AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He cocks the gun, then extends his arm toward me, but he’s too late. The platform above them comes toppling down, and the gun goes off. Rhett uses the last of his strength to jump in front of me, shielding my body, but the weight of the crash knocks the gun to the side and the round zips past our heads. I scream as it happens, clutching onto Rhett before I realize he missed us. The bitch is dead before he knows what’s happening.
Demarko manages to get out of the way, but some of the liquid fluorine splashes him as it hits the ground. He hisses in pain, and before I can stop him, Rhett’s on top of him. Fists are flying, and they’re right next to a huge pile of chemical burning into the ground. The fluorine on Demarko is spreading between them, burning both men as they fight.
My hands go to my hair, pulling on it as I try to figure out how to help Rhett. He’s going to get himself killed if he fallsinto the chemicals. Demarko is quite a bit smaller than Rhett, but Rhett’s in bad shape and shouldn’t be fighting right now. He probably has at least a few broken bones and he’s lost a lot of blood.
I try to jump in and hold Demarko down, but Rhett pushes me back. Demarko is distracted for half a second, and Rhett gets Demarko’s face down on the floor. With what strength he has left, Rhett shoves Demarko’s face into the thick pile of liquid fluorine, and it burns his face instantly, releasing yellow gas as it eats his flesh.
Demarko screams, flailing his arms, but the liquid fluorine is too fast. The chemicals eat deeper, opening his head and exposing his skull, and then shortly after, his brain. Demarko passes out from extreme pain, and the chemical does the rest. He’ll be dead in seconds. The acid is in his skull, and he won’t survive.
Rhett staggers to his feet, and I loop my arms around his to steady him and pull him away from the chemicals and gas. I look him over quickly, finding a few burns, but there’s no time to linger. The gas is spreading and we’ll be unconscious right alongside Demarko soon.
Pulling Rhett toward the exit, I say, “We need to get out of here! The gas will kill us if we don’t leave in the next few seconds.”
“I have to grab some files,” Rhett argues, limping toward a desk on the far side of the warehouse.
“Forget the files, Rhett. We need to go,” I beg, looking toward the exit.
“It’ll just take a second. The job isn’t finished without them.”
He makes it to the desk, shuffling through them for a moment before taking a large handful of files. Pulling out a lighter from his back pocket, he sparks it, then holds it to the pile of papers he left on the desk. They go up in flames instantly,and because of the fumes in the air, the fire spreads quickly. The entire warehouse will go down in flames within the next few minutes.
“Let’s go,” Rhett finally nods, letting me be his crutch as he limps out of the warehouse.
Rhett pulls out his phone as we emerge from the warehouse, quickly punching a few buttons before holding it to his ear. I can hear it ringing as I pull him along, trying to get us the fuck out of here before someone comes back and finds this mess.
A male voice answers, but it’s muffled to my hearing.
He’s serious when he’s talking to whoever is on the other side. “There were a few complications, but I got the files we needed. The rest of the warehouse is going up in flames as we speak.”
A glass window explodes on the side of the warehouse, making me duck and flinch when the noise hits my ears. Rhett remains unphased, but turns to look at the massive wall of flames erupting from the warehouse.
“I’ll leave the files at the drop point, and then the job is done. Demarko and two of his guys are dead.”
The deep male voice talks for a moment, and Rhett listens intently. Ending the call, he shoves his phone back into his pocket.
His voice is gruff as he turns to me and says, “They’ll get this cleaned up. We need to go into hiding. The Don Leon cartel will be looking for us. Demarko was important and they’ll want answers. They won’t stop until they’ve found us and we’re dead.”
I stop walking, turning to face him and look him in the eye. “You need to go to the hospital, Rhett. You’ve lost too much blood and you’re still bleeding. And the way you’re breathing tells me you’ve probably got at least a few broken ribs too.”
He lets out a pained laugh, pushing past me and dragging me with him. “I’ll be fine, little nightmare. We need to focus on what we’re going to do next. It won’t take them long to find this.”
I open my mouth to argue, but when I see the look on his face, I close it. I can’t argue with him. There’s nothing I can say to get through his thick head and convince him to go to the hospital. The most I can do for him is tend to his wounds as soon as we get home, just like he tended to mine after Halloween.
When I don’t say anything, Rhett eases the tension between us. “I just want to get my girl home and celebrate Friendsgiving with her. Besides,” he says as he elbows me playfully. “I’ve got a pie to bake. We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow after we’ve had time to think straight.”
Looking around, I realize how dark it is now. When I first came down here it wasn’t long after sunset, and now it’s the dead of night. Most of the city lights in the distance are out now, and most of the small town population has gone to bed.
“I need to get you cleaned up before you even think about touching the food everyone is going to be eating. You can’t be bleeding into the gravy,” I tease, but I’m not that far off from the truth. He has a lot of cleaning up to do before he touches anything in the kitchen. “And I’m driving,” I add.
Rhett cocks a brow, grinning at me. “You think you know how to drive my bike?”
Shrugging, I say, “I’ve done it once or twice. I know enough to get us home.”
Home.
I say it like it’s ours. Maybe that’s because itfeelslike ours. We’ve spent so much time there together, making the memories that make a house truly feel like a home. Imagining being there without him just feels… lonely. That big house would feel too empty without him.
I thought he was nothing more than a monster, and maybe heisone, but he’smymonster. I watched him, learning his monstrous ways, and now I’ve caved, succumbing to the darkness to fit in right beside him. Rhett didn’t break me.
