Steel & Ice (36 page)

“
Alright Genesis, I’ll be
there soon.”

“
OK.”

I hung up the phone and looked up at Chris.
“I gotta go get her. Will you take me to my car?”

“
What’d she say?”

I pulled my hair back in a loose ponytail at
the nape of my neck. “Fuck, I’ll tell you on the way to the
car.”

As we walked through the parking lot, I told
Chris what Genesis said.

“
Fuck, Elle. You aren’t
going alone. I’ll fucking drive us.”

“
You don’t have to. I don’t
want you mixed up in this.”

If looks could kill… “Eleanor Skye. You know
you do not need to be goin’ up in there alone. And you also know
I’ll kick some ass. So get in my car and gimmee the fucking
address.”

I passed her my phone with the address that
Genesis texted me. “Shit’s in the fuckin’ hood.”

“
You thought it would be in
suburbia?” I asked.

We pulled up outside a one story house with
a living room window in the front. The curtains were closed, but I
could make out a few body outlines. Chris parked the car a few
houses down. I saw a window to the right of the living room window
that Genesis was huddled under. She had gotten out the bathroom
window and luckily it was low to the ground.

I looked at Chris. “Stay here for now and
keep the car running?”

“
What are you gonna
do?”

“
I’m gonna climb in the
window and see if I can hear what’s going on.”

“
Fuck! I’m coming with
you.”

“
No, I need you to keep the
car running.”

“
Alright but you come get me
if you are gonna make any moves inside.”

I nodded at her and grabbed my hat, pulling
it down over my eyes.

I got out of the car and looked around to
see if anyone was around. There were a few other houses on this
block, but they were fairly spread apart. Most were smaller
craftsman style houses. Most were nice at one point, but had seen
better days. It wasn’t the worst neighborhood but it certainly
wasn’t the best.

I came up to the house from the east side by
the window Genesis was outside of, making sure there were no
windows on the side with lights on. I crouched down and Genesis
started crying. I hushed her. Now was not the time to be loud.

“
Elle. It’s all fucked up in
there. There are all these guys yelling, and Fernie is in there.
And there are drugs all over. We were just supposed to stop here
for a minute and then all this happened. I didn’t know what to
do.”

“
It’s ok.” I put my arm
around Genesis. I looked up and saw that the window didn’t have a
screen, and was wide open. “Look, I’m gonna go in the bathroom and
listen to what’s going on. You stay here for a second and let me
scope out the situation.” Genesis nodded at me, tears still
streaming down her face.

As I crawled in the window, calm washed over
me. The Elle that had slowly been slipping away was back in full
force. The Elle in the nightmares was back, but she wasn’t a kid
anymore. She was an adult. She has seen it all and done it all. She
was emotionless.

I got in the window, glad for the wedge
heeled boots. It gave me three extra inches making the climb easier
and it was better than a five inch stiletto I could be in. Sneakers
would have been better, but I had to deal with what I had. The
bathroom was long and there were two drawers under the sink. I
looked through each one. Not much I could use as a weapon. Fuck. I
got out my phone and texted Chris.

ME: u got that bat in the trunk still

CHRIS: yea. i got a metal pipe too

ME: i’m sending genesis over.

“
Genesis,” I whispered out
the window. “Do you know how to drive?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Go over to the car. That’s
my friend Chris. Tell her to bring both items over here, and you
get behind the wheel. Keep the car running. Keep your eyes on the
door and this window. If you see us running towards the car, get
ready to take off. Got it?”

She nodded, fear in her eyes. I never wanted
this for her, but it was too late. I could only hope she learned
quicker than I did.

Chris came to the window. “Pipe or bat?”

“
Pipe. You keep the bat.
Stay under the window?”

“
Yeah.”

I grabbed the pipe. I was about three feet
long and the diameter of a large barrel curling iron. Plus, bitch
was titanium. Fuck yeah. I took a hand mirror I found in one of the
cabinets and eased open the bathroom door. It was right next to the
living room. I held the mirror out of the door just enough to see
what was going on.

I could see Fernie on a couch, and a man
with a gun pointed at him, his back to me. There was a guy next to
Fernie that I’d never seen. He looked barely legal. They both were
scared shitless. A second man was standing next to the guy with the
gun. He was doing all the talking, and it seemed Fernie and his
friend owed the guys’ boss money for some coke they bought. It
sounded like they’d bought quantity and were going to sell it, but
I had a feeling too much of it went up their nose to make a profit,
let alone enough to pay back their dealer.

The guy with the gun looked big, but he was
only half in my line of vision with the mirror. The one next to him
was tall, but skinny. I could see his full form.

“
You’ve had your chance to
pay and you haven’t. I even gave you an extra week and here you sit
without my FUCKING MONEY!” Skinny guy screamed that last part.
Fuck. Fernie and his boy were in deep. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“
Now,” Skinny Guy continued,
“Either you pay up, or this one’s taking a bullet. What’s it gonna
be? Or are you going to give me that girl I heard hiding in the
bathroom?” Fernie’s eye brows shot up. “Eh, thought I didn’t know
about her little boy. Well, you’re playing with the big dogs now.
You give her to me, and I’ll give you another week to get my boss’s
money.”

Fernie took a breath and I held mine. He
looked at Skinny Guy and spit in his face. Although I was glad he
wasn’t willing to sell out Genesis, I realized something he didn’t.
He just made a power play. He didn’t spit in the face of some
fifteen year old punk. He spit in a grown man’s face while another
grown man had a gun aimed at him.

In that instant I remembered being seventeen
and feeling immortal. Just like Fernie in that moment, I thought I
would never die and nothing could harm me. I was smarter than
Fernie and nothing irreparable ever happened to my body. Fernie had
fucked up royally.

I exhaled my breath and everything seemed to
happen in slow motion, yet all at the same time. I heard the gunman
pull the safety off the gun and cock it back. Skinny Guy wiped the
spit off his face and yelled something incoherent at Fernie. I saw
the gunman’s arm move up higher, ready to shoot Fernie in the head
at Skinny Guy’s command.

My eyes darted back and forth on the little
mirror between what I could see of the gunman and Skinny Guy.
Fernie stared at them both with a look of defiance. His friend on
the couch next to him pissed his pants.

Skinny Guy lifted his hand and made a hand
gesture of a gun, pointed right at Fernie. My heart pounding, I
shoved the bathroom door open with my boot and ran for the living
room. I came up behind Skinny Guy and shoved him down. I lunged for
Fernie and swung the metal pipe at the big guy. I heard two sounds
simultaneously. The sound of the pipe hitting Kevlar, and a gun
firing.

“
Nooooooooo!!!” I heard
someone shouting. I didn’t know who it was.

“
Elle. Elle!” I looked at
Fernie. I had fallen across the couch over his lap. I looked up at
him. He was shaking. He had blood on his legs and it was streaming
down his jeans.

“
Fernie,” I whispered.
“We’ve got to get you out of here.” I looked at him, but he started
to get fuzzy, and I was struggling to talk through labored
breathing.

“
Elle. ELLE!”

‘
I’m right here, Fernie,” I
mumbled, my eyes fluttering closed.

“
Keep your eyes open, Elle.
Look at me, Elle.”

I opened my eyes when I felt my body being
moved and pressure on my side. I looked down at the hand holding a
towel to my side. It was covered in blood. My eyes followed the arm
attached to the hand up to the face.

“
Elle. You’re gonna be
ok.”

I struggled to keep my eyes trained on the
face in front of me. “J?”

As if we were in a movie, it seemed at that
moment, everything sped up, and not only did normal time start
again, but chaos ensued. I was struggling to hold my eyes open, but
I heard Chris’ voice.

“
What the fuck,
J?”

“
Chris.”

“
You fucking shot her? You
fucking shot her!”

“
I didn’t know it was
her.”

“
You’ve had your dick in her
since there was snow on the ground and you didn’t know it was
her?”

“
Pull your fucking car up.
We gotta get her to the hospital.” I felt arms lifting me up, and
my hat fell to the ground. “Keep your eyes open for me,
baby.”

My eyes were so heavy. I tried to keep them
open, but the pain was making darkness spread all over me. It was
too easy to give into the blackness.

“
Eyes open, baby. Keep
breathing. We’re almost there.”

I looked up, and could swear I saw the man I
loved. The man who had promised to protect me and love me. The man
who said he would never hurt me. The man I trusted with my life. We
all hurt each other at some point. That was my last thought as I
let the darkness take me over, and I closed my eyes.

###

Thank you for taking the time to read this book.
It’s my first, and let me tell you, it’s been one hell of a ride!
If you enjoyed my book, please leave a review at your favorite
retailer. It would mean a lot to me.

Find me on
Facebook
or
Goodreads
. I love chatting with
readers. I will also give updates on part two on both websites.
Have no fear, it’s already in the works. I won’t leave ya hangin’
too long. It ain’t over for J and Elle yet.

Many thanks-Emily