“Take the hoodie off, Layla, or this will get bloody,” he whispers menacingly before biting my neck and releasing me.
“And you.” He points the knife at Jeanette. “Take off the shorts and get on the bed. One wrong move and I’ll slice her real good,” he orders, waving the knife in my direction.
Jeanette crawls onto the bed.
“Hoodie, Layla,” he snaps again.
Reaching for the hem of the hoodie, I make sure I’m facing him with my back to Jeanette and pull the hoodie over my head. He reaches for my tee and rips it like he did Jeanette’s.
“Now, you’ve got big tits. I’m going to have to fuck these.”
He slides his blade up my stomach and between my breasts. He pops the bra with the knife and my breasts spill out but so does the cell phone Carter gave me. It hits the floor with a loud thud.
“You fucking bitch!” he yells and slaps me across the face. I fall backwards and onto my ass. He picks up the phone and throws it against the wall, shattering it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his phone and makes a call.
“She had a phone on her.” Pause. “Yeah, I bet my ass Carter is tracking. We’ve got to get out of here.”
Another pause. “Got it. I’ll bring them out to the garage now.” He ends the call. “You’re going to pay for that, you little bitch.”
As he reaches for me, I pull the gun out from the back of my jeans and shoot twice. The first bullet misses because I wasn’t ready for the recoil, but the second hits his shoulder.
“Come any closer and I’ll shoot again!” I scream at him. He steps back and stares at me.
“You okay?” I ask Jeanette, not taking my eyes off Marco.
“Yeah. Kill him,” she spits, but I’m not sure I can unless he charges me. My hand is shaking, and I’m not a hundred percent sure I can hit my target unless it’s closer.
The door crashes open and my father is standing there. His eyes go wide when he sees me.
“How did she get a fucking gun?” he yells at Marco, who’s holding his shoulder as blood pours down his arm.
“I don’t know,” he mutters through clenched teeth.
“We don’t have time for this shit. He could be here any minute.” They both look at me. My father takes a step towards me, and I fire in response. The bullet hits his leg. He stumbles back and hits the wall.
“Boss. Fuck,” Marco sputters, bracing my father so he doesn’t fall to the ground.
“You better run,” I yell. “If you come any closer I swear I’ll fucking shoot you. You hear me? I’ll fucking shoot you!” I scream the words, hoping they carry some force.
“Don’t think this is over, Layla. And don’t think Carter is on your side either.” He leaves on that warning, leaning on Marco for support.
Jeanette jumps from the bed and is at my side in an instant. “We’ve got to get out of here. Or should we wait for Carter?”
I have no answer to her question.
I turn to Jeanette and my only response is a sob.
CARTER
“What the fuck was that sound?” Saint asks.
We’re crowded behind a car outside the building Layla is in, or at least where the signal was coming from a few minutes ago.
“You know exactly what that was. Gunshots. We’ve got to move.”
As I start to move in Saint grabs my arm. “Wait, they’re coming out.” I look and see a few of O’Leary’s thugs running out of the building. Figures as soon as shit gets thick, the rats scurry. “Just wait until they clear out. We need to even the odds a bit. You’re a badass but even you can’t take twelve men at once.” Saint says.
I’m twitching with anticipation but I know he’s right. There’s another exit in the back, but we can’t move to cover both. I watch for a few more moments as the last of the men and some strung-out chicks leave. When I finally see an opening I turn to Saint. “I’m going in. Cover my ass.”
I’ve got a gun in each hand as I head towards the building. I can feel Saint close behind with his guns drawn too. It’s broad daylight now, and we’re sitting ducks if anyone feels like waiting around to take us out.
Finally we make it to the entrance and slowly enter. The main room is huge and completely empty. We both creep in quietly, not wanting to disturb anything just in case.
“Hallway, on your left,” Saint whispers, and we head in that direction.
He covers our tail, and I look in every room carefully as we make our way down the hallway. I want to scream out Layla’s name but I know I can’t.
We get to the end of the hallway and see that all the rooms are empty. “Fuck,” I hiss, not knowing where else to look.