Saving Lawson (Loving Lawson Book 2) (20 page)

              “You put him away?”

              “I only tipped the police off. I didn’t think he’d get five fucking years.” Matt shrugged like it was nothing to him. “It was Ricardo’s idea. I can’t take full credit for it.”

              “And your Uncle… didn’t know?”

              “He’d have skinned me alive if he’d known. Like he’d skin me alive if he found out I sent Ricardo to get money from Heath. I didn’t think the fucker had it in him to kill him. Heath was the dangerous one all along.”

              This guy was crazy. Fully insane-in-the-membrane kind of crazy.

              “Why would you put us through that?” I said, completely perplexed. “We went through hell, Matt –”

              “The money was Ricardo’s idea. He’d been pumping money from the side out of people who were related to debtors of ours. He thought because Heath fought, we could get some money up to buy the gang off if we needed to. Ricardo was fully prepared to kill Heath, though. That’s why he gave him such an impossible timeframe to get the money. I didn’t want that at the time, but he said it would cause Ryker to turn against the gang if he thought they did him over like that. Instead, that fucking boyfriend of yours robbed us blind. I knew it was him when you called me. When you asked me where he was and told me he’d been coming back late with a bit of cash in his hands. I followed him, and I saw him robbing a house clean, and then I knew. I
knew
it was him all along, and I knew he’d killed Ricardo and found that notebook filled with the addresses. If I’d known he was capable of that – capable of killing my friend –”

              “He didn’t want to kill anybody!” I snapped. “Ricardo is the one that wanted to send him to his death! He was ready to shoot him in the head, Matt. He threatened to kill me too!”

              “Ricardo made threats like that to everyone he messed with, Allie. I never would have actually let him. And anyways, if Heath actually cared enough for you, he’d have taken you out of town and kept you away from all this. You shouldn’t hate on Ricardo so much.”

Shouldn’t hate on Ricardo so much? Was this guy insane? “Why do you keep defending him?”

              “We grew up together, and my uncle took him into the gang because he proved his worth. And I learned to live with that because Ricardo let me in on everything inside the gang. He wasn’t so bad.”

              “He
was
and you know it!”

              This was madness. I’d spent so much time suspecting Marko of evil when all along the evil had come from the one friend I’d counted on. How had my instincts been so wrong all along?

              “I just don’t get it,” I said, shaking my head. “You sent the men after Heath. You had his throat cut, and he suffered for it, and you
knew
what that would have meant for Kayden and me. We’d have been broken, and you didn’t care about anybody but yourself!”

              I saw the guilt overshadow his face. He swallowed hard and nodded. “I know, but it wasn’t personal. I needed to win my Uncle back, Allie. I needed him to see that I’d caught the guy that’d been doing us over. I wanted that kudos. I wanted him to finally be proud of me. I would have helped you out with Kayden myself had it gone to fruition. I swear to God, I’d have provided everything for you so you never went without. Don’t think for one second you hadn’t crossed my mind.

              “But then he survived and the money had been moved and I didn’t know where. I had to lay low. Marko was searching for the man responsible, and I couldn’t protect myself if he found out it was me. My Uncle would never have taken me in knowing what I did and failed at. I had no money to buy anybody off to help me. Ricardo was dead. Those men disappeared out of thin air. I had to remain undercover. And I… I can’t kill someone. I can’t take a person’s life away with my own bare hands. So I waited. That’s the honest fucking truth.”

             
Jesus Christ.

              I stared at him and back to the hallway again. I really needed to go. Matt was unloading all this information, and I knew too much at this point to walk away unscathed. Because once you knew a thing or two you weren’t supposed to, you became a target. I was becoming one right now, and he was letting it happen. He was going to hurt me after this.

              “You’re not leaving,” he said sternly, as if reading my mind. He took a step toward me with that gun still by his side. His eyes were red and dilated, and his chest rose and fell rapidly. “I can’t have you leave, Allie. Not after this.”

              “I won’t say anything to anybody, Matt –”

              “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

              I raised my hand out to him, pleadingly. “Please, Matt. Just think about what you’re doing. This isn’t you. I trust you, right? I
trust
you. And you trust me. You’ve always trusted me. So trust me when I tell you I won’t say anything.”

              He kept shaking his head, muttering no. I couldn’t stick around another second. Not when he looked the way he did with that gun in his hand.

              So I bolted, and he screamed to stop behind me. I made it down the hallway when a gunshot sounded out. Searing pain tore through my arm and I fell forward, landing hard on my front. I screamed and clutched onto my arm.

              My heartbeats pounded in my ears. For a few seconds, I didn’t hear him talking to me. I didn’t hear anything over the throbbing pain that seemed to spread all over my body.

              “Goddammit!” his blurred voice sounded from around me. “I didn’t want to do this, Allie! Fuck, fuck! I’m sorry, but fuck!”

              A hand grabbed at my other arm and he turned me over. I tried to wriggle from him and ended up kicking. He screamed to stop when I kicked him in the balls. He collapsed on my lower body, cursing in pain. I tried to shove him off but his weight pinned me down, pressing onto my wound and causing me to sob out loud. I clawed at his face and neck and he panted and raised his fist to me. I saw the look of rage and fear in his eyes as he brought it down, smashing it against my eye. My head fell back, smacking onto the hardwood floor.

              I screamed again, but it wasn’t as loud as before. I saw stars everywhere and my vision swam. I blinked and the room spun.

              “Fuck,” he groaned over me. “Fuck, I didn’t want this, Allie! You were my friend! You were always my friend! I’m sorry!”

              Despite the pounding in my brain and eye, and the horrible searing agony in my arm, I still tried to fight. I fought until he raised his fist again and all went black when it connected to my face.

Allie

I felt sick and nauseous and…
wet
.

              I opened my eyes slowly and groaned. My body screamed and my arm wouldn’t move. My hands were bound behind my back, my mouth was covered in tape and my eyes were cloaked. I was on a hard, cold floor that stank of dust and mould. My body was on its side – on its good side – but the palpable pain in my other arm made breathing a chore no matter the position.

              I knew what the wetness was. My blood. Coating my thin top. The copper smell invaded my nose and I cried. Tears streamed down my face endlessly as I wondered where in the hell I was.

              Loud screams bellowed out and I startled.

              What the fuck was happening?

              A door opened and closed and footsteps sounded out from nearby.

              “What in the fuck is this, boy?” growled a man.

              “She knows everything,” Matt said. “I had to bring her here.”

              “She knows everything or did you tell her everything?”

              No response from Matt.

              “You fucking screw up,” the man cursed in anger. “You come in here with her bound up and hurt, and you give yourself away! What use are you to me now? Huh, boy? You were meant to stay undercover. To be my eyes and ears around this town –”

              “I don’t wanna stay undercover,” Matt interrupted harshly. “I don’t deserve it! And you shouldn’t fucking put Ryker on a throne, either! I knew it was Heath all along! I’m the one responsible for his attack, Garrett –”

              “Don’t you
fucking
say my name, you dumb little shit!” he roared. “And on that note, you can’t even hire the right men to get a man killed? What stopped you from coming to me first, huh?”

              “I wanted to do it on my own. I wanted to impress you, Uncle. And when it didn’t work out the way it was meant to, I knew you’d be disappointed. But I’ve been keeping tabs on him. I’ve been following him. I know all about where they’re putting their money!”

              “Ryker and his man have already beaten that out of him, you useless fuck,” he retorted. “He’s about to get his head blown off, and now you’ve brought his woman to the mix. That kid of theirs is going to grow up a fuckin’ orphan. God, you’re pathetic.”

              It was silent for a few moments. I heard him exhale and tsk under his breath.

              “I’m sorry,” Matt apologized, his voice thick with emotions. “I’m sorry. I try so hard.”

              “Shut up, Matt. Just… shut the fuck up, alright?”

              Matt refused to shut the fuck up. “Where is everybody?”

              The man sighed. “There was a call about another cash house being raided right this second. I sent the men out to get it checked.”

              “Who’s left?”

              “Ryker, some guy he says is good at torturin’ people, and that Lawson boy is in the next room. And now of course you’ve had to complicate shit and make your presence known. They all fuckin’ heard you. So pick the girl up and take her into the room too. Might as well die together. Ain’t that the romance nowadays? Be together, die together? Some stupid fucking shit like that.” He mumbled under his breath as he walked off.

              I was breathing heavily, completely absorbed by their conversation. When a hand grabbed at my arm, I groaned and tried moving away.

              “Come on, Allie,” Matt’s guilt-ridden voice said. “Please, hon.”

              I shook my head and continued trying to wriggle from his grip, but he was stronger than me. He forced me up, and my head pounded even harder. Muffled, I cried from the dizzying pain as he pulled me to him and led us somewhere.

              A door opened and the sounds from within grew louder.

              “What the fuck is this!” I heard Heath scream in a pained voice. “This is fucked up, Ryker. No, no, this is fucked up. What the fuck is Allie doing here?!”

              “You’ll have to excuse my nephew,” said the man. “He fucked things up on a whole new level by bringing her here. Apparently, my nephew has been a real shit behind my back. He’ll get punished for this.”

              I felt someone at my front and a hand grabbed at the cloth over my eyes. It was pulled down until it pooled around my neck and I blinked my eyes open, distressed for a few seconds from the light overhead.

              Ryker stared at me right in the eye, barely a foot away from me. He looked menacing, like the crazed man that’d come to the house hours prior to take Heath away. He didn’t look bothered that I was here. He just looked a little annoyed, glaring over at Matt.

              “He’s your nephew?” he then asked in a hard voice to the middle-aged man I’d passed once. “Why the fuck didn’t you say so?”

              The man sighed. “Boy, I got to have eyes and ears everywhere. Matt’s weak. He’s only ever been good at observing. He can’t put a bullet in someone’s head like you. Which is why she’s here. He couldn’t take care of it.”

              Matt dropped his head, looking shamefully down at the floor.

              I tore my eyes away from them and looked at Heath. He was seated in the middle of the room with his hands bound behind his back. They’d stripped him down to his briefs, and there were bruises everywhere, all over his solid upper body. His skin gleamed with sweat under the dim light bulb. His face was bloody, his lip busted up. His dark eyes stared right into my own, and I saw the fear that lurked within them. He looked completely taken aback by me.

              “Let her go,” he demanded. “She hasn’t done anything! Fuckin’ hell, just let her go!”

              A large, bearded man circled around him with a knife in one hand and an… apple in the other. He casually cut it up and ate while looking around the room like he was watching an entertaining play. When his dark eyes landed on mine, he smirked at me. He was incredibly unnerving, and the fact his hands were bound with rags – rags that had fresh blood on them – told me he was responsible for hurting Heath.

              I shut my eyes. This was really happening, wasn’t it? Nobody was going to rouse me out of my sleep and tell me it was some nightmare. No, it was really going on. I was going to die with him here, and it was all going to be in the hands of Ryker. Fucking, piece of shit Ryker. And what would become of Kayden?

              I lost balance standing up, nearing the verge of collapsing.

              “She’s hurt,” Heath went on. “Matt, you dog little cunt, you’re gonna die for this! You piece of shit! You’re going to fucking die!”

              “Muzzle the fucker,” Ryker demanded the bearded guy.

              He threw the apple on the ground and punched Heath across the face, causing blood to sputter from his mouth.

              “Your brother’s a real dick,” he told Heath. “I mean… damn, he’s cold, ain’t he? Torturin’ you and hurtin’ you and not even giving a fuck. That’s leadership right there. You really shouldn’t have fucked with his lady. Fuck, that is some serious soap opera shit right there.”

              “Enough,” growled the boss man. “Ryker, take the gun and just end ‘em already, huh? I’ve had enough of this shit. We’re gonna have to burn the cabin down after this. It’s unsalvageable.”

              Ryker nodded like this was all very basic stuff. He pulled out the gun from his hand just as the bearded man did too.

              “I’ll take care of it in case you can’t,” he told Ryker. “I mean… you really think you can put a bullet in your own blood?”

              “Fuck off, Reaper, I can do this. Just stand back.”

              When the guy didn’t, Ryker pointed to where Matt stood and hollered, “Stand there, Reap!”

              Reaper finally did as he was told and stood between Matt and me. Looking down at my arm, he hissed, “Fuckin’ hell, woman. You got some serious balls.”

              I ignored him and focused my attention on Ryker. He stared down at his gun and glanced at me. He could see the pleading look in my eyes. I was begging him not to do this. He couldn’t kill Heath. He was his brother. Despite everything they went through, blood is blood!

              I shook my head at him. The tears fell mercilessly down my face, loosening the tape around my mouth. I couldn’t be away from Heath. Surely he knew that. Surely he cared for me still! Where was the man from the motel? The one who held me to him like he was desperate for affection? I needed him.

              My heart broke as he tore away, clearly unaffected by me. He stood in front of Heath and set the gun to his forehead. Heath breathed hard.

              “Don’t fuckin’ do this,” he whispered to Ryker.

              “See you in hell, bro,” Ryker said.

              I shut my eyes as the gun went off.