There.
Right?
No. Maybe not.
I shielded my eyes from the sliver of sun hitting me at the most inconvenient angle as I tried to see through the people running around. I thought I saw Travis but at this point I wouldn't put it past me to be hallucinating. The tip of the chain from the handcuffs tapped against my forehead as I stood on my tiptoes to try to see better or give him a better view of me. But with each tap from the chain, I switched between expecting to see Travis and it being a huge coincidence my handcuffs broke.
I ducked back down by the car I'd been standing on moments before and tried to wiggle my hands out of the restraints. They were separated and I could move my hands freely but that didn't mean I wanted the metal on my wrists still.
A trail of smoke flew over my head at an arc through the air, landing far away from me but I could see where the smoke bomb landed with the amount of congestion quickly filling the air. People were still fighting all around me and I needed to find my friends but someone, Travis, shot my handcuffs off so that had to mean he knew where I was. Unless it was just a random coincidence but my gut told me no. Right? I was in my red leather jacket in a sea of grey, black, and white from the smoke bomb. He had to have seen me. As much as I wanted to run to find the others, I told myself to stay put and stay where whoever helped me last saw me.
I grabbed the knives that I had stashed on me and stood, ready to take on whoever came near me. I wasn't going to be a sitting duck. My eyes continuously darted around me to make sure no one was about to hurt me before they centered back on the area in front of me where I was pretty sure Travis might be. There was smoke in the air from the Casey house still on fire and at my feet, white haze started pooling around my feet from the wind carrying the smoke bomb.
I covered my eyes again, but this time from the debris in the air and not the sun, which was currently covered by a large, black cloud.
There.
Someone was shouldered roughly out of the way in the distance by a hooded figure, causing my heart to start beating in overdrive. Travis marched in my direction, shoving another person that wasn't even fighting with him but was just in his way. His hood fell off and it was like my body started going numb with anticipation when I saw his face. He was there, it was really him and he was coming to get me. I wasn't alone.
I wanted to say that it was like the sea of bodies separating us parted magically for him but a more accurate description was that Travis forcefully created his break in the bodies, pushing, shoving, and shooting. All the while, he had a glare on his face that looked like he wanted to condemn every single thing in his sights straight to hell.
I stayed put because the car was giving me good cover and I didn't want to get in his way.
Travis's brow and lips were in a straight and tight line and his eyes were on fire. When he was only a few feet away from me and no one else was in his way, he kept his stare on me, never softening.
It was like my body shut down upon seeing him and the adrenaline I'd been running on suddenly said peace out.
My body sagged when he got closer and his arms instantly latched onto my upper arms, keeping me up. There was a clang as my knives fell out of my hands. I regained my footing but he kept his arms on me, ducking down to my eye level but he wasn't looking at me. Well, not my eyes at least. His molten gaze was stuck on my forehead.
I reached up to touch his face because I needed to just make sure that I really wasn't imagining him here. My hand cupped his warm cheek which got him to drag his attention away from my forehead but his eyes just trailed over the rest of my body. When I pulled my hand away, there was a bloody hand print left from me and I suddenly felt like I was going to puke again. The acts of the last hour caught up to me and this time, I didn't have the adrenaline to keep me going.
Travis' grip on me tightened when my body started trembling.
I opened my mouth but stopped when my vision started to get blurry.
"Lace," Travis whispered but his next words came out loud and more like a demand than a question. "What is it?"
My gaze had gotten stuck on the blood I'd left on his cheek. Scully's blood.
"Tell me what's wrong," Travis ordered. "What's hurt?"
My hand went up my own face and I knew I was touching my skin but I could hardly feel it. It was like all of my sensations had left with my adrenaline. I was cold, shaking, and my eyes were tearing up.
"Lacey," he ducked his head again, enough to put his eyes in my line of sight instead of his cheek and leveled me with a hard look.
"I," I began, my voice sounding muddled and foreign to my ears, like I was hearing someone talk from a different room.
His face shifted, a frown replacing his scowl, but all I could focus on was the image of Scully on the ground like it was seared into the backs of my eyelids.
"I killed him," I repeated so slow I wasn't sure if he could even hear me. "I did it. Travis, I killed him. I took his life."
Travis stared at me for a moment and I wasn't sure what he was looking at or what he saw on my face. Did I look different now that I'd killed a man? I'd taken his life like it was nothing. I didn't even think about it, it just happened. Once second he was there, alive and breathing and the next, nothing. I did that. Was he going to hate me now? He always talked about how I was good and innocent and now I wasn't. Not at all, not even a little bit.
"C'mere, gorgeous." Travis pulled me into him in a hug and crouched down with me against the car. I was on my knees, sitting on the back of my feet in between Travis' own bent legs as he held me to his chest.
The gentle act of it caused me to burst out sobbing. In the middle of whatever the heck kind of fight was going on here. I was going to get both of us killed. But every time I told myself to buck up and stop being a baby, my chest just heaved harder.
Travis' hand stoked the top of my head. "Shh, it's okay."
"No, no it's not, Travis." What was he not understanding? "I killed him."
"I know, love," his hand moved to rubbing my back.
"No, you don't!" I said hysterically, pulling away enough to look at him.
Travis looked at me calmly and spoke slowly. "I know what happened with Scully. I know. It's okay."
I didn't even ask how he knew. He always seemed to know everything. It was probably Annabeth because she didn't lose her ear piece like I had somehow managed to, but even if we didn't have earpieces, Travis would've probably found a way to just know.
But the mention of his name had my lip trembling and fresh tears pouring out of my eyes.
"What do I...What do I do? Every time I close my eyes, I see it. I don't even - I hated him. I hated him, Travis! I don't want to cry," I rambled between gasping for breath as I tried to settle down because that was true. I didn't care an ounce for Scully but I'd still killed someone. How did Travis deal with this? How could I tell my body to get the memo that I didn't want to be upset? I told myself to stop crying like it was my new mantra.
"I know. We'll get through it, okay? I'm here for you," Travis said.
My chest warmed a little bit.
"You don't hate me?" I asked.
One of the corners of his lips perked up in a reassuring smile. "No."
I breathed out a shuddered breath as the feeling in my chest started to spread to the rest of my limbs and the numbness began to fade.
"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I'm so sorry. I don't even...it just happened. And I don't want you to leave me. Please."
His hands rubbed up and down my arms quickly and I started to feel the heat in the air again.
"I love you, okay?" he told me, dipping his head to catch my eyes. "I love you and I'm not going anywhere. Your head is a mess right now, I know. I promise, once we get out of this, I'll help you through it, yeah?"
I sniffed and my eyes darted around at our surroundings. "We should probably get out of here."
Travis chuckled. "I'll go wherever you want to go. You want to leave? You want to stay here for an hour until you feel better? Fine by me."
I knew he was just trying to cheer me up a little bit and I'm pretty sure he'd throw me over his shoulder and forcibly remove me from the area if I wanted to stay but I appreciated it all the same.
"I love you, too," I said, only feeling like I was going to throw up a little bit now which was progress.
He nodded at me and moved away so that his back was to the car as he pulled out his gun and started to reload it.
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"Ben's supposed to be getting a car for us to run to," Travis said instantly but then paused. He pushed the button on his ear piece. "Where are you guys?"
I would have been lying if I said it didn't make my heart jump a little at the fact that he'd hunted me down and knew where his best friend was but hadn't paid attention to anyone else. It made the small part of me that was taunting me with the thought that I wasn't innocent enough for him anymore to dim.
He pursed his lips, putting his gun back together. I picked up the knives I'd dropped earlier.
"Fuck you," he said, one finger up to his ear so I didn't take it personally.
I surveyed everyone around us and heard Travis let out one tiny chuckle to something said through the ear piece.
"Finn and Annabeth met up," Travis told me.
"What about Cameron?" I asked urgently, grabbing onto Travis' sleeve.
Scully had wanted to find Cameron. And right now, in the middle of this crap storm of fighting, I didn't know if that was an objective that Scully shared with the Dacostas that he'd joined up with. It was hardly out of reach, thinking the Dacostas also wanted Cameron and possibly Annabeth, by association, out of the equation. Cameron, whose leg was still hurt and might be by himself by the sounds out it. Or at the very least, not with any of us who I had learned were the people he seemed to trust the most.
"We have to find him, he shouldn't be alone," I added.
Travis was looking down at the ground and his eyes flicked to me for a second before he looked back at the ground and I got the impression he was listening to the chatter on his ear piece.
"Cam?" he asked and paused.
I bit my lip with each passing second, watching a man run right by us. I wondered if sitting on the ground put us out of view from everyone, similar to how Travis said he was safe up on the rooftops because no one looked up. The white haze from the smoke bomb was covering our lower halves, which probably helped.
Travis whistled while he pressed the earpiece button and I was sure he probably had all of them complaining at the high pitched volume. "Cam."
My stomach started to turn over if Cameron wasn't answering but Travis looked up and to the side.
"He's this way," Travis said, pointing and getting up.
"Is he okay?" I asked, following on Travis' heels.
"He'd better fucking be," Travis grunted. "I'm sick of hearing about Sleeping Beauty's goddamn leg."
I pursed my lips and held in my retort because it wasn't really Cameron who had been complaining about his injuries, moreso my boyfriend.
Travis maneuvered us around the mass of people, sticking to the outside as best he could and ran when we got to a clearing in the road. He suddenly stopped and I almost bumped into him. I doubt he'd notice if I did because he was currently too busy looking around at our surroundings. He adjusted our course and I followed him without hesitation.
"Ben's got a car. We can get Cam and head there," Travis explained.
"Where is he?" I asked, but I was talking about Cameron as we ducked behind another parked car. "Scully was working with the Dacostas. He wanted to find Cam after he got through with Annabeth."
Travis' eyes glanced at me for a moment before looking around at our surroundings. I didn't miss him whispering "fuck" under his breath.
"Let's go," Travis said.
We pushed away from the car and right as I turned, I collided with a body. I didn't even think about it, instinct had one of my arms swiping and my gaze set on the person's chest. A strong grip was on my shoulder and the other caught my hand before the knife could come in contact with the body.
"Carson," the person hissed but it sounded more startled than angry. "You're not dead."
I looked up to see Josh's flush face grinning at me.
"What are you doing here?" I snapped, probably with more venom than necessary but I couldn't handle another surprise right now.
He let go of my body and cupped my cheeks in his palms, practically pushing my lips together in a squished face. He wasn't trying to be comical, he was just being Josh. And that was solidified when I took in the serious expression on his face.
"Dylan's dead," he stated. "With all this going on, I thought you might be, too."
"I know he is," I tried to say but his grip was limiting how much I could move my lips.
"Most of the team left," he rushed out. "Not sure if they're going to keep me on the team but they had me come with a few as backup while they try to arrest people. They'll probably fire me. They already fired Elle and sent her home for getting kidnapped."
The fact that he was squeezing my mouth and not handcuffing me had me staying put instead of kicking him in the privates and running.
"You should go, Josh." I told him honestly because while we had our differences and I only liked him about half the time, this crap going on around us wasn't something he should have to deal with. Especially if they didn't exactly have a solid team or leadership right now based on his ramblings. He was safer as far away from Melkin as he could get.
"No, I came to see if you were here. I wanted to tell you."
"Tell me what?" I asked.
I felt a warm body behind me, pressing into my back. Despite not even looking, the curve of the body and way they molded themselves to me had me just knowing it was Travis. Josh's eyes darted behind me and immediately lowered his arms and took a step back, out of my personal bubble.
"That they're sending another team down here to clean up what Dylan and Owen messed up," Josh stated, "I wanted to give you a heads up."
I couldn't understand what was going on with him. Today had been too much.
He must have noticed my confusion because he continued, "You need to haul ass out of here, Carson. I can't arrest anyone as an intern and if anyone's going to arrest you, I want it to be me."
All I could muster was a nod as I tried to work out if what he was doing was actually nice or not.
"Okay," I said, trying to wrap my head around it all. "You should leave, too."
"I will be but...Will you give me a clue as to where you'll go? Partner to partner?"
Travis pushed me forward, forcing us to keep moving and away from Josh quickly.
"I'll find you!" Josh called after us and I swear I heard his laugh echo in the air. He was such a headache to keep up with but the fact that there would be more cops coming down for sure had me making a mental note to tell Cameron. Any Casey that hadn't already left the city should definitely be getting out to avoid any trouble.
Someone got in our way as Travis took the lead, knowing where Cameron was better than I did, but Travis twitched his hand holding the gun and the person dropped down to the ground while holding their arm. I could practically see the tension radiating off of Travis as we made our way through people. I didn't blame him because I was so done with all of this.
I elbowed and kicked people out of my way, only flicking my knife when I had to. My hair got tugged, someone hit my shoulder with something so hard I was pretty sure I'd permanently have a bruise, I fell once from someone kicking me. Travis punched and shoved people left and right and I could see his knuckles were bloody. I wasn't sure if that was recent or if it happened before he found me. He had a red cheek from a punch I watched him take on our way. I saw him flinch at one point in front of me and I wasn't sure if he was shot or someone got him with a knife that I didn't see but it didn't slow Travis down and he didn't stop to explain anything.
An older man jumped in front of us, instantly getting a pair of knives and a gun pointed in his direction.
He held up his arms defensively, "I'm with Lucky's crew."
Travis began to lower his gun but all I could think about was Scully's words and his obsession with the number three. He said before it had been Cameron's dad in charge with Scully and Lucky. I wasn't sure exactly how much power over the gang Scully and Lucky had, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I knew Scully was more of an enforcer for Callum Casey but what did Lucky do? If he'd been one of the tops in charge, did that mean he had been close with Scully and Callum? All I knew was they were the type that let people join who were prone to drugging children, seeing no problem with dropping a young Cameron off in the middle of nowhere with no way to get back home, and branding kids. Last time I saw Lucky, he was going to hurt Cameron when we met with him. What did he want with Scully in the first place? Was sending us off to find Scully just a way to help Lucky reunite with his old friend?
"You guys are Caseys, right?" the guy asked.
I kept my knives raised and after a side glance in my direction, Travis held his gun back up at the newcomer.
"I can get you guys out of here while we take care of the Dacostas. Where's the rest of your crew?" he asked.
Travis looked at me and I clenched my jaw as I tried to work out what his angle was. I didn't trust him.
Either Travis saw something on my face or just didn't have time for this because he shot the guy in the leg.
"Motherf-" the guy began before crumpling to the ground in shock.
Travis stepped right over him and I tip-toed around his head.
After a few more feet, a body was shoved right in our direction. Travis and I both stepped to the side, letting the guy continue to fall between us. I didn't bother to see if he hit the ground or was okay because when I looked up to see who was the cause of it, and who we might have to get passed, I saw the man we were looking for. Cameron stood there in front of us, wiping his upper brow which was split and it looked like his lip was busted, too.
Cameron's eyes raked over both Travis and I, presumably taking in our injuries because I noticed his eyes lingering on my forehead, before he nodded.
And that was that. One nod, and we were on the move again. No heart to heart, no "are you okay?". And honestly, it was perfect because if I had to sit around in this mess for any longer than necessary, I was going to scream. Cameron led the way with me directly behind him and Travis kept a hand almost constantly on my lower back as he brought up the rear.
I'd never really seen Cameron fight, not like this. Every time someone came at him, which was often because he was Cameron Casey, he knocked them to the ground. And unlike when I had been elbowing people or Travis had been punching someone, when Cameron hit them, they didn't get stumble their way back up. Travis and I barely did anything as Cameron led the way and cleared our path. If anger was radiating off of Travis, it was like static sparking off Cameron. He touched someone and just like he'd tased them, like a quick zap - they were down.
Once our path was clear and I could tell we weren't in the hub of the mass of bodies anymore, we started to run. Besides a small limp that I only noticed because I was hyper-aware of Cameron's leg issues, he didn't let on that it might be bothering him. He didn't slow down once and kept us going forward.
We ran until the smoke from the Casey house was heavier and I could see the flames but the noises from the people fighting were dulled. No one was around as a car came into view and it was like the heavens opened up and said it's okay now. I wanted to cry when I saw Ben's face in the driver's window. He climbed into the back when he saw us and popped open the backseat door closest to us as we ran towards him. Then he did the same with the passenger door before sitting behind the driver's seat again. I sped up, pushing my muscles to go even though they were screaming at me to stop.
I didn't slow until I got to the car and even then I hardly stopped before I jumped in the backseat. Travis came tumbling in after me and Cameron sat in the passenger seat. The doors weren't even all the way closed before Ben was speeding away. The only noise was the sound of the car shifting gears and our heaving breathing.
My hand reached out until I laced Travis' fingers with mine and squeezed. His hand was damp and sweaty, and despite his heavy breathing as he fought to catch his breath, he still managed to keep that glare on his face.
I closed my eyes, trying to relax. I didn't even care where we were going because Scully hadn't killed me or Annabeth and I wasn't getting arrested and I wasn't stuck in that mess of a fight anymore. With the Casey house on fire, Scully dead, and more cops coming to deal with the situation, there was no reason for us to stick around. I could leave Melkin right now and never think back on it.
Ben slammed on the brakes, spiking my adrenaline back up as we skidded along the road. Travis' hand that was holding mine suddenly flew out to my chest, clenching my hand even tighter. His free hand was gripping the back of Cameron's seat as he braced himself to not fly forward. I looked out of the windshield to see a mass of cars blocking the road, people stationed outside of them and pointing guns at us.
Ben threw the car in reverse right as I looked behind us to see more cars pulling into place to block us in the narrow road.
"Shit," Ben cursed.
Travis let go of my hand and I heard his gun cocking.
My breath caught in my throat right before glass started shattering around us. I ducked, feeling Travis right beside me as someone outside of the car started shooting up all of the windows.
And just as soon as the shots came, they stopped. Silence surrounded us as the men trapped us in.
"Get out," Cameron said ground out between clenched teeth.
"What?" I asked. "Are you crazy?"
"It's the suppliers. Lucky's crew," Cameron said as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
"They just tried to kill us," Ben argued.
"Do you have any guns on you?" Travis asked no one in particular as he sat up, holding his.
Cameron shook his head. "They'll kill us before we kill two of their guys."
"How'd they know where we would go?" Ben asked desperately and I noticed he still hadn't turned the car off as he looked around, like he was waiting for an opening to drive through.
"It's the way out of Melkin," Cameron said.
"There's like four or five roads to get in and out of the city," I stated.
Cameron's voice was clipped and sharp, "And let's hope we're the only road they have people stationed at."
My gut dropped as I swallowed that knowledge. That more of my friends might be getting caught or trying to fight their way out from the suppliers.
"Out," Cameron ordered, fury coating his words. "It's better than getting killed. Just go along with it until we know what's going on. We'll figure it out," he promised before stepping out of the car without waiting for us.
I glanced around again, taking in the number of people. Cameron was right - the second Travis would try to shoot someone, he'd have five more with a clear shot of him. It was either get out of the car or death. And well, only one of those sounded appealing. Cameron said we'd figure it out and I knew we didn't really have any other option. We could go with them and then we would figure it out because I trusted him, these guys, and I wasn't going to come this far only to come this far. From what I knew, Cameron had been fighting his way through one hurricane after another every since he was a kid and I didn't think he would just give up. He was too smart for that and he'd told me - no, he'd promised me - that he wouldn't ever let anything happen to me, to all of us.
The three of us stepped out of the car and then we were swarmed. No one was fighting us but they surrounded us in an instant, patting us down and taking any weapon available.
I watched as they pushed Cameron down and tied his wrists together with rope. Arms grabbed me, pushing me this way and that to triple check my body for weapons, as I watched them put a black bag over Cameron's head next. I was pushed into Ben and Travis as they pulled Cameron up. They hauled him towards what had to be the textbook definition of a rape van. Or serial killer van. Which you know, was fantastic.
Travis was next to me and he spat on one of the guys holding him. The guy's closed fist flew back, landing on Travis' cheek and causing his head to fling back, knocking into Ben's head.
"Which one's the killer?" a guy asked.
My blood iced over.
There were too many men grabbing us for me to know who was talking or touching what but in that instant, I couldn't feel any of it. Did they already know about Scully? I kept my eyes straight, trying to not to seem like I was having a mental breakdown and luckily, Ben and Travis didn't react.
"Doesn't matter, Lucky said to take them all."
Rope was tied to my wrists but this time, my hands were secured in front of me. Apparently, having handcuffs still on my hands, broken or not, weren't enough for these guys. A black cloth came down over my head, blocking out the view of the sun and I was shoved presumably towards the rape serial killing van of doom.
My stomach hit metal, which I guessed was the van's edge. Hands groped me and threw me up without warning. I landed on a hard surface but it wasn't concrete. More thuds came next to me. And then the slamming of the metal doors. The engine started and when the van accelerated, I didn't have my bearings and slid to the side. I wasn't sure if there were more of Lucky's crew in the back of the van with us, so I kept my mouth shut and my hands in front of me. I could move my hands up to the hood if I wanted, but the fact that it was an option had me guessing we weren't alone. My friends must have assumed the same because they remained silent. At least, I think they were in here with me. Unless the suppliers put us each in our own rape van which seemed excessive.
I maneuvered my way into a sitting position on the floor and about five minutes later, someone leaned against me. I tensed.
But then a finger, quick as a flash, explored my back, my shoulder, and started trailing down my arm. My muscles relaxed. Much like earlier with Josh, I didn't have to see Travis to tell it was him just by his touch. His calloused fingers found my hand and he held one of my fingers with one of his own as best he could given our positions.
I exhaled as steady of a breath as I could, trying to keep a level head. As optimistic as I wanted to be, there was no way to spin it so that getting thrown in the back of a rape van sounded like a friendly arrangement. I doubted Lucky was going to throw us a welcome party when we got to wherever they were taking us.
We would figure this out.
We would make a plan.
We would take care of the suppliers.
We would be happy and healthy and together.
There was no other option. I wouldn't allow it.
There is ONE more chapter after this and then book #3 in the Melkin City Series! :D I may have posted a sneak peek on my twitter with book #3's cover.
I hope you liked it. Let me know what you thought! Vote, comment, tell your friends, and have a spectacular day!!!! <3