Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,97
there’s barely any room in here.
“Okay, one, two, three!” My seat belt is cut loose and I’m right-side up again.
I don’t think it hurt, but then again everything kind of already hurts anyway.
Aiden’s covered in blood, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. Do I look like that? He backs out of his window and helps me follow until we’re outside. We lie down on the grass and try to catch our breath to calm our racing heart rates.
“Are you okay, Thea?” His hand reaches for me, his fingers intertwining with mine.
I roll my head over to look at him. Behind him, there’s a steep hill, a path of thin, broken trees and debris leading to the road. A car just hit us hard enough to push us into a ditch.
“I think so,” I answer, squeezing his hand. “Are you?”
Relief floods his face. “Now I am.”
“Not for long.” A third deep, intimidating voice cuts in.
A man in a black suit walks around from behind us. There’s a black SUV parked at the top of the hill, the same one that’s been parked outside our house for the last couple of days, except now the front end is totaled.
Aiden sits up, the tenseness of his muscles telling me he’s on high alert, and he pulls me up with him to face the new threat—Harvey.
“What do you want?” Aiden spits out, his demeanor completely different from how tender it was just moments ago. “Is this Andrew making good on his threats?”
“Your father didn’t get where he is without getting his hands a little dirty, you know,” Harvey says, reaching into his suit jacket and pulling out a gun. My eyes go wide, and I’m too stunned to cry. Aiden stiffens, and I know even he can’t get us out of this one. We’re both injured, disoriented, tired, and weaponless, and this man is perfectly fine and has a gun.
He’s going to kill us.
“He warned you. All you had to do was either play along or keep your mouth shut.” The man points the gun at Aiden, and I scream.
“This message is from your dad.” Harvey swivels so that the gun is now aimed at my chest. “Remember it for next time, Aiden.”
I blink, but before I hear the shot, Aiden, from the ground, kicks Harvey in the kneecap and his leg buckles, making the shot go wide. From that opportunity, I quickly roll out of the way as Aiden tackles the man to the ground.
He must be powered by adrenaline because he is way too strong for someone who’s covered in blood and was just in a car that flipped down a hill multiple times. They grapple for the gun and it slides out of Harvey’s hands.
While they fight, I crawl over to where the gun went, feeling around for it in the leaves. Leaves crunch behind me and I whip around. It has to be more of Andrew’s thugs who’ve come to assist Harvey in killing me to send a message.
Searching the ground with more fervor than before, I can barely think over the heavy pounding of my head and heart. Find the gun! Find the gun! Where is the goddamn gun?!
Turning around again to face the new threat, I take a deep breath when Mason and Julian appear, one holding a large, heavy wrench, and the other a thick tire iron.
They move quickly to help Aiden, but Harvey, who must have about a hundred pounds on Aiden, gets the upper hand. He drags Aiden up by wrapping his arm around his neck, and holds him against his chest. He pulls out a knife and presses it to Aiden’s neck, and my heart stops.
Without looking away from the scene, my hand wraps around the object I need.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” the man directs at Mason and Julian.
He’s not facing me, he doesn’t think I’m a threat. Mason and Julian are the ones with the weapons, after all. They stop where they are, considering their options.
“The cops are on their way,” Mason cautions. “Just drop the knife.”
Harvey tilts his head at Mason. “I was told not to kill Aiden, but that I could if I had to. I guess I have to.”
Harvey moves quickly, and the hand holding the knife starts sliding against Aiden’s neck. I don’t even think. I see a flash of red and suddenly there’s a loud bang, a man yelling in pain, two bodies collapsing to the ground.