Freeing Tuesday (22 page)

“That’s the bitch you fucked in the bed of your truck.”

Evan nods and takes a sip of his water before turning towards me. “You’re jealous,” he says with a smirk.

“Shut your whore mouth.”

He grips my chin and graces me with a heart stopping smile. “Aww, my little Tuesday is jealous of a bar fly.”

“I’ll cut a bitch,” I mutter, staring into his eyes.

The smile drops from his face and he stutters, “Wh- what?”

I stare at him with a serious look even though I know I shouldn’t joke about this shit. The corner of my mouth perks up. “Just because I’m out of the Majors doesn’t mean I forgot how to play the game.”

Evan’s eyes widen as he pulls back slightly. Reaching out, I wrap my hand around his neck and pull him back to me and laugh.

“You can’t joke about shit like that!” he whispers.

I shrug, “I could have said it to her face. Oh wait, here she comes.”

His hand squeezes mine in warning as he looks back and forth between me and Jillian. He seriously thinks I will tell her something like that.

“Be nice. I’m going home with you, not her.”

My hand covers my heart and I look at him like I’m shocked. “I’m always nice. I’m not the one that ratchet strapped the chick to the bed of a truck.”

“Speaking of,” he says with a smirk, “I heard something about tequila shots and a tiara bet that I would love to know more about.”

I shake my head. I know exactly where this information came from and I will make sure to kick their asses when I see them next. I wait to talk again until after we place our order, making sure to touch Evan every chance I get while the girl stands at our table.

I tell him all about the night of mine and Abby’s bet. He hangs on every word waiting to hear what I’m going to say about wanting to sleep with a woman.

“I had been hurt by every guy in my life until I met Abby and the guys and I’m not going to lie, it’s crossed my mind before. I don’t feel as scared when I’m alone with a woman as I do when I am with a man. I thought for a while that that may be a better route to go down, but I realized one day when I stormed into some guys apartment, that that wasn’t who I was meant to be.”

He nods, smiling at me and I can tell he’s thinking about the day we met. “Damn that was a good first kiss too. Too bad we waited so long to do it again.”
 

Evan

I lace my fingers through Tuesday’s as we leave the restaurant. I have never been a big fan of holding hands, especially in public, but holding Tuesday’s hand feels natural. It wasn't even something I did consciously. My body just naturally gravitates toward her and I'd be lying if I said it doesn't scare the shit out of me.

She looks down at our fingers and then away, trying to hide the smile threatening to break through. This part of our relationship is still kind of new since most of the time she has been away and after the other night with her mother, I know it scares her. She's still petrified that something is going to happen.

I’ve never felt the way that I do with Tuesday; with anyone. I was honestly starting to wonder if I had a heart at all until her. I admit, I used to use ‘em and lose ‘em. I was an asshole.

I pull our joined hands towards my face and kiss her knuckles. She one ups me and pulls me toward her, kissing me lightly on the lips. It’s something she's never done where people could see before tonight and I can't help but deepen it. Our tongues meet and she moans quietly into my mouth before pulling away. She looks around to see who saw us and laughs.

“That was nice,” I whisper into her hair.

Her forehead rests against my chest and she sighs, “It was. I just wish it would last.”

Shit
. She's never going to get over this. I use my hand to raise her face towards mine.

“Everything is going to be fine.”

“You don't know that Evan,” She says sadly.

“You’re right. I don't. But, what I do know is if you’re constantly worried about what is going to happen next, you’ll never be happy with what's happening now. I don't want you to miss the right now in your life.”

She nodded. “You're right. I don't want to miss the right now either.”

“Good.” I kiss her quickly and pull her down the street towards the truck again.

“Know what I’m thinking about the right now, right now?” she chuckles.

“What?”

“That my damn feet are
killing
me in these heels.”

I laugh at the screwed up face she makes. She lets go of my hand to take off her shoes, dropping at least four inches when she slips the heels off.

We walk past a pub and the piano music drifts through the open door and Tuesday slows down until we stop completely. Her eyes close and a small smile plays on her lips. Her hand tightens around mine when I look at her. It’s like she can feel my eyes on her.

“Know this song?” She nods; her eyes are still closed as she sways along. “There’s no one around. Sing it for me.”

I listen as her voice sneaks past her lips, her fingers keeping time on her thigh. She sings the words to
Meant
by Elizaveta like they’re just for me. I know by the way she sings them that they
are
meant for me.

I look around and make sure that there actually is nobody around and pull her to me because this is the most relaxed I have ever seen her and I want to take advantage of it. She opens her eyes and her voice dies out.

“Don’t you dare stop,” I whisper.

She smiles and starts singing again while staring into my eyes. I slide her hand so it rests on my shoulder and place mine on her lower back, pulling her closer to me. There isn’t enough room to slide a sheet of paper between us now and that’s just how I want it.

We start swaying along with the music and I know for a fact that I have never done anything like this with a woman, especially on the sidewalk. Just like holding her hand, it feels right. Not the dancing on the sidewalk part but having her so close.

       
      
She slows down and looks at me funny as the song comes to a close. My hand runs up her back and presses between her shoulder blades, pulling her closer to me and I drop my forehead to hers and kiss her lightly.

“Wow,” she breathes.

I clear my throat and try to sound like I didn’t just see the most beautiful thing in the world. “Yeah.”

When we start walking again, she squeezes my hand and shushes me quietly. I look over at her; her head is turned towards me slightly, eyebrows drawn together.

“What’s the matter?” I whisper.

She pulls my hand to her lips and kisses it before whispering back to me, “I need you to trust me right now.”

“Ok…”

She lifts her head and her eyes scan around the parking lot we’re in. She pulls me in the opposite direction of the truck and over towards a black ’69 Mustang GT500.

Peeking over my shoulder, she pushes me toward the ground between the Mustang and a Honda and tells me to stay down. She kneels by the door, searching for something in her bag and eventually pulls a few things out. Every few seconds she looks over towards the entrance again.

“What the hell, Tuesday!” I whisper loudly.

“I told you something bad was going to happen,” she chokes out.

I don’t get how all of a sudden we can go from having an amazing night to this. Holy shit, now she’s stealing a car! She holds a pen light between her teeth and maneuvers a pair of metal picks around until the lock pops and she can open the door.

She flips the seat forward and whispers, “Get in the back and lay down. No matter what don’t sit up and
don’t
get out.”

“Will you please tell me what is going on?”

She shakes her head and looks back over the hood, “I’m so sorry.” Her hand grips the front of my shirt and she kisses me harder than ever before. “Thank you.”

I’m confused by everything going on and am scared to death of the look that’s been on her face for the past few minutes but her thanking me confuses me the most.

“For what?”

“Helping me live for right now. Even if it only lasted for a few minutes.” I cover the hand she has fisted in my shirt.

“We’ll get it back.” I whisper in her ear before kissing her neck and fumbling my way into the back seat.

She flips the seat back and I watch her slide under the steering wheel. She presses the clutch with one hand and reaches behind her head to shift the car into neutral. When she lets go, her hands dive under the dash while she keeps the light between her teeth.

Her fingers shake as tugs at the wires until she can see and separate them. Using the pocket knife she has, she strips them and touches the tips together. Sparks arc off the wires and the engine groans but doesn’t turn over.

“Son of a bitch!” she says under her breath. She does it again but it results in the same thing. Footsteps echo off the buildings around us and she freezes.

My entire body protests the position I am in and fights to stretch. I’m not used to hiding anymore and I’m
really
not used to not being the protector. Now there’s a five foot nine skinny as shit woman protecting me. This is not going to be good for my ego.

“No matter what,
don't move
!”

“Fine,” I say.

“Promise me, Evan,” she pleads.

“I’m not going anywhere, Tuesday. I promise.”

She nods and lifts the hem of her dress up her thigh. From the light still hanging between her teeth I see the gun strapped to her thigh.
How the hell did I miss that?
She pulls the gun from the holster, clicks off the safety and pulls the slide back. The bullet clicks into the chamber and the shaking ceases.

The footsteps get closer, heavier, and I know that the guy has to be at least my size or bigger to be making that kind of noise. Everything in me screams to help but I know that my military training is a lot different than what she learned growing up in the mob and I don’t have a gun. With our luck I’d end up getting one of us killed and I’m not going to jeopardize her life because I want to feel like a man and protect her.

Tuesday

My feet softly hit against the ground and I thank God I took off my shoes when I did.  I move around the door and leave it open so I don’t make more noise than I need to. I stand up when I reach the dark corner of the lot.

From here I can see the man that was following us. He’s not someone I recognize right off but I know he’s part of Anthony’s crew. The D tattooed on the side of his neck tipped me off. Every one of his men has them.

When he turns enough for me to see his face I lose my breath. The man standing no more than twenty feet away from me is my dad’s old body guard, Eddie.

“I know you’re here.” he yells. “Come on, princess. You know I always win.”

“Go home, Eddie!”

“No can do, I have orders and boss man wants you back.”

I stay hidden in the shadows with my gun trained on him but move further away from the car where Evan is to keep Eddie away from him.

“It’s been five years, Eddie. What the hell could he possibly want with me?”

He snickers as he turns toward where my voice is coming from. The light catches on the gun in his right hand. “You know the rules, Mal. Nobody walks away from this life. And you didn’t just walk away… You ran and cost him millions.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to feel sorry for that. He was going to sell me to the highest fucking bidder.”

“I know. But you know that it’s either you or me and it’s
not
going to be me. Do you know how many guys he’s killed because they couldn’t find you? Over twenty. I’m not going to be on that list!”

“You can either leave and tell him you couldn’t find me or I’ll make sure you don’t have to worry about him.”

I can see the outline of his body shake with laughter. “You won’t kill me. You don’t have it in you.”

“A lot has changed since you saw me last, Eddie.” My voice is deadly calm and it’s scaring me how fast I can switch back into this role.

“Maybe so, but some things don’t change. You still had trouble with the killing part after number seven. If it didn’t go away by then it wasn’t going to. I don’t think you have it in you.”

He’s right. I always did have trouble with shooting someone and ending their life. I hated it. “I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your head. Do you understand me?”

“Then pull the trigger, Mallory. Pull the fucking trigger. I bet that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

“Fuck you,” I snarl.

“Anytime, babe.”

I gag on the thought of Eddie touching me. That, and the thought of going back to them, makes me want to be sick. I force myself out of the shadows.

“I will shoot you,” I glare at him but it doesn’t make him back down like it used to.