Dimitri could outsmart us-not when we were such a lethal and deadly combination apart but together, we were unstoppable.
Chapter Sixteen
Maxwell
A Week Later
Max stretched out beside Mags and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. She turned toward him and grinned before glancing at the ocean again.
"What's up?"
She shook her head as her pale green eyes met his. "It's just so fucking blue . . . it's beautiful here and I don't wanna go back."
"We don't." He looked towards the gorgeous view they had of the white sandy beaches and endless blue water. "Not now at least. However, we do have to make a run to the Caymans. We can't carry all this cash on us and besides, I need to establish my one account there wasn't compromised."