Page 101 of Easy Steal

The building popped and banged, exploding from the inside out.

The heat and debris hit me out of nowhere.

King hit the ground first, and I followed after.

25

Chapter 25

Livie

“Get him into the fucking car now!” Rome shouted above the sounds of the crumbling building behind us. It was almost impossible to see through the smoke and dust that had caught in the wind and was rising above us.

Bodies moved quickly around me, but all I could focus on was Sammy lying face down in the gravel in front of me.

Antoni and a few of the boys surrounded him quickly, grabbing limbs to lift him off of the ground. King lay still next to him, yet no one came for him.

His men were already on their bikes and speeding off, away from the wreckage, away from the sounds of approaching sirens.

The boys dragged Sam’s unmoving body towards the car, pushing his large frame into the backseat.

“We need to get out of here right now,” Rome said to me, snapping me back into reality.

I nodded, and hopped into the passenger seat of her car.

Antoni sped off first, with Sam in his back seat, and Rome followed close behind. I looked in the side mirror, at the burning building growing small in the distance behind us, and squeezed my eyes shut.

“He’s gonna be okay,” Rome said, patting me on the thigh for a moment, “he’s just knocked out from the blow.”

I nodded.

She sounded confident enough, but the drive was quiet for the whole way back to her and Toni’s house. Even though this was a victory for all of us, it was silent.

Even when we got back to the house.

There was no celebration, no party.

No relief as Sam laid upstairs in a bed with the doctor examining him.

“Why didn’t he fucking move?” Antoni said through gritted teeth, running his hands through his hair as he paced the hallway.

“Because he’s a stubborn bastard,” Dimitri said trying to lighten the mood, clapping Toni on the shoulder.

“He’ll be okay, Boss,” Angel nodded, looking towards me.

I dropped my line of sight to the ground, my knee bouncing as the nervous energy of the room became thick.

The front door opened and slammed shut, and nobody noticed or even moved.

“Where is he?” Larissa spat breathlessly.

Antoni gestured upstairs with his chin, and she shook her head at him as she headed upstairs towards wherever Sam was. I wanted more than anything to go up there, to check on him, to be with him.

But I knew that it wasn’t my place.

It was his girlfriend’s place.

And she was here now, so he didn’t need me to be here.

---