Page 32 of Love Me Carefully
“I told you we were on a stakeout. Every stakeout has a driver,” he said as he pulled her across the street, out of oncoming traffic.
Leah rolled her eyes and kept her fingers entwined with his. “Every robbery needs a driver, idiot. Stakeouts usually consist of watching only. You’re entering the stupidly spying category now,” she said as they came up on the alley Donald and the men had entered.
Overhead, Leah spied the Club Pussycat and groaned. She’d never been this close to this type of bar before. Naked women, and men doing private things to those naked women, were what she supposed happened there. To her it was repulsive and she cringed at the mere sight of it. Terrell was focused on what was going on in the alley. Leaning his back against the wall, he held Leah’s hand firmly. “Stay behind me.”
Leah looked at him as if he’d spoken a foreign language. “Did you think I was going to bum rush them?”
Terrell frowned. She really did talk too much. “Just stay behind me,” he said in an angry whisper.
Against her better judgment, she flattened her back against the wall and stood stiffly next to him, rolling her eyes towards the sky.
Terrell saw that the men were at the other end of the alley, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He reached for Leah’s hand, pulling her quickly behind a dumpster.
“Ew, it stinks back here.” Leah pulled her sweatshirt up over her face in an effort to staunch the stench.
“Shhh!” Terrell warned. Peeping around the dumpster, he got a closer view of the scene. Donald’s friend still held his gun on them. All five of the other men stood against the wall.
“You can’t kill us all,” one of the guys that had arrived after the exchange told Donald.
“You think we can’t?” Donald’s voice seemed louder now. “I told you not to mess with us. I warned you and your crew several times. Now it seems we’re gonna have to show you we mean business.”
“It don’t matter, Ray Ray will find you. It’s only a matter of time,” the other guy said.
“That’s okay, the morgue is gonna find you first,” Donald’s companion replied. Before the man had a chance to utter another word a shot rang out. The man’s body slumped to the ground.
“Oh my God! Oh my God! He shot him! He shot him!” Leah was ready to turn and run out of the alley, but Terrell grabbed her around the waist with one long arm and slapped his free hand over her mouth.
“Shhh! If you don’t be quiet he’s gonna shoot us too,” he whispered frantically to her ear, positioning them both low and out of sight behind the dumpster.
Her heart raced and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. What was she doing here, witnessing a murder, when she should’ve been home in her bed fast asleep? She’d known Terrell would be trouble, and now he’d gotten her involved. Only fear that he might be right about them getting shot kept her from biting his hand and running like hell.
