Page 35 of Duke of Ruin

“And how do you propose we get that?” I relax slightly, but Noah remains taut, his gun trained on Reese’s head.

“We kill Gianni,” he says, and turns to Noah with a lift of his brows.

“Oh, is that all?” I roll my eyes.

“No,” he says, and leans forward. “I needed you to let me in so that I could get my place back in the family. I didn’t know you’d have company.” He makes a rude gesture with his hands, and I raise my gun. “Calm down. Listen, Gianni wants to talk to you. All I have to do is bring you to him, by whatever means necessary.”

“Fuck that,” I say. “I went to him after the bust and he tried to have my father kill me, my own fuckingfather. He wants me dead, nothing else.”

“Maybe so, but all I have to do is bring you to him, and I’m golden. I’m not really invested in what happens to you after that, but with Mario gone he has some real openings in his crew, so that could work out for me, especially if I bring him your little boy-toy, too.”

I can feel the animosity rolling off Noah’s body, and I’m impressed he hasn’t shot Reese yet. I’m sure his trigger finger is getting really itchy right about now.

“You expect me to just go willingly?” I scoff.

“Well, yeah, I mean…you don’t really have a choice,” he says as he turns his gaze back to me. “If I can find you, the rest of the family isn’t far behind. You’ll come back eventually, and maybe Gianni will even let you live. You’ve proven to be pretty damn tenacious.” He waggles his eyebrows at me, and I struggle not to just shoot him. “Listen, I’ll even make it feel like it’s your choice. I’ll go ahead, and you just follow me when you realize it’s your only option.”

I look at Noah, and he lowers his gun. His eyes are pleading, but he doesn’t say a word. Reese shifts beside me and gets to his feet. Noah’s eyes shift back to him and his expression morphs, but before I can react a shot rings out next to me and Noah is slung backward onto the ground.

I don’t think, I simply react, but everything feels like it’s moving in slow motion. Reese turns toward me with a grin, but I lift my pistol and shoot three times, point-blank. His eyes go wide in shock as he stumbles and falls to the ground. I don’t know what he expected to happen, but it definitely wasn’t that. I step over his prone form and kneel on the floor next to Noah. His face is covered in blood and my heart stutters. He turns and moans and I start running my fingers all over his face, coating them in blood. He opens his eyes and gasps, but starts moving on his own. I finally locate a deep gash along his left temple, but apparently the bullet only grazed him.

“Noah! Fuck! Noah, are you alright?” His eyes are wild, but he’s moving. He gets to his feet and looks at Reese with wide eyes.

“Shit, Eli, we have to go,” he says, wincing as he takes my hand.

“Wait.” I kneel next to Reese and dig through his pockets until I find the keys to his Audi. It has to be in the garage. Noah grabs his bag and the flip phone as we run out the door. Our footsteps echo as we get into the garage and I start pressing the buttons on the key. We hear the car chirp from a couple decks above us and run up the ramp as I keep clicking. I don’t even realize that Noah has jumped into the driver’s seat until I’m in the passenger side and he’s peeling out of the garage.

We speed through Montcove, driving as far and as fast as we can. Once we reach the outskirts of the city, we ditch the car. I’m sure my uncle can locate it if he tries hard enough. We go into a gas station where Noah cleans his face, and then we hop a bus to the other side of town. Neither of us speaks until we find a new hotel, one near the airport.

Noah goes inside and reserves us a room. It’s almost dawn, but he comes out with a room key and we head inside. Once there, he puts the “do not disturb” sign out and locks the deadbolt and chain lock, then turns to me. We both stare at each other for a few minutes, neither of us sure what to say.

“What the fuck just happened?” I finally manage to ask.

“Your guess is as good as mine, but I don’t think we’re safe here. We need to go,” Noah says as he puts his weapon down on the nightstand. When he turns back to me, his eyes are dark and brooding.

“My family just tried to kill you,” I whisper to myself. Noah is at my side in a flash, his hands on my shoulders.

“But they didn’t,” Noah says with authority. He’s pissed, but it seems to have steeled his resolve. “And we don’t even know if it was your uncle or your batshit cousin acting alone and hoping to get back on top.”

“What do we do?” I ask. “We can’t stay, we can’t run, we can’t fight. Hell, we barely have a phone, and between the two of us our cash is going to run out quickly.”

“What do you want to do?” Noah asks. He brushes the curls off my forehead and his eyes soften. I search his face for some answer,anyanswer, but find none. My eyes linger on the deep gash in his temple, and fury ignites inside of me. I knew they were trying to kill me, and I knew they’d want to kill Noah, too, but seeing it sparks a new anger in me that burns deeper than ever before.

“I want to end this,” I say with conviction. “Call your friend. Let’s bring down the Carbones.”

Noah nods, his lips pressed together. I gently touch the wound on his head. He needs stitches, but going to a hospital would be suicide. I meet his eyes again, and they’re dark and calculating, but determined, and I think I see the slightest spark of hope for us. I trail my fingers down to his jaw and lift his face toward mine, pressing my lips gently against his. He pulls me closer, but then stumbles, and I have to catch him before he lands on the floor. I loop my arms beneath his shoulders and help him onto the bed, my heart thumping as he struggles to regain his equilibrium.

“I’m okay,” he says as he settles into the bed. “I might have a concussion, but I’ll be alright.”

“I’ve got you, Noah,” I say as I gently lay him back on the pillows. Both of us look rough. Our clothes are wrinkled and dirty, and we look like we’ve been on a week-long bender. I chuckle to myself because it wasn’t that long ago that I was doing dumb shit like that. In only a few months’ time, I’ve gone from the spoiled, campus-royalty party boy to someone who’s ready to run from it all and escape to a cabin in the woods. To be fair, the spoiled college kid always felt like an act, something that was expected of me more than who I really was.

“Wait,” I say, shaking Noah as his eyes flutter closed. “Aren’t you supposed to stay awake if you have a concussion?”

“Probably,” he mumbles, but his words are slurred.

“Wake up, Noah. You don’t get to scare me like this. I already thought I lost you once today.” I look toward the window. Daylight is streaming through the drapes, and I can’t remember the last time I slept.

“Okay, okay,” he says as he lifts himself onto his elbows, his face contorting into a grimace. “Where’s my phone?”

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