Damned: Chapter 27) Fatal
My heart leaped out of my chest and not in a good way if that was even a good thing to begin with.
“What?”
If these weren’t Vitaly’s men, then who were they? And why were they after us?
“Vincelli’s I think.”
Before I could have said another word, I heard a thud coming from inside one of the crashed cars.
“There’s someone inside.” I frowned as I looked towards the car.
James aimed his gun as the door of the vehicle forcefully opened. Someone stuck their feet out and suddenly lunged themselves out of the car, hitting his face on the ground. As we looked closer, we noticed that the man’s hands had been tied together. His mid-long dirty blonde hair contrasted with the sparkle of his light blue eyes. He had such a grungy yet interesting look with his soiled face and facial hair, especially his mustache. He wore dark blue jeans and a white broad stripped shirt which was rolled up until his elbow, not to mention his brown belt of course, and green sneakers.
Turning to us while still on the ground, he chuckled and raised his tied hands up with a laugh, “If it ain’t little ole’ Jamie. Haven’t seen you around in a while.”
James lowered his gun and gave an almost relieved sigh.
“Untie him.” He instructed me as he moved to inspect the car. Clearly, he knew him.
As I went towards the man and knelt to the ground, I tried to undo the rope while he smiled at me in such an odd manner.
“Grab a knife, sweet peach. This is big boy stuff.”
As I ran back to the car and got a small knife, he pushed himself in a sitting position and spread his legs wide apart while hanging his tied hands casually on his knee for support. Attempting again to untie him, I noticed that he probably was around the same age as James. Maybe two or three years older.
“And who might you be?” he suddenly asked me as I almost finished cutting the rope.
Looking up at him, he seemed genuinely curious.
“Katherine, James’ friend.”
He laughed at that, “Jamie ain’t got no friends like that. Least without reason. Well-” He stopped and rolled his eyes, “That’s excluding rainbow girl back in Romania.”
“Violet,” James suddenly corrected, “Her name is Violet.”
When the man spoke, I couldn’t help but get a hint of a southern accent mixed with a little hippie.
“Katherine, this is Moville.” James interjected, “Hades’ son.”
“Please sweetie,” he smiled cheekily as he rubbed his now free wrists and stood, “Call me Moe”
He placed his hand out towards me to help me up which I nonchalantly took. Within that second, he stapled me together with him and chuckled, “Naïve pretty little shit. You should learn to be a little cautious of who you trust.”
“Trust me,” I shrugged, “I’m facing the consequences.”
“Let her be, Moe.”
“Let me keep her, Jamie. She looks so adorable.” He laughed, “Like a fish.”
“You know what else is adorable?” I answered angrily, “If I stick a fork up your-” And with that I punched him in the face, allowing him to release me, “Prick.”
“Okay,” James began as Moe rubbed his face and swore under his breath, “We should leave. They’re no telling if those men would come back. Besides, Moe and I have a lot of catching up to do.”
“I’m riding shotgun.” He grinned and he pulled out this long gun from the backseat of one of the cars, “Haven’t played with one of these babies since a few weeks.”
“Weeks?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Worst few days of my life, Piranha.” He answered back.
“Why are you here?” James spoke up, breaking the silence, while I sat quietly in the backseat of the vehicle as we headed to our destination.
“Daddy issues back home,” Moe scoffed.
“Your father’s acceptance of you never seemed to bother you before.”
He turned to James with a disapproving look and pointed to his chest, “Your words stab me in the heart.”
“On the left.” I interrupted grabbing his attention, “Your heart’s more to the left.”
“More to the left she said.” I heard him mock me childishly as he turned back to the front.
“How long do we have again, James?” I asked anxiously.
“Not long about an hour.”
“Okay,” Moe exhaled, “Why were they after you two? I mean that shit you did on top of those cars Jamie was pretty wicked. Then teletubbie over there almost got her ass knocked out. What business she got with Vincelli?”
James looked at me through the rearview mirror, “You can trust him, Katherine, he could help you along the way.”
Looking at Moville, he arched an eyebrow at me, “Well go on cuppie cake, I’m dying to know.”
“Vitaly Ros-”
But before I could have finished he cut me off, “Oh dear lord in the name of all that is good, let the angels descend upon earth to help your poor soul-”
“Moe,” James warned.
“Is this bitch stupid?” Turning to me he asked, “Are you stupid?”
“I did not get involved with him by choice,” I hissed back, “My only intention was and is finding my brother.”
Within that second, James’ phone rang.
He seemed aloof as he disconnected the call.
“What wrong?”
“Martha,” he breathed as he stopped the vehicle, “Something’s not right back there.”
“What do you mean? Is she in trouble? James, we have to go back.” I frowned worriedly.
“I can’t risk taking you back there. You’ll have to go on without me Katherine. Moe would drive you to the hotel.”
“Me?”
James ignored his question and looked at me with a forceful smile, “You’re safe Katherine, please trust me, once you get to the hotel things will be better. I just can’t live with myself if anything happened to Marc’s son. I promise you I’ll come back. Just trust me please.”
With a sad smile, I nodded, “Be safe.”
James took out the address and gave it to Moe who frowned looking at it, “Do I have to?”
“Get her there safely.”
With that, he got out of the car and headed to a motel nearby.
“He’ll be fine, don’t worry about him. He dealt with things like this already. Right now we should focus on you because I for one don’t want to get my ass involved with the Rostovs anymore.”
“James told me about your father, Hades.” I began on our way back.
“Daddy,” he spat, “Never liked that old bat anyway.”
“Well, that’s-”
“Interesting? Sad? Pathetic? Yeah, we never use to see eye to eye. My old man was a dictator, I was a free spirit.”
“Why were you tied up by Vincelli’s men?”
He rolled his eyes, “Are you always this nagging?”
“I’m a woman, it’s what I do.” I retorted, “And you didn’t answer my question.”
“I’m not obligated to answer to you cupcake.”
Placing my hand on the gun, I smiled sweetly, “Would be a pity seeing a bullet through your brain.”
“Can’t have no damn civil conversation here, now can I?” he answered mirroring my smile, yet in an annoyed manner.
“What can I say? The Rostovs are finally rubbing off on me!”
Moe laughed and took a hold of his gun, placing it to the side, away from my reach.
“I like you, kid. You got spunk.”
“Thanks, Moo Moo, you still didn’t answer my question though.”
“Don’t have to.”
Rolling my eyes, I exhaled, “How long again?”
“We’re here.” He instantly answered.
I hadn’t realized how fast the time when by with his company. Perhaps that was a good thing. And as strange as it seemed, I felt awfully comfortable with Moe. Even though I should have every right not to trust him, there was something about him that I couldn’t bring myself to hate.
Getting out of the car, I looked at the towering building in front of me. It was beautiful.
‘The Heights Hotel.’
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