All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) (11 page)

“
Morgan, you're cute,” she gestures
with her shot glass toward me, salutes and then tips it back. “But
I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I don't
need
you to stick around. I already told you to leave. I'm
not fragile and I won't lose my shit the moment you close that door
behind you. Really, just go.”

My agitated state rises to anger, forcing me
to get to the bottom of her flippant attitude. “Do you always have
sex with random men? Because last night at the bar, you came across
as a flirt virgin, but I'm guessing now that it was just a well
rehearsed show, for my benefit.” Smirking at my callous attitude
toward her, I know what I'm saying is just shitty, but I don't give
a damn now.

“
Perhaps,” is all she says, as she
yanks a tee-shirt over her head before slipping into a pair of snug
jeans.

“
Great.” I say sarcastically,
blowing out a frustrated breath, I am momentarily entranced
observing her lithe movements before tossing out one more
insult.

“
Do I leave the cash on the
nightstand, or was last night’s fuck on the house?”

Laying a hand across her chest, she winks at
me. “Ouch, that was completely uncalled for. Are you trying to hurt
me?” Taking a breath, she continues while dressing quickly, “You'll
have to do better than that lame ass reference of me being a
prostitute. Trust me I've been called worse by better
men.”

“
This is bullshit,” I say angrily.
Turning away quickly, I reach for the door when a thunderous
banging startles me. “What the fuck?”

Hearing her gasp from the noise, I jerk my
head around looking over my shoulder and spot her shoving a handgun
into the back waistband of her jeans. Frozen in place, my heart
rate spikes as my eyes grow wide.
What the fuck
? I repeat
internally.

“
Open the goddamn door Candy!” A
boisterous male voice bellows from the other side of the door,
bowing from the force of the heavy blows.

“
Be quiet and do not open that
door.” Candy whispers, placing her finger over her lips.

“
Who the hell is that?” I whisper
back, moving toward her with my eyes still locked on the
door.

Shoving her shit into a large purse quickly,
she scans the room before rushing to the window and jerking it
open. Leaning out Candy looks both ways and then turns back to
me.

“
You don't want to be in here when
he busts that door down.” Throwing her purse out the window first,
she slips both legs through while holding the frame with both
hands. She glances back over her shoulder at me before jumping.
“Let's go.” Gulping down my adrenaline rush, I run over and see
that she landed safely and is waving me out.

“
It's only a few feet, just jump!”
She shouts, running away toward the side of the
building.

“
You little bitch. I'm busting the
mother fucking door down if you don't open it now.” The male voice
threatens still beating against the motel room door.

“
Fuck.” I growl low through gritted
teeth.

Surveying the short span from the window down
to the ground, I confidently drop and land just as a loud noise
erupts inside the room, confirming the guy followed through with
his threat. Splintering wood followed by a clearer angry voice
draws my attention back to the window. A dark set of eyes narrows
on me then scans the back parking lot.

“
Hey!” Pointing a gun at me, he
fires once narrowly missing me.

Making up my mind that my ass is dead if I
stay here, I slam against the back wall of the motel, swinging
around the corner, away from the next round. A small import car
with the passenger side door open is racing toward me in reverse.
Fearing it is another thug working with the guy upstairs, I lean my
back against the partially open maintenance door and force my way
inside. Tires screech to a stop as I hear another yell.

“
Morgan, get in the car.” Seeing
the driver is the girl, I debate momentarily between whether
getting in the vehicle or hiding in the maintenance closet is the
safest idea. Rolling her eyes, she adds, “He has friends inside the
office getting your credit card information. Now get in the goddamn
car.”

Wasting no more time, I jump into the
passenger seat seeing the thug from upstairs rounding the back of
the building. More shots fire at our getaway vehicle as she slams
her foot on the gas pedal. Swerving around the front, she maneuvers
the car onto the busy street, recklessly pulling out in front of a
loaded bus. Horns honk and vehicles miraculously avoid her
aggressive tactics. She guns the gas again whipping into the
oncoming traffic lane.

“
What the fuck?” I shout, bracing a
hand on the dashboard. Her eyebrows furrow as she glances from the
rear view mirror back to the highway in front of us,
repeatedly.

Sighing heavily, momentarily contemplating,
she says, “I can't believe they found me so quickly.”

“
Who are you? And who in the hell
is your friend back there?”

She laughs dryly, “Friend is not exactly what
I would call Boot.”

“
Wait, is he your pimp?” I ask
narrowing my eyes on hers.

“
Are you for real?” Whipping around
to face me, all humor has left her features. “No, he is not my pimp
because I am
not
a hooker. It really is best if I don't tell
you anything.”

“
Fuck it then,” I huff. “Take me to
the damn airport.”

Calming slightly, she lowers her tone.
“Dammit. They have your credit card information now. Nothing will
stop them from looking for you too.” Groaning loudly after banging
her hand twice on the steering wheel, she finally says, “They are
hired killers Morgan.”

Candy’s words scare the hell out of me.
Shifting around in my seat, I slouch and let out a heavy sigh as
the understanding settles in my brain while the color quickly
leaves my face.

“
I think I'm going to be sick.” I
moan uncontrollably, clutching one hand stiffly across my abdomen
while the other slowly strokes over my forehead, wiping away the
sweat quickly accumulating. “Seriously, you need to pull
over!”

“
What?” She asks
incredulously.

“
Pull over now before I puke in the
damn car.” I snap, breathing in through my nose and out through my
mouth, hoping to stave off puking.

Understanding finally settling in her eyes,
she jams her foot on the gas pedal and passes several more vehicles
before taking a side road off the main highway. Another half mile
later, she jerks the wheel to the right and pulls behind an old
laundry mat. Quickly, I hop out and rush toward the back wall,
placing a hand against it for support. Repeating what I started in
the car, I take long, slow breaths in through my nose and out
through my mouth and after a few minutes the wave of nausea
subsides.

Sliding down on my ass, I lean against the
wall and draw my legs up, draping both arms over my knees. Candy
drops down beside me, peering at me from under long dark
eyelashes.

“
I'm really sorry about everything.
I have some…” She sighs, “Things happened recently that I can't
really explain to you. But I'm doing everything I can to distant
myself from those things. It appears that I've run out of
time.”

Unable to comment at first, I focus on the
broken glass under my shoes. Candy doesn't add anything else to her
explanation and that pisses me off.

“
Is Candy even your real name?” I
mock disbelieving that I would meet the one girl in Vegas with this
name that isn’t a hooker.

Slanting her head, she stares momentarily
before answering. “Yes, it is my real name.”

“
Are they coming after
us?”

“
Yes.” She sighs, running her hands
over her thighs then adds. “But I have a plan to keep us
safe.”

“
Are you out of your damn mind?” I
snap, growling at her suggesting we stay together. “I am not going
anywhere with you. Those bastards shot at me.” I narrow my eyes at
her. “I don't give a shit who they are or what you've done, I am
not getting involved.”

She averts her eyes from my hard stare and
whispers, “It's too late for that Morgan. I've already explained
that they know who you are and because you're with me your life is
in terrible danger.”

“
No,” I shake my head, “they have
my name, but they don't know who the hell I am.” Pausing, I add, “I
won't run, if that's what you're suggesting. So you better come up
with plan B.”

I'm a fucking Walker for god-sake. Some mother
fuckers want to kill me they better be ready for a damn fight.
Running makes me look like a punk. Leaving Willow was on my terms
and had nothing to do with running away from a fear.
Or does
it
?

What am I afraid of exactly? Not my mother’s
manipulating, and certainly not my father’s evil. Taking over
control of WC doesn't scare me. Even the emanate possibility of
marrying Elise isn't enough to make me run away from a lifetime of
planning and preparing to run the family business. What in the hell
did I run from?
Waverly
, I swear it sounds like her name is
floating in the air around me.

Along with huffing loudly, Candy’s fidgeting
breaks me from my internal battle. Momentarily staring down at her
fingers, her lids lift slowly piercing me with guilt laden
eyes.

“
Not running, but I am suggesting
hiding. We need to stay under the radar for a little while. A week,
two tops.” She starts. Looking deeply into light green eyes, I
study her briefly wondering how much I can really trust this
stranger. I don't know anything about her or why she's being hunted
by gun-packing thugs. “Just think of it as a mini-vacation where
you can disconnect from the world and after a short time all will
be well again and you can return home.”

What damn choice do I have at this point? I
think that I've fucked up royally. Leaving all of my
responsibilities behind in Willow sounded like a damn good idea.
Now I'm not so convinced. I may have fucked up a little more than
royally.

This is not the great life
.

Chapter Eight

Breesan

In no rush to get to my car, I finally push
two on the panel inside the elevator just as the doors begin to
slowly close. I let out a noisy breath and lean against the back
wall. Playing different scenarios through my head on how to deal
with the freaky texts, I consider contacting the person and suggest
a meeting.
Yeah, that is the perfect set up for a scary
movie
, I remind myself. Not that Jason or Freddie would text
one of their victims prior to a slaughter scene, but this is real
life and someone recently tried to kill one of my friends. It could
all be related.

Telling Marcus about the text would be the
logical way of handling it, but what if he thinks I am involved
somehow?
No, that's preposterous
. He isn't quick to judge.
He would use the information to help with the police investigation
and catch whoever did this shit. He's a cop so he will do what is
right. Plus, he cares about me so I need to trust him not to betray
me. I decide that I’ll tell him this afternoon.

Having several friends, who I want to trust,
is going to take some time accepting, but only being nineteen, time
is one thing I have on my side. Sadly, I did waste a lot of it
keeping them away. Ashamed of my selfishness, I stare off trying to
contend with the guilt of the ones I've hurt all these years and
recently.

I drift away to yesterday on the beach with
Morgan. He and I will be friends, nothing more. His kiss is
inconsequential; it doesn't mean anything to me and won't come
between me and Marcus.
Oh Marcus
. I feel my smile grow wide
thinking of him.

The elevator doors open to the second level
garage and I see Anna hugging Waverly. A car passes me hitting a
puddle of water that's run off from the upper level. It splatters
on my legs and I inwardly cuss, not wanting to disturb their
conversation. I’m glad Anna doesn’t only depend on my friendship,
she loves easily. I quietly make my way to them, leaving a large
space between us, but Anna spots me and waves me over.

Dammit, I am not prepared for girl bonding
situations yet
, I groan.

Ready or not Anna’s outstretched hand demands
my response. I move closer ignoring her and lean my back against
Waverly's red Porsche. I hope I can fade into it and avoid joining
their discussion altogether.

“
Waverly, it is crap! And you know
it is crap. Morgan is not going to marry Elise. She's in his past
and you are his future.” Anna says, keeping her voice
soft.

“
No, we're over.” Shaking her head
in a jerky motion, Waverly sniffles and says, “He doesn't want to
have anything to do with me. Yesterday, Morgan told me that there
was someone else, but I thought he meant her.” She says, pointing
at me. Anna’s shocked look mirrors mine. “But apparently Elise is
who he was really talking about. Dammit Anna! How did I fool myself
for so long?” She growls angrily, pushing away a stray tear. “He
never wanted anything from me other than a good fuck. I was never
good enough for more.”