Roman-1(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(25)
“Bro?”
“Track the phone.”
“Roman? Brother? Are you okay?” Jared yells and I hear what sounds like breaking glass and footsteps before Miah is shouting and presumably wrenching the phone from Jared.
“Roman.”
“Track the phone. Not much time.” Another coughing fit hits me.
My breathing is loud and haggard, rattling as I struggle to breathe, and all I can think as I lie there and wait, listening to my brothers yelling and panicking, is that I fucked this all up because I wanted to be a hero.
I should have asked Mel to dinner three years ago when I wanted to and said screw it all.
“Roman. Bro, we got you. We’re on the way. You just hang tight and we’ll be there. Wyatt, get Bronx and Case. We have to move, man. Fast…. Nah, get the medical kit, I hear him coughing blood.”
“Shit.”
“Bro, you still there? Bro? Roman! Hang tight, just hang on, we’re moving out now.”
I hear it all but it’s background noise as I drop the phone and close my eyes, seeing Melissa as I saw her that last night, wrapped in my sheets and laughing up at me after an intense round of lovemaking that left us both drained but sated and spent.
If I die here, like this, at the hands of people who would not hesitate to kill many more, everything I’ve done is for naught. Every hour I spent plotting, every lie I told my family, every minute of time I stole from Mel. It will all be nothing more than ashes on the wind.
I must have passed out because the next thing I know, I’m being slapped and I hear Jerry hissing at me to wake the fuck up before they come for me again.
“Roman, son, get your ass up right now or we’re both dead.”
My left eye is swollen shut, or I hope it is, and the right is blurred when I open it to see Jerry staring down at me with fear and panic lining his old face.
“Come on and get the hell up, boy. Your mama would skin me alive if you died here. Get up and get going.”
“Can’t. Too…weak.”
That gets me a shake and I shoot up with a yell when my ribs start screaming in renewed pain.
“That woke you up, huh? Too weak my fat ass. Come on, son, come on. You need to go home to your girl. Remember Melissa, Roman? She’s waiting for you, boy, and from what I hear on the grapevine, so is your kid.”
His words give me some superhuman strength I never knew existed and I get up as best I can with his help, gritting my teeth to stifle my cries when my leg tries to buckle and I feel a distinctive grinding where bone meets bone.
“Yup, sonny, that right one looks to be broken clean through. Ignore it and work through it. Pain is better than no pain at all, I’m thinking,” he mutters as I hobble beside him.
The corridor outside the rooms is dark and I ignore everything I feel to scan the space for movement. I am a soldier, a well-trained machine, and I’ve been through worse with a lot less to live for. I can do this and get back where I belong.
“Someone’s coming.”
Jerry almost drops me when he starts shaking. I hear him whimper and stand on my screaming leg to hold my hand out for the gun he’s gripping.
“Get in the corner and do not move till I come for you.”
He swallows and nods, laying his Glock in my hand before scuttling away and leaving me to do what I do best. The first guy who rounds the corner and fails to see me where I’m backed against the walls gets his windpipe shattered and I take a few precious seconds to listen for movement before waving Jerry back.
“Miah and the boys are on the way. All—”
My breath wheezes again and I double over when blood crawls up my throat. I do my best not to start coughing again and give us away.
When it passes, I have spots dancing before my eyes but I suck that shit up like I have to and refocus on the terrified old man before me. He’s saved my life more times than I can ever repay him for, and I will not let him die here because I have few boo-boos.
“They’re coming. All we have to do is stay alive till they get here.”
Jerry swallows and nods before grabbing my arm over his shoulder again and taking some of my weight on his smaller frame.
“Come on, kid, we can beat these bastards.”
We start walking again as I feel myself weakening. I have the will to stay strong, but my body is done and I know it when we reach the upper level and my legs just give out and dump me to the floor.
“Roman—”
“Can’t…breathe…go. Tell…love her.”
“No! You get your ass up, kid. Get up and tell that little beauty yourself. We’re almost out, Roman. So close,” Jerry hisses.
“Aw, but not close enough, unfortunately,” I hear.
Jerry gasps and I see a fist connect with his jaw before he falls to the floor beside me and Dyson walks closer with a menacing smile.