CHAPTER 23
"Where are we going?" I didn’t answer him, he sounded worried. I couldn’t believe what I was about to do. Probably one of the most stupid decisions I had made through my whole life and not even me jumping off a cliff in order to save my victim and kill him afterwards could not compete with this. My hands were on the steering wheel, my eyes on the nightly road and I was completely ignoring him.
I had said the truth when I refused his money, I didn’t need it and I wasn’t going to take any from him. I tucked a strand behind my ear, nervously biting on my lip. I knew Duke’s stare was glued on me and I knew he didn’t have the slightest clue of where were we going in the middle of a night when he was still hungover. The car moved along an unkempt country side road and I made a sharp turn left making him hit his side against the door. I told him to buckle his seatbelt. I did warn him, but he only waved me off.
I looked in the mirror and then outside the window to see I was two seconds away the bypass which I had to take. My feet hit both the brakes and the clutch as I changed the gear and turned in with tires of my black Mustabg throwing the gravel all around the place. Through the corner of my eye I saw Duke holding to the door handle like he was holding for his life. Actually he was, If he wouldn’t be holding on to it, he would’ve flied through the window. I warned him about seatbelts, I did. Why didn’t people listen to me?
"Since when you’re the chick from the fast and the furious?" He was lighting a cigarette. Inside my car? No fucking way. I jerked the car on purpose making him hit the door again. "Easy…" He ignored the movement and the hot flame of his lighter kissed the smoke.
"Get that repulsive thing out of my sight." A small cottage came into the view and I instantly remembered coming here when I was little. We weren’t far. He chuckled as he blew a thick layer of smoke in my face. Great, now the leather seats will reek of cheap smoke. I opened the window and took a big gulp of fresh air. He was about to take another drag but I was faster, I ripped the cigarette out of his fingers and threw it outside the window. He rolled his eyes.
"Why the hell are you so uptight?" He made himself comfortable in the seat, not ever considering the thought of buckling his seatbelt. Next time I considered wrapping his toned body in it, and if I was the one to do it, I was certain, he would have difficulties with breathing.
"I’m supposed to teach an idiot to think with his head instead of his dick and you’re asking me why am I so uptight?" That was another lie, I was angry because he wanted to be a part of this, a part of the murderous dysfunctional family I liked to call all the society of assassins. His place was on the stage of some pretty venue rocking some underage kid world with his epic solo’s; mine was to make sure he was able to do it not other way around. "If Trent asks…" Wait. "Son of a-" I hit the brakes and shot my hand in front of Duke’s muscular chest so he wouldn’t crash my window with his head. Finally everything came crashing down on me. How did trent know where was I? That hi-tech ass. He was spying on me.
"What?" He straightened himself up in the seat as he watched me unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. I walked around the Mustang and saw Duke open his side of the door. The dull light from inside of the car shone upon his frown. "What the fuck are you doing?" His frown grew bigger as I dropped to all fours. There had to be something. The cool ground underneath me was moist and I was not very keen on the thought of lying on the dew covered grass. An assassin has to do what an assassin has to do. "What are you looking for?"
"Shush!" There had to be something surplus down here. I felt the inevitable connection with the dank morning dew and my bare back. It was freaking cold. Transmitter, there had to be a transmitter somewhere around here. But no, no ticking sound, no cliché shiny red light, no nothing. I felt disappointed. As I kept laying on the ground something caught my eye. It was a metallic glow another hundred feet away. Last time I was here nothing like that had caught my eye. "Duke, turn the light off…" He arched his eyebrow, but wasn’t stupid enough to disobey me. I stood up leaning over him to open the glove section and fish out a gun. I checked the magazine trying to do it as fast as I possibly could. Three bullets? I couldn’t believe my eyes. Wasn’t this just wonderful?
"What?" He whispered. Who would be in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and in the middle of an open field? A person who was either protecting this territory, a person who was lost or my absolute favorite, my comrade.
"Tell me what do you see?" I turned his head so he could look outside the open driver’s side door. If I was going to train him, then we could as well start it right about… now. The loud noise of gunfire coming from the meadow just doubled my suspicion. Duke looked back at me and I pressed my index finger to my lips. This was going to be difficult. It was never easy when another assassin was involved and this was a clear warning shot. This was the way of telling me to back away of his pray. I had three bullets and he had, I would say a shotgun. Seemed about right. The cool breeze took the smell of recently shut gun to my nostrils, he was closer than I thought. "I have a very important task for you… You have to go in the open field."
"What?" He hissed moving his face closer to mine so I could perfectly see his wonderful browns, which were wonderfully doubting my mental state. "You’re asking me to be the fucking bait?"
"No. You would be the bait, if he wouldn’t already be after you, right now I’m just asking for you to give up and receive a couple of bullets in your chest."
"Are you fucking crazy?" His face was nearly in mine and I knew the clock was ticking while he had a goddamn hissy fit, yet again. "There’s no fucking way in hell I’m going to make a Swiss cheese out of myself…"
"Listen, you want to stay alive or not? ‘Cause I have to say I’m kind of low on the ammunition." Fine, plan B. Stay here and wait for the guy with the big gun. There was a chance, very big chance we were going to die because of his stubbornness and the lack of trust he put in me. My eyes lowered on the black gun in my hand and then on Duke’s crotch and then again on the gun. "Just don’t squeal, okay?" I undid his belt and pulled it out of the loop holes. I just hoped he wouldn’t become the pants-less chevalier later on. My finger hooked behind the waistband of his jeans. Was I getting delusional or he just moaned? My eyes narrowed on his browns.
"I will so fuck you after this…" No I was really getting delusional. I pulled on his waistband and shoved the gun behind it, tampering with his most prized possession. He let out a silent moan.
"Will you really?" I got on to his lap which left him even more confused and me – embarrassed, because something was poking my thigh. If only there wasn’t a fence just a few hundred meters ahead, we wouldn’t be here pretending to be some college students making out in the car while knowing somebody was willing to hole us. "Next to a dead body?" I whispered in his ear. There still was a chance of the shooter being a mere cop who was patrolling around here, so if it was a cop, it was better to come up with a lie of willing to screw around not trespass and I had to admit it, I felt good underneath Duke’s lustful hands.
I hadn’t expected his palms to touch my short covered backside and I clearly wasn’t expecting him to pull me closer. Had he forgotten there was a very dangerous idiot with a very big gun outside? He hid his face in the crook of my neck and his teeth met with my skin. I heard the footsteps coming around the car, but I couldn’t do anything. Snap out of it, Elle! First rule, remember the first goddamn rule. His hand slid between us and when he touched my stomach it was like electricity ran through my body. Elle! Those persuasive lips were tasting every inch of my neck.
Gunshot.
I jumped back, my eyes wide and my heart beating in a frantic rhythm. Please say it isn’t so.