Give Me Strength (26 page)

“Does Lucy know what’s going on?”

I nodded.

“Who else?”

“Evie too,” Mac added helpfully while my fingers
tapped out a message.

He threw his hands up in frustration, and after
Sean arrived at the side of the stage, Travis gave us his back and
focused on doing his job.

Moments later, the three of us were in the car
with Sean driving us towards what now felt like my doom, but he
didn’t appear in any hurry, so that was nice.

“Did I stuff up?”

Mac didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“No, I mean, did I really stuff up?”

Lucy took hold of my hand. “The reasons behind
your actions were noble, Quinn, and maybe if I thought as little of
myself as you do of yourself, I would understand, but I just
don’t.” My lips trembled and she added, “but I’m sure this can be
fixed. Right, Mac? I didn’t know you’d planned on spilling your
guts to Travis tonight. I mean, it wasn’t the best timing, but
there’s never a good time to share bad shit, is there?”

Mac shook her head in agreement. “Don’t mind
Travis, Quinn. He’s just shitty at being kept out of the loop. If
you haven’t yet noticed, my brothers all have a knight in shining
armour complex.”

“So what happens when they rescue their fair
maiden, Mac? The knight complex doesn’t just disappear.”

Mac snorted. “You’ve met Evie, haven’t you?
She’s a full time trouble magnet. Jared chose well.” She turned her
eyes on me. “I’m starting to think Travis has too.”

At the front door of our hotel room, Sean
ushered Mac and Lucy inside and held me back. “I’m in the room
right next door, Quinn. If you need me, just yell, okay?”

I nodded and slipped through the door, shutting
it behind me, and blinked at the utter chaos.

“You’re not Evie,” a drunk guy pointed at me
with a frown. Two more of those were busy partying up by the corner
bar in the sitting room. Mac and Lucy were yelling and trying to
hustle them towards the door.

“Wow, you’re quick, aren’t you? And what the
hell are you doing in our room? And how the hell did you get in
here?”

He held up his hands and winked. “Whoa with all
the questions. Waiting to meet the band of course,” he slurred.
“And Evie.”

I took off the bulky, black jacket that Travis
gave me and flung it towards the couch. Drunk guy number one
followed it with his eyes, catching the big white lettering on the
back. “Jamieson Security?” He turned back to me, his eyes roaming
over my tiny stature with disbelief. “Times must be tough. You
gonna throw me out?”

I pointed towards the door. “No. You’re going to
walk out.”

He laughed. “Good one. Come on.” He indicated
for me to rush him, and it was honestly tempting, but my
self-defence lessons from Travis had been exactly that—there was no
lesson on how to initiate my own attack. Drunk guy, tired of
waiting, rushed me, and it seemed so easy to just take a step to
the side and watch him stumble over his own feet. When he turned
again, I remembered Travis telling us to be resourceful, so I
grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a chair.

Narrowing his eyes, he took a step towards me,
and in a panic, I flung it towards him and yelled, “Fire!”

The chair missed and crashed into the wall
behind him—the legs breaking off carelessly and denting the
plaster. Everyone paused for a moment to watch the splinters
scatter across the floor.

“Fuck yeah!” yelled one of the guys. “Rock stars
know how to live the fucking life!”

I caught a bottle of rum getting thrown, and it
smashed across the floor. Mac started dialling on her phone, but it
was snatched from her hand and sent to join the rum.

Then I was tackled to the floor, hard. Feeling
winded and hurt, I grabbed the packet of Pringles that landed on
the floor beside me, ready to bean the closest drunken idiot I
could see when a gunshot ricocheted in the room. It wasn’t loud,
but having watched every action movie in existence, I recognised
the popping sound. So did everyone else by the looks of it because
it wasn’t just me that froze—even the drunk and disorderly realised
that shit just got real.

“As fun as this is…” all eyes swivelled to the
voice “…Quinn and I need to have a chat. So if you’ll just excuse
us.”

A man stood just inside the door, lean but
built. Sunglasses covered his eyes and a baseball cap was lowered
on his forehead. He faced where I lay panting on the floor from the
scuffle and nodded towards the door. “Let’s go.”

Recognising the voice as the Money Guy, I
carefully placed the Pringles container on the floor and replied,
“I still have two days.”

He shrugged and shifted the gun to his other
hand. “Two days, two weeks. Whatever. Move.”

I didn’t move.

“Now!” he snarled at me and pointed the gun at
Mac. “Or I’ll shoot her.”

“Oh you so did not just do that,” she snarled
and took a step forward.

“Mac!” I shrieked.

“Relax, Quinn. I got this.”

“You got this? You
got this?
What the
fuck, Mac!” I yelled in panic. “Who do you think you are? Jackie
Chan?”

I stood up and inched towards the door. “None of
you have got this, because I do.”

“So help me, Quinn,” Lucy ground out, getting up
off her hands and knees, her face pale. “If you take one more step
towards that door, I’ll—”

Mac scrambled and then all of a sudden she had a
gun in her hands and was aiming it towards Money Guy by the door.
Lucy paused and her eyes went as wide as mine. All of a sudden our
hotel room had become the wild west, and I wouldn’t have been
surprised to see tumbleweeds start rolling by.

“Holy shit,” I heard Lucy mutter.

“Never again,” were Mac’s words of ultimate
steel. “You take one step towards Quinn and I won’t hesitate to
shoot you.”

Of that I had no doubt. Her eyes were flat and
cool, and she looked completely badass. I was relieved she was on
my side, but he didn’t appear to be backing down.

“How on earth did you smuggle that thing on the
plane?” Lucy muttered.

“I didn’t,” she said out of the corner of her
mouth. “I hid it inside the truck that transported all of our
equipment. You drunk fucktards on the floor, I suggest that now is
a good time to leave.”

Faced with a real threat from both sides of the
room, they didn’t hesitate, slinking out of the room without a
backward glance.

I inched closer to the door. “Mac, just put the
gun down, okay?”

“Yeah, Mac.” The bad guy smirked. “Put the gun
down.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” she
growled.

“That’s of no concern to you, princess. I’m here
for Quinn.”

Lucy and I stood there, our eyes swivelling
between the two of them.

“Yeah, well fuck you, because Quinn’s not going
anywhere.”

“Mac,” I called out. “Maybe I should—”

“No, no,” she said. “You keep out of this.”

When I was halfway towards the door, Sean was
suddenly there, slamming into Money Guy from behind. He took the
blow full force, his body dropping forward. The gun flew forward
and it must have been loaded, cocked and ready to go because it let
out another pop, ripping a hole in the wall across the room.

Money Guy spun around, catching Sean with an
elbow before scrambling for the gun.

“No!” I shrieked and dived for it. He landed on
top of me and my jaw cracked on the floor. “Arrghhhh!”

I rolled and started scratching at his face when
his weight disappeared off my body and he was thrown across the
room. Sean started after him, but he got up on shaky feet.

“Two days, Quinn.” He pointed at me. “Or you’re
fucking dead.” He pushed off the wall and disappeared out the door.
Sean took off after him as I struggled to my feet, trying to catch
my breath.

“Is everyone okay?” I choked out, my legs
trembling. I stared at Mac. Mac stared at me, then we both turned
to Lucy who rushed over, grabbing my forearms.

“Ouch,” I muttered when her nails dug in.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine. Absolutely fine,” I assured her as my
legs kept trembling beneath me.

We paused a moment to survey the hotel room:
bullet holes, smashed chairs, and glassware littered the floor. A
picture was hanging crooked and the bar was strewn with empty
bottles of alcohol. Lucy looked reasonably neat, but Mac’s hair was
a little wild, and her gun was hanging by her side. She caught me
eyeing it dubiously and shrugged. “It’s not loaded.”

Lucy gaped at her. “You were playing
chicken?”

Mac raised a brow as she smoothed her hair.

“You were asking Travis for pepper spray when
you have that?” I added.

“Well. I did warn him about shooting first.”

Mac was picking her phone up off the floor,
examining the shattered screen, when Sean returned. He ran his eyes
over each of us before surveying the scene silently.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Damn straight
fuck
,” Mac replied.

“The boss’s sister and girlfriend shot at, a
trashed hotel room, and a gunman on the loose on my first real
assignment. I think I can pretty much consider myself fired before
I’ve barely started.”

Lucy shrugged, trying to remain positive for her
friend. “Well, they’re not dead, so that’s good for you,
right?”

“It’s not your fault, Sean,” I told him, tears
clogging my throat and burning my eyes. “It’s mine.”

We stood around like survivors in the middle of
a war zone, watching Mac as she tucked her gun away carefully and
picked her way through the mess to the hotel phone. She picked it
up, pressed a single button, and when her call was answered, she
said, “This is Mackenzie Valentine in room four-two-oh-six. Can you
send someone up with a bottle of vodka and some shot glasses
please.” After a pause, she said, “Thank you,” and hung up.

“Maybe you should’ve have asked for housekeeping
while you were there?” Lucy asked.

“First things first, Lucy.”

“I’m thinking that I really like you right now,
Mac.”

She nodded. “Ditto.”

Sean, hands on his hips, eyed them both. “Are we
finished with the love fest ladies? Because I need to ring
Travis.”

Mac sighed heavily. “Just let us get a vodka
shot in to brace for the next round of hell first, Sean, okay?”

Leaning down, my shaky hands grabbed hold of the
Pringles, and I popped open the lid. “Chip, anyone?”

That was how Jules, the room service guy, found
us when he came bearing our alcohol—standing around in the mess,
munching on chips, trying to process our shock.

“Um…” Jules glanced about the room in disbelief.
I thought that was a bit rich. I mean, the entire hotel was chock
to the brim with rockers here for the festival. Surely we weren’t
the only ones with a bit of damage?

Mac casually shifted her body so it covered the
bullet hole in the wall. “So, maybe we should get housekeeping in,
huh?”

He sat his tray down on the dining table and
said faintly, “I’ll have someone sent up. I’d arrange another room
for you but with the festival, the hotel is fully booked.”

Jules left and Lucy started pouring shots and
handing them out. Sean declined and got on his phone. The three of
us eyed each other silently and then downed one shot each. It stung
the inside of my mouth, and I realised I must have bitten down on
my cheek when my jaw cracked on the floor. I wiped at my mouth and
my hand came away smeared with blood.

“Well, good news and bad news,” Sean told us as
Lucy started pouring another round.

“Good news first,” said Mac.

“I got hold of Travis.”

I reached out and held tight to the chair.
“That’s the good news?”

“I’m afraid so. The bad news is that they’ve
arrived back at the hotel and are already on their way up.”

“Oh shit,” Lucy muttered.

“Do you think we’ve got time to do a quick clean
up?” I asked and downed the next shot. When my skin grew cold and
my body started to sway, I remembered I hadn’t eaten all day.
Putting down the shot glass, I watched everyone come alive, racing
about the room throwing bottles in bins and trying to right fallen
chairs.

My teeth started to chatter. “Umm, guys?”

Suddenly they all seemed really far away as my
vision narrowed.

“Shit,” I heard faintly. “I think she’s going
into shock.”

“No I’m not,” I announced, both hands now
gripping the chair. “I’m just peachy. I think.”

“What the hell is going on in here?” Travis
yelled from the doorway.

“Maybe I’m not so good,” I mumbled.

“Quinn?” Travis called from far away.

I turned slowly. “Sorry, Travis. I think
that—”

“Is that a fucking bullet hole in the goddamn
wall?” came Jared’s yell.

“What?” replied Travis as Jared went for a
closer inspection.

He strode towards me. “You’re bleeding.” His
voice sounded panicked.

I wiped at the corner of my mouth, but he
smacked my hand away. Cupping my face, he wiped at the blood. “Did
someone hit you?”

“Oh, that. It’s nothing.”

He ran his eyes over me, and when the world
tilted I realised that Travis was holding me and I was being
carried into the bedroom.

“Does anywhere else hurt?” His voice was
controlled as he laid me out on the bed, but his hands were frantic
as they ran over me, examining my body for injuries. “Quinn?”

“I’m fine,” I told him, struggling to sit
up.

Travis put a hand on my chest.

“It’s just…I cracked my jaw on the floor, that’s
all, when I dived for the gun.”

“When you dived for the gun?” He sank to the
edge of the bed and rubbed a hand over his forehead. “Jesus
fuck.”

“Travis?” My teeth started chattering again as I
sat up.

He turned sideways and pulled me onto his lap.
“Let me just hold you for a minute, then we need to talk.”