Until Alex - J. Nathan Page 0,112
hate. “Some no-good piece of replaceable ass.”
Remy jerked away and continued to wear out a path in front of me. It gave me a moment to breathe. A moment to assess my surroundings. I raised my eyes. He was getting sloppy. For the first time, the door behind him sat open a couple inches. A television played, but I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see much in the dim light or with my cheeks swollen into my eyes. But I glimpsed freedom—if I wasn’t still bound to a chair.
“So how do I plan on getting my friend back you ask?” He didn’t look at me. He just paced with his gun. “I take away the distraction.”
When his words registered, my heart stopped. It actually stopped. And as much as I wanted Remy to end it for me, the thought of never seeing Hayden again became real.
He’d blame himself. I’d be another person he cared about who was killed.
The whole situation wasn’t fair.
It was insane.
“I’m sure while Hayden was running his mouth he told you I have no problem handling a gun.” He released the gun’s safety. “And someone as meaningless as you will be easier than most to dispose of.”
There wasn’t a thing I could do to stop it. A sob exploded from my lips. Because it finally hit me.
Hayden wasn’t coming to save me.
CHAPTER THIRTY
HAYDEN
“You sure, Hayden?” Alex asked in that sassy little way only she could.
We were in her room in Austin. For some strange reason, I turned down her offer to share another shower. But it worked in my favor because she set about changing my mind in a variety of interesting ways involving her stripping down to her underwear.
Pounding on the door sent my body jack-knifing. My chest heaved from the sudden intrusion as I struggled to get my bearings.
I wasn’t in Austin. I wasn’t with Alex.
She was still missing.
My chest constricted.
“Hayden?” Alex’s aunt called from behind my bedroom door.
I scrubbed my hands over my unshaven face, trying to keep my tears at bay. “Yeah?”
“You have a visitor.”
Running my hands through my hair, I suddenly realized my room was aglow with sunlight. How long had I been out? “I’ll be—”
The door swung open. Cooper’s suit-clad body filled the doorway. Why the hell was he in my apartment? In my bedroom? He didn’t make house calls. People were brought to him.
I jumped to my feet like a lowly recruit before the general.
“Sit down, son.”
I did as told and nearly shit when he closed the door and took a seat beside me on my bed.
His dark eyes assessed my empty walls and furniture, the same way Alex’s had the first time she’d been inside. “Sorry to hear about your girl.”
I nodded. Was that why he’d come by? To offer his condolences? She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be.
“They have any leads?”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat and shook my head.
“Listen, I came by to tell you something.” My eyes lifted to his face, but his eyes stared at the picture on my nightstand. I wondered if he could see how in love Alex and I were—are. “And I know once I do, you’re gonna be really angry with me. I don’t expect anything less.”
I gripped the comforter at my sides, bunching the fabric tightly in my fists. “You’re scaring the fuck out of me right now, sir. Please just tell me what you know.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know anything. It’s just a hunch.”
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead.
Cooper avoided my probing gaze. He stared straight ahead, his eyes creasing in the corners. “That night in the alley. Did you ever wonder if that guy was still alive?”
“What?”
He shot me a sideways glance. “When Remy lifted you over the wall? You think the guy could’ve been alive?”
Having no clue why he’d bring that up—especially with my life in shambles—I shook my head.
“Why not?”
“Because I was there. I saw him.” My voice rose, never having spoken to anyone about it but Alex. “I saw his lifeless body. I’ve seen his grave.”
He nodded. “Oh, he died that night alright.” He stared at me long and hard, considering his words. “But you didn’t kill him.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “What?”
“You didn’t do it. Remy did.”
My stomach dropped as my jaw hung to the floor. He wasn’t talking about the story Remy told the cops. He was telling me something I didn’t know. Something I couldn’t have known.
“He didn’t want the guy talking, or going to the feds