"Mr. Taylor," Dylan started, voice professional but urgent, "Are you suggesting that Mr. Miller is still alive and well? Because that is not something we would take lightly if you're lying to us." Dylan pointed a finger down on Travis' picture, tapping it a few times.
Scully's face distorted for a second at the mention of his last name but then regained his nonchalant composure.
A shrug. A shrug was all he had to give Dylan while he threw Travis, my Travis, under the bus.
"Yeah, I know," Scully eventually offered.
"Hang on," I interrupted as I tried to keep my voice level and all squeakiness and desires to strangle Scully out of it.
Dylan gave me that look he loved to give me that said 'shut up right now, trainee' but I wasn't about to sit on the sidelines.
"He has a life sentence, how can you trust anything he says? He just showed us his Casey tattoo and you expect to believe he's just going to hand over current Casey members like a rat?" I asked, looking at Dylan and I wasn't even reaching far with my explanation because from any outsider, it made sense. Why was this guy doing this? And he was Cameron's uncle for crying out loud.
This got Scully's attention.
"Over half these guys in here are rats, honey," Scully said casually. My eyes narrowed even though he didn't even talk down to me while he called me the stupid pet name and maybe that's what annoyed me about it. Whenever Dylan called me names, he said it with hate and I knew he was looking down on me. Scully said it casually like he'd call anyone walking along the street the same thing and right now I just wanted more reasons to hate him. I didn't want any part of him to be a decent person.
"The biggest one of all is my little nephew," he continued. "Cammie turned us in and it went all downhill from there."
"What?" I asked, sure he was lying.
Dylan fished through the files he had with him and pulled out Scully's paperwork, pushing it in front of me. I'd never paid much attention to it in the past even though I knew we had it because I figured it was of no use to us. He was already in jail where Dylan wanted to put the rest of the gang, there was no point to research anything.
I skimmed the paperwork and sure enough, Cameron Casey was listed as providing all of the details against Scully.
He had multiple charges against him but the one that stood out among the others and guaranteed his life sentence was the murder of Alexander Casey, Cameron's little brother.
Fear washed over me and I felt paralyzed. Did this man really kill his own nephew? Had Cameron turned half of these people in on his own? Was that why Scully didn't care?
Practically yelling at myself to move a muscle, I pushed the paperwork back to Dylan as I glanced back at Scully. I should have listened to Travis and refused to come. His warning to be careful around Scully held more meaning than I realized now.
I tried to act as casual about it as I could. "Still, I wouldn't trust him."
Scully smirked at me.
"Please, explain anything you know," Dylan urged, shooting me a look and I wanted to tell him where he could shove that look right about now but I bit my lip instead.
"Our knowledge on the Casey gang is very limited," Dylan said.
I looked over Scully as his eyes swam over the photographs in front of him, like he had no hesitation betraying the Casey trust. But given his crimes and reason in here, I doubted he had many morals to begin with. Was this part of why Cameron refused to stay in his own house and constantly had a safe house somewhere else?
Dylan looked like he was about to jump for joy at the fact that Scully was apparently willing to betray his own gang and Josh's hand was at the ready, eager to write down any and all information Scully gave them. I felt sick to my stomach.
"You want to look for these two, they're-" Scully eventually said, fingers pointing to Jay and Travis again.
"Like we said," Dylan cut him off.
Scully's head snapped up and stared Dylan down. "Was I finished?"
Despite the fact that one of them was handcuffed to the table, Dylan backed down really quickly after that.
"Sorry, please continue."
Scully scrunched up his face and looked at other pictures. "You want to find, what's that motherfucker's name?" Scully held his head as he tried to think. "Tim. No, Thomas, Tom."
I tried to keep my face neutral and I didn't see what importance Tom had, ever, besides being a jerk.
"He works the graveyard shift if he's still around," Scully explained.
I could hear Josh's pen scribbling like crazy.
"The what?" Dylan questioned.
"He cleans up the mess by these two," Scully pointed to Jay and Travis again. "If you arrest Thomas, you'll probably find a lot more evidence. Boy leaves scenes as clean as a whistle. Only met him a few times before I came here."
"Graveyard shift, so we can catch him at night?" Josh asked.
"No," Scully said, as if Josh was telling him to cut off his own finger. "Graveyards. Bodies." He looked at Dylan. "If I'm telling you this, you'd better not fuck this up. I'm telling you high class shit and just because your team's dumb as bricks doesn't mean I don't deserve a good deal."
My eyes bulged, he thought he deserved a good deal for this? I guess it depended on what side you were on.
Dylan only nodded and elbowed Josh.
"I don't know who does their business anymore but Jay collects it. When it comes time for the Caseys to get paid, Jay goes to pick it up because that boy looks like a fucking skyscraper and hits like a mule. Very few people owe Caseys debts out of fear and it's because of Jay and his team."
He wasn't really wrong there.
"Really?" Josh asked, intrigued. "How big is he?"
I tried to look as calm as I could and ignore the fact that Josh had met and spoken to Jay and then later Tom the night that we were attacked in the Dacosta territory.
"Why don't you find him?" Scully challenged.
"How much money does he collect?" Dylan asked.
Scully just laughed, his eyes lighting up with amusement. My heart was beating faster and faster.
"You got my nephew here," Scully said, ignoring Dylan's question. "But the house is the Caseys. The power. So either him or Finn's out of the picture and rumor has it, it's Cammie. But I'll tell you what, I'd give my left nut for this boy's name," Scully deviated and pointed to Finn's picture. "Finnigan Murray."
I rolled my eyes at his Irish obsession rearing its head again.
"Murray, you say?" Josh question. Great. We only had his first name before. Thank you again, Scully. What a great help you've been.
Scully nodded. "He's dating my daughter. She was dating Jay but she traded him in for Finnigan. Kid's a little psycho motherfucker but she doesn't like to get her hands dirty so he's stepped up and it's been him and Cam calling the shots. Goddamn. Annabeth Murray, can you imagine?" he cupped his finger together and kissed them like he was chef.
"So if it's just the one in charge," Scully continued after he finished idolizing Finn's name, "that's enough reason enough for them to try to attack the house, make a statement of sorts."
"But you said only a part of it getting burned was the important key?" Dylan said. "What does it matter if it's a part or the whole damn thing?"
"This whole thing is just a game and you guys are thinking on the wrong side of it all. They're afraid of the consequence of burning it down. You gotta think like them. You gotta not think like cops." Scully tapped his forehead. "That's why you ain't got shit."
Dylan held his hands out to Scully, as if to say that's why we were talking to him.
"This one, this is the one causing you issues," Scully said. "Travis Miller. He can shoot like a fucking godsend from what I've heard and I would kill just to see it up close. I heard he shot someone's trigger finger clean off but that's just rumors that come in and out of here, Dacostas that come in for the night before getting bailed out, you know," Scully bragged and I tried to relax my shoulders, rolling my neck around so I wouldn't say something I regretted as I felt my body tense.
Dylan leaned in closer but Josh cut him off.
"That good of a shot?" Josh asked and his almost argument with Travis earlier in the tree about aim popping into my head had me picking at my nails.
Scully nodded. "Cammie found him as a kid, I don't know how. Raised him up good so he grew up in the gang life. You got others that come in later in life but the key," Scully pushed hard on the table with a crooked finger for emphasis, "Is to get them trained and thinking right from the start as kids and that's what he did with this boy. He's Cammie's pride and joy from what I hear. He's the one that deals with the Dacostas. Anyone that comes at the Caseys, this kid deals with to send running away in fear and back to the hellhole they came from."
"Is that what you did?" Dylan asked.
Scully smiled and I got a glimpse of that chipped tooth again. "That's the job of the dog. I was second in command to my cousin and ain't nobody got in my way unless they wanted to get put six feet under. And Cammie's not a good shooter," Scully laughed. He had the nerve to laugh in front of me. "So this kid, Cam snaps his fingers and this kid shoots. Done. Over."
I sucked in my lips and looked to the ceiling, praying he was done but he wasn't.
"This Dacosta fucker came in here once saying the kid got sent away and the Dacostas were running wild all over town cause the Caseys are good but there ain't no dog to shoot 'em before they see him coming, you feel me? They were even have a field day in the jail, taunting and shit, 'course them young folks didn't know who I was. But rumor was, Cammie sent a team out just to collect his dog back up."
I nearly drew blood on my lip when I started to realize I was pretty sure Scully was talking about when Travis got sent to live with his mom and met me, only for Travis to come back to make sure I was okay after my kidnapping.
"Oh my god."
Scully looked at me.
I put a hand over my mouth, not realizing that had slipped from my mouth. Dylan must have realized the same thing because he smiled warmingly at me and it made my blood boil as he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off.
"Lacey actually met Mr. Miller. The Caseys kidnapped her for months before she ended up in the hospital with a leg wound thanks to them," Dylan said.
I clenched my jaw because the amount of times I'd told them it was Sterling Dacosta was starting to pain me. "How many times do I have to tell you guys?"
"Nah," Scully interrupted me, "That ain't the Casey way."
"Excuse me?" I snapped because even though he was going against what Dylan was preaching, he had spent the last few minutes enraging me.
"Caseys don't hold innocent people hostage or kidnap them," Scully clarified.
I rolled my eyes. "Just brand their own daughters?"
"What?" Dylan asked, his voice higher this time with confusion.
Scully narrowed his eyes at me. "You have quite the mouth on you, don't you?"
I stared back at him, not willing to look away first.
"Apologize, Lacey," Dylan said, apparently freaking out that I'd made Scully frazzled by mentioning what he did to Annabeth's back, not that Dylan even knew, but he didn't want to lose his source of information.
"Why?" I asked, not breaking eye contact as Scully glared back at me. "I won't mean it."
That made Scully laugh and look away. "You're a curious girl. How long were you with the Caseys for?"
I didn't answer as I crossed my arms over my chest.
He took that as his cue to continue. "My guess is with Cammie gone, Finnigan and Annabeth are trying to keep everyone quiet. That's why you haven't been able to get anything on them yet and the dog doesn't know who to shoot without Cam snapping his fingers at targets."
I glared down at Josh as he wrote down everything Scully was saying. I wanted to snap his pen in half.
"Is there anything else?" Dylan asked, sounding like he wanted to jump around and scream hallelujah right now.
Scully shrugged. "Why don't you look into those and get back with me with a deal and I can let you know if I know anything else."
Wonderful.
On our way out, I had to keep my hands in my pockets because I wasn't able to stop clenching them. My chest was raging and I wanted to run for the hills, taking Josh's notes and Dylan's files with me. I wanted to burn everything they just got and lock Scully up somewhere in a padded room he couldn't ever get out.
"So what do you guys think?" Dylan asked as we stepped outside.
I looked around, the glare stuck on my face from earlier still. Jay's car was still there. I sighed out of frustration at the duo I was standing next to but I realized it came out sounding like I was thinking.
We walked over to Dylan's car which was near Josh's.
"Actually," Josh started, "Carson and I got attacked and both times they asked her where he was but they didn't say who he was. Maybe it was Miller."
Dylan narrowed his eyes and looked between the two of us. I was going to kill him. I was going to kill both of them and Scully.
"I didn't know they asked this when you were attacked the first time and I didn't know there was a second attack on the two of you," Dylan tried to sound like a parent scolding a child but I groaned and continued to look around.
I didn't see Ben's car anywhere.
Josh scratched the back of his head. "Well, I meant the hospital? There was that message from that kid directed at Carson. They wanted to know where he was. It was the same message the first time, some guy was choking Carson and asked her that."
"Is there anything else you failed to mention from that night?" Dylan asked.
"No," I was quick to say but Dylan just glared at me before looking back at Josh.
"Well, uh," Josh began and I tilted my head up, mouthing 'fuck' because there was only so many times I could protest against Josh. "Some guy came and fought them off for us because two guys were attacking us."
I clenched my jaw. Anything I said right now would just make it look like I was trying to shut Josh up to cover for the Casey gang, which was true, and I didn't want to incriminate myself or Travis anymore while I was outside a prison already.
"The Dacosta guy was choking her out, if the other guy hadn't gotten there, she could've died. He called her Miller's girl," Josh said quickly. "We were trying to solve everything on our own so we didn't tell you."
That got my attention and I didn't care what it looked like.
"What the heck, Josh?" I yelled out.
Dylan turned around so fast to face me, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a kink in his neck in the morning.
"Well I didn't know how bad of a guy this was and I thought he was dead!" Josh defended but Dylan was already in my face.
"He called you what?" Dylan asked, directly in front of me.
I bit my lip. "We dated in high school. That's common knowledge."
"For his gang buddies to know, three years later?" Dylan flung a hand out, motioning to the town itself.
"I don't know what they talk about, Dylan." My voice came out harsh.
"What else aren't you two telling me?" he asked, but he was still close to me.
"What aren't you telling us?" I countered quietly, raising an eyebrow.
I thought I had him because he took a step back and I could see him looking off to the side as he thought. Like he was trying to think up what I could be talking about. Or if I knew. Or maybe what lie he was going to say.
But then Josh. Fucking Josh.
"We have informants," he said, answering Dylan's question.
I pushed Dylan to the side, not even caring as I came towards Josh. "Are you out of your mind?" I hissed under my breath.
"Who?" Dylan pressed.
"Benjamin Acker and I don't know who the other is, he won't tell me his name but I think he likes Carson. He listens to her."
"What is wrong with you?" I asked, shoving his shoulders slightly. His back hit Dylan's car and he looked at the ground.
"You heard him in there, Miller is bad news. We need to be serious, Carson."
I was about to go off on him when I saw something behind him. Dylan was yelling at us but I wasn't paying attention. There was about a three story building across the street and a few buildings down from where we were and on the top of the roof I saw him. The sun was starting to set, casting shadows on everything but I could make out the top half of his body as he edged closer to the ledge.
Travis.
I raised a shaky hand to my mouth and took a steady breath in, trying to control my breathing and keep my tears at bay. I couldn't cry right now despite how much I just wanted to run to his arms and ball my eyes out as everything was crumbling around me right now.
His cover was getting blown wide open more and more by the second and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to help but there he was, waiting for me on the roof so close to the prison and cops that could see him and arrest him if they saw him. For me. He waited around three years chasing Sterling for me.
And what did I do for him? Innocently sit back and listen to Scully and Josh rat him out.
"Lacey," Dylan's shrill voice snapped me back to reality and I turned around.
"What?" I groaned.
"You're riding with me back, get your stuff."
With a nod, I went to Josh's car and grabbed my purse, not looking at him once. I swore I heard him mutter sorry but I kept walking. I didn't want his apology.
I sat with a huff down in Dylan's car and we drove off. I could feel my hands starting to get sweaty again as we went down multiple roads in silence. I noticed shortly after, that we weren't going straight to the hotel because Josh was behind us and he turned left but we kept going straight. My hands got sweatier, trying to figure out where we were going and why.
"Am I back on house arrest?" I asked.
He didn't answer me. Maybe he was taking me to the Dacosta house to finish me off. Or maybe just some random woods to finish me off. Or to another jail to arrest me.
"What aren't you telling me, Lacey?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"I don't believe you," he told me.
"Sounds like your problem."
He glared at me.
"What were you doing at the Dacosta house?" I shot out, trying to at least figure that out if I was going to die. I had to put a hand on the dashboard to brace myself with how hard he slammed on the brakes.
"Learn to drive, Dylan," I muttered under my breath.
"How do you know about that?" Dylan asked.
"Are you going to answer my question?"
He started driving again, glancing at me now and then.
"You're not the only one with informants. They think Miller's alive and well. We came to an arrangement, similar to Scully. They scratch my back, I scratch theirs. They help me find some of the Caseys, we turn a blind eye to some of their activities," he said, almost comically.
I tried to keep a straight face because the whole time I could feel Dylan's eyes looking to me to see my reaction. I bit my lip.
Looking out the window, I relaxed slightly to see we were on the path back to the hotel. I'd walked back along this path with Josh when we got dropped off so we weren't far now.
"Are you talking about the Casey house?" I asked. "Did you know they were going to do that?"
"Open my bag" he instructed. "There's a blue folder in there. Do you know them?"
Curious, I did as he said and there were two polaroid pictures of two separate men. My gut felt like it was about to drop out of the car as I recognized the men that I got into a fight with the second time, back when Finn and Ben showed up to scare them off. It was the same night that Josh passed out.
"No," I lied.
"I was talking to them today," Dylan said, almost sadistically. "They told me that Miller has a girl and you could imagine my surprise when they told me it was a blonde bitch working for me."
I held my head high as we pulled up into the hotel.
Dylan continued, "And funnily enough, that sounds almost like Josh's story earlier with Miller having a little side piece."
I kept my gaze out the window. "I don't know what you're talking about." But I knew he knew I was lying. If he'd talked to the Dacostas and they mentioned me, it was over.
He pulled up to a parking spot near the main doors and as soon as I stepped out, he was by my side, clutching my arm in a death grip.
"Let's go have a look around your room," he suggested, tugging me along.
I stared at my wrist as he pulled.
"I don't understand," I said. "They give you all this info on the gang and what do they get? They get to start a little house fire only for you to investigate?"
"They were in need of some supplies. I was told the Caseys had a particularly hard front door to get passed. I didn't ask why," Dylan said. "That's how you play this game. Scully just gave everything to me for what? To rot in jail for the rest of his life. You need to learn what team you're going to be on."
I pulled at my hand, trying to stop him from dragging me into the hotel. I could see some of my co-workers including Josh on the inside of the hotel and I didn't want to make a scene in front of them.
"There's nothing in my room," I protested.
"Then you won't mind going to show me."
My purse weighed on my shoulder, heavier than ever right now. I couldn't believe he was the reason the Dacostas were able to get through to the Casey house. And then he walked around playing dumb. He probably just brought me along today just to see how I reacted, if he already talked to the Dacostas. There was no reason for me to be with him to talk to Scully. I barely even said anything.
I pulled harder against him.
"Lacey, let's go or you will be put on house arrest again," he said.
"No."
Josh noticed us and him and a few others started to walk towards us.
"Then it's either show me what's in your room or you're fired."
I had nothing in my room, anything they could trace to Travis or the gang was in my purse. I wasn't stupid. But I wasn't going to bend to Dylan's every beck and call after he gave them a free pass to hurt the Caseys. The Dacostas were the ones that needed to behind bars. All the Caseys wanted to do was run away and get out of this stupid town.
I used my other hand to try to pry his fingers off of his.
"Then fire me," I said.
"What's going on?" Owen asked as he came outside with others, they must have been back from investigating the Casey house by now.
"Did you know?" I practically yelled at him. "Did you know he's been having tea with the Dacostas?"
"Sometimes you need to make temporary amends to take down the big targets."
I scrunched up my face, feeling punched in the gut by Owen of all people. The Caseys weren't the big targets, they were always playing defense.
"Where are you going to go, Lacey? You think the Caseys are going to take you? You're trained as a cop to arrest them. They're not going to make you feel any more special than we've tried," Dylan said, pouting to mock me as he tugged.
I narrowed my eyes and raised my foot, kicking against one of his legs. He stumbled back, pulling me for a second before he let go out of instinct to balance himself with his hands. I jumped away from the group.
With one hand, I raised the side of my shirt to display the Casey tattoo, which I knew Dylan would recognize from seeing it on Scully. I felt relief wash over me almost instantly.
"Carson?" Josh sounded heartbroken but he was half of the problem today.
"How long has this been going on?" Someone said. Similar questions sounded and I took more steps back.
"You need to come with us," Owen said.
"No hard feelings, uh I learned loads and stuff working with you but I've been a Casey since before I even knew you," I rehearsed what I thought was supposed to go in a leave of notice before I glared at Dylan. "I quit."
"Lacey Carson," Dylan's eyes were glued to my tattoo and I lowered my shirt back down, "You're under arrest for obstruction of justice."
"You need to come with us," Owen repeated.
I took another glance at the two of them before turning on my heel and booking it as fast as I could away from the hotel. I could hear them rushing around each other, shouting at each other to chase after me.
"That's a Casey right fucking there!" Dylan shouted. "She knows everything!"
More yelling but it started to vanish as I ran faster. I could hear cars and I turned down a street, hoping to lose them. I glanced behind me as I turned to see a few cars piling out of the hotel and Josh running behind me on foot.
"Carson!" he yelled but I pushed my legs harder.
Where to go? Melkin was off the list. Dacostas hung around parts of Melkin and I didn't know how friendly Dylan was with them. I didn't want them doing his dirty work and scooping me up.
Oh gosh, I was definitely a criminal now.
Reaching into my purse, I felt around for my phone. I grabbed the can of ginger ale from earlier and hurled it behind me at the nearest car I could see. It smashed into the windshield, causing a small crack and the person slammed on their brakes but only for a second.
Trying again, I found the phone I needed and held it in my mouth for a second before tying the straps of my tote together and clutching it in my hand. It was easier to carry in my hand rather than it flopping around on my shoulder. I pressed call back on the only number that had yet to call me.
"Hey," Travis' smooth, calming voice greeted me. "I saw you made it out okay."
"Come," I started, trying to catch my breath as I turned the corner to run between two people's houses. It would lose the cars for a second but I could see Josh behind me still.
"Is that a suggestion? I could take you up on that," Travis offered, making a sex joke I wasn't in the mood for.
I was going to kill him, too.
Something flew passed my head as soon as I made it through the two houses and back onto the new street. I jumped out of the way and screamed, shielding my head.
A car was behind me. I wasn't sure if they'd thrown something out or shot something. They were not messing around with Casey members, holy crap. Or it was the fact that they thought I was going to blab to the Caseys, even though I'd already taken pictures of literally everything but they didn't know that...
"Lacey?" Travis asked, sounding much more alert now. "Are you okay?"
"No!" I yelled. Wasn't he the one that said this phone was for emergencies? I took a deep breath because talking while running was really doing my lungs in.
"I quit. Come get me!"
I could hear a lot of movement on his end. "You quit? Right now?"
"They're trying," I took another deep breath, why wasn't he here yet? "To arrest me!"
I didn't bother to tell him where I was, if my theory about Ben putting a tracker on my phone was right at all, they would find me.
"Get somewhere safe, we're on our way," he said and I heard him starting to yell at a lot of people in the background.
I kept him on the line and he didn't hang up as I kept running. "They're chasing me. I don't know where to go." I felt like I was going to puke, "They think you're alive. My right lung is burning." I wheezed out.
I don't know if he heard me because he didn't say anything and everyone was still talking in the background.
"Carson! You know I'm faster than you!" Josh yelled and I took a turn to the left, trying to lose him and the cars. They couldn't go through the turns and would have to go all the way up the block before they could turn but Josh could and he could call and tell them where we were headed.
"Lace, keep running, we'll be there soon. Get to Melkin," Travis suggested before the line went dead.
I stared at it in disbelief for a second, almost losing my footing and stumbling. I caught myself at the last second and kept going. I could hear Josh's heavy feet right behind me. Was Travis serious? What if I got caught and arrested and he would never know. He was just going to leave me on my own right now? And to go to Melkin?
I groaned out loud in frustration and tried to run between every small alley I could find.
"Leave me alone, Josh!"
Five minutes later, I felt like I was on the verge of dying. Maybe it was only a minute. I don't know. Either way, I was pretty sure I was going to die. If not by running, then by the cars behind me. I ran out of the houses that I was between but I could hear Josh talking to someone and sure enough, cars pulled around the corner. I looked behind me to see Josh on his phone.
I turned down the street, trying to avoid regular cars and by the looks of it, I think I'd accidentally wandered into Melkin because things had taken a decrepit turn and quickly. Less and less cars were in my way.
A loud pop, pop sounded in the distance and even though the sun was peeking out still and not yet set, the sky still lit up with fireworks on the horizon. I glanced behind me to see Josh stumble, slowing down as he looked at the spectacle. I could hear sirens in the distance, quickly disappearing as the Melkin cops raced towards the fireworks.
My hand started to vibrate.
"Are you here?" I pleaded.
"Turn left, then right," Travis said and the line went dead.
More running. Great.
I followed his instructions and ducked out of the way as I heard shots firing toward me.
"Stop shooting at me!" I screamed at whoever was doing that. "I'm a human being!"
It was harder to lose the cars this way because of Travis' instructions and I wasn't able to jump through the backyards and alleys as much, which they decided to take to their advantage.
I screamed, trying to dodge whatever was whizzing by my head. Taking the last turn according to his instructions, I relaxed when I saw what was waiting for me.
"Thank you," I said under my breath.
Finn was sitting in the middle of the road, which luckily it was Melkin and society had basically abandoned the town or he'd have gotten run over by now. Behind him, was the black SUV with Travis hanging out of the open back door. He had one arm propped on the top of the door, one arm extended with a gun pointed forward, his mask off, and eyes that looked like they were ready to kill. If I didn't know him, I would've been afraid and I wondered if that's what he always looked like recently under his mask. Maybe he was and I was just too busy fantasizing about his muscles and eyes to notice.
Travis' gun was going off but I didn't dodge out of his way, I trusted he wouldn't hit me. It was everyone else I didn't have faith in.
"Move, little one," Finn shouted at me and I pushed my legs harder to get closer to him. As soon as I did, he flicked the lighter he had in his hand and lit whatever else he was holding before jumping off the ground. He ran towards me, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him the rest of the way to the car. I watched as the fireworks he had went straight towards Dylan and the other cars, blinding them from the bright lights. They were all forced to stop.
"Carson!" I heard Josh yell but when I looked over, he was staring at Travis. Oh. Yeah.
Travis had his mask hanging out of his hoodie pocket as he shot in the direction of everyone else. He had the entire outfit on from earlier, minus the mask so I'm sure it didn't take Josh long to figure out the name of his mysterious second "Benjamin Acker".
Finn and I were about to make our way to the other side of the car to get in when someone started shooting at us again.
I bent down, covering my head and Travis pushed open the door he was on a bit more. I squeezed behind that and next to his legs but there wasn't enough room to actually get in the car because Travis was standing on the seat to give him a better view. At the very least, the door was stopping the bullets.
I looked to Josh but he had his hands up in surrender so I knew he wasn't shooting. Travis had his eyes trained ahead, like he was looking for something. He shot one more time and the shooting stopped from both sides.
"Go. Their tires are out and I got that dipshit's shoulder," Travis ordered, hopping down from the car.
He grabbed my hand, pulling me upright and away from the car. I looked back at it. Were we going to run more?
I felt another wheeze coming.
Everyone had jumped out of their cars due to the fireworks to get to safety and if their car wasn't burned from the firework, Travis seemed to take care of that. I glanced over at the scene to see some of my old co-workers standing and staring at us and a few with their guns pointed directly at us - the newly alive Travis Miller with his hand wrapped around mine. Some items had caught fire from the firework, blocking a lot of their path. Still, I knew a few of them had an opportunity to shoot or even come towards us, but I think they were in shock from Travis or trying to work out if they were imagining him. I forgot that it was only Josh and Dylan that were aware of his possible existence.
Finn hopped in the car and shut the door. Seriously, why weren't we getting in it?
Someone fired a shot and Travis pulled us faster around the car, revealing his bike. He handed me my helmet and slipped his own on. I hopped on the back, securing my helmet. I was definitely okay with this mode of transportation.
Travis got on and it roared to life. That must have grabbed attention because suddenly Josh appeared in front of us and looked at me.
"Carson?" he asked, sounding just as upset as he did in the hotel, but now he was confused to match.
"Fuck off, vanilla. Her name's fucking Lacey," Travis yelled over the motorcycle's engine, holding his gun up and pointing it at Josh who retreated. After today's events, I didn't even feel bad. Maybe tomorrow I would but right now, I just wanted to be mad at him.
Travis didn't waste any time before putting his gun back down and speeding off. I saw a few sparks when we first pulled away hitting the ground from bullets missing us, but the SUV pulled up right behind us, blocking anything else.
After a bit, the SUV veered off in a different direction.
"Where are we going?" I yelled so he could hear me.
"We have to make sure no one's following us and then home."
Home.
I tried to ignore my teary eyes as I grinned, squeezing him tight. I didn't want to ever let him go.
She finally did it, lol. HAVE A GREAT DAY! <3