Page 57 of Hurt to Love
“Do I look like a fucking idiot now?” I rowed harder to spite him and to show him I meant business. “I won’t be dropping shit. You just concentrate on your own strokes, bro.”
Jackson chuckled to himself and then said fondly, “Ryley’s really big now. You should see her. She’s got a lovely little bump.”
I felt like the worst friend in the world. I hadn’t even asked how my favourite sister was, I was so engrossed in my own dramas.
“I’m sorry, dude. I should’ve asked.”
“Don’t be. We both know you have to put Paige first at the moment. I just thought it might take your mind off what’s about to happen, you know, if you think about your little godson or daughter.”
“So, I’m definitely the godfather?” At any other time I’d have hugged him, but we were plastered to our little wooden ledges as we rowed, scared to make a wrong move.
“Who else would we choose? It’ll be you and Nate for sure.” Nate was Ryley’s younger brother. Jackson had taken quite a shine to him since they’d been married. He’d become as much of a fixture at their apartment as I had. I guessed even more so since Ryley was expecting.
I tried to think about my life back home, and the new baby, but it was pointless. All I could focus on was the yacht that was looming larger as we rowed towards it. Anything else was just a blur to me. I needed to get back on there more than I needed my next breath.
“Do you think they’ll have spotted us?” I asked, veering the conversation back to where my head was at.
“I don’t know. But if they had, wouldn’t they be shooting at us by now?”
He was right. If their man driving the yacht knew how to track us, we’d know about it. We’d probably be in the water dodging the bullets and swimming for our lives. As it was, we were gliding silently through the dark waters undetected. Two silent assassins, ready to do our biding.
“How are we gonna play this?” Jax added.
“Cover each other’s backs and shoot the fuckers,” I answered in a deadpan, no nonsense tone, because yeah, I fucking meant it.
“Better take this then,” Jackson said, reaching into the inside of his jacket and pulling out a gun. “Make sure you point it in the right direction.”
“I won’t be aiming anywhere but their heads, don’t worry about that.” I took the gun from him and then angled my paddle as we approached the side of the yacht. Their night of reckoning had come, and unlike them, we weren’t taking any prisoners.
I went first, pulling myself up onto the ladder that ran along the side of the yacht, and then up and over the edge. Jackson followed and alighted the boat with a hell of a lot more grace than I did. I was just so desperate to get shit done.
“Driver first. How many have they got on-board?” Jax whispered, ducking down to avoid being detected.
“Three guys and the two of them, as far as I know,” I mouthed back, heading to where I knew the controls of the boat were and keeping my gun poised and ready to strike. “They’re in the cabin back there. We need to take out whoever is driving this thing.”
The yacht was stationary, but for how long was anyone’s guess. We needed to eliminate the guy at the helm so we could go after the rest of their fucked-up crew.
I came up to the front of the boat and spotted a dark figure hunched over the controls. Slowly, I nudged my way through the partially open door and crept up behind him, but when I saw the blood oozing down the monitor he was slumped against, I knew we were too late. Someone had beaten us to it.
“He’s already dead.” I lowered my gun and looked around, but the boat was deathly silent. “What the fuck is going on?”
I didn’t bother to crouch down or hide my presence. I stalked from the cabin and headed straight for where I knew the lounge quarters were. But I wasn’t prepared for what I saw when I got there. The other two men, the ones who had tipped me overboard just hours ago, were lying in pools of their own blood on the floor.
“Fucking hell, where are they?” I held up my gun and scanned the room, hoping I’d find the brothers alive. Praying they’d have my girl with them, but there was nothing. The yacht felt empty.
Jackson bent down to feel the men’s pulses. “They’re still warm. This has only just happened.” He stood up and raised his own gun. “They could still be here,” he said, as he walked back out to take another look around.
My heart was beating out of my chest. They couldn’t have gone far, surely? My luck had to start changing at some point.
I went to leave and catch up with Jackson, but suddenly and without warning, I was knocked forward, losing my gun in the process as I tumbled to the floor. Then the click of a gun, and the sensation of cold metal pushing into the back of my head made my blood run cold.
Twenty minutes earlier…
I couldn’t stopthe intense, searing pain that’d taken residence within my whole body from making me whimper and cry. I was just like the wounded dog they’d painted me out to be, but I didn’t care.
“She needs to shut the fuck up,” Scarface growled. “I think I preferred it when she was a mute.”
He stalked across the room and yanked drawer after drawer open until he found what he was looking for. The cloth napkin was perfect for wrapping around my face and gagging me. As he tied it tighter, I felt my mouth pinch with the pressure, but I didn’t fight him. I’d lost all the fight I had left in me. I’d well and truly lost my footing in this world.
