Until Her - Ami Van Page 0,61

She falls to her knees in sobs, curling into herself on the floor like she’s done so many times before.

“Keep it together, Ari. Now’s not the time or place.” It’s Brooks’s harsh words yet gentle voice that almost completely snaps her back.

Her vision goes from blur to clear again. Her teeth stop chattering though the jitters still make her hands and fingers tremble. She swallows down the feeling of needing to vomit and sits up, drying her tears.

“Good girl,” he whispers. His strong hands hold her by the shoulders, pulling her up to her feet.

Good girl. Adam has said that to her many times and the thought of him warms her from head to toe.

“Time to go,” Brooks says as he ushers her out of the bedroom.

That’s when a wide-eyed Tommy steps in and swiftly closes the door with the softest of clicks behind him.

“Incoming,” he hisses.

Brooks immediately shoves her back into the bedroom.

“Shit!” Tommy hisses when he steps in behind them and sees that there’s nowhere to hide.

There’s no closet, only a small bathroom and she doubts all three of them would fit inside of it. And even if they did, whoever is coming into this cottage would likely be using the windowless bathroom at some point.

“Go!” Brooks hisses out to her this time and shoves her towards the bathroom. “Leave the door open as it is.”

She gets to the bathroom and slams herself against the wall on sheer adrenaline. She sees the look of terror in the mirror and somehow manages to have the mind frame to think and slide over more to make sure that she can’t be seen through the reflection.

The sounds of a giggling woman and a laughing man reverberates through what seems like the whole cottage.

She waits, holding her breath. She wanted to know with all of her being where Tommy and Brooks are but she dares not peek to see.

It takes a second for her to hear a loud huff and then words being muffled. Two seconds later, two thuds vibrate through the walls.

“Ari,” Brooks calls for her quietly yet urgently. “We have to go! Now!”

Brooks may have called for her but it’s Tommy who shows up through the doorway to retrieve her. He pulls her out by the hand and she sees the body of a man and a woman side by side right in front of the bedroom doorway.

Her hands immediately clap over her mouth to suppress the scream forming at the back of her throat.

“Don’t do it!” Tommy hisses at her. “Keep it in!”

Then two more giant men are standing in the doorway. Thank God it’s only James and Jason.

“Go!” they both say in unison.

The men gather around Brooks who’s already got the male corpse slung over his shoulders. James slings the women’s body over his shoulder as if she were a bag of potatoes.

“We can’t leave them behind,” Tommy tells her as he pulls her out of the cottage behind Jason.

As climatic as in the movies, a roar of thunder crackles above, pulling her away before drowns in the scene of death that’s surrounding her, threatening to suck her under into the darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Where doth thou beloveth goeth?” Chase asks him as he slumps into the seat beside his.

“Shut the fuck up!” he harks at Chase.

He looks around to see if anyone else heard the stupid ass remark but finds that everyone seems to be enjoying the festivities. The music was loud enough to drown out Chase’s absurdity.

“Well, the bitch has been hanging on your arm like a fucking horse fly,” Chase grumbles.

Not by choice. Since Isabella stepped into the club with her entourage of uninvited guests, that’s exactly where she’s been. At his side. Introducing him to her friends. He doubts a single one of them even consider themselves friends. She’s nothing more than a free meal ticket. She probably knows that too but can’t pass the opportunity to show off anyway.

Isabella and Cristian walked into the Whiskey Gypsy as if they owned the place. They’re lucky that there isn’t tangible proof of what he knows in his gut. They’re also lucky that the three bastards Stella caught didn’t say a word about Derrick’s hit. He’s pretty sure they didn’t confess because they were no more than lowly pawns in the hierarchy of that motorcycle club. They might have been a good shot with the gun but they weren’t given any real information.

He catches sight of Isabella at the bar with her brother and a small crowd enjoying