Chapter 6 Chapter 6
Giana Gonzalez (Emery’s mother)
I trip over my feet and fall to the ground just inches away from the front steps of the house. Panting and trying to catch my breath, I push to my feet and stumble to the door. It’s locked. Emery must still be at work. I can’t remember what hours she works today. Or any day, really. I’ve been so out of it lately that I don’t even know what day it is.
That doesn’t matter right now. I need to get inside.
The sound of running and yelling makes my body shake in fear. I made a mistake tonight. One I know I can’t come back from, but I needed to come home to be sure he can’t get to Emery and Chase. He’ll be coming for me, and they can’t be here when he does. He will kill them! I need to tell them to run!
In my panic, I dropped my purse. I don’t have my keys or phone, but I know Emery has a key hidden somewhere. My head aches so badly. I’m pretty sure I have a concussion, and that’s why I can’t focus enough to remember anything. The key is here, I just need to-
The second plant! I rush over to the small flower pot and knock it over. A key is sitting on the floor, and I quickly grab it. My hands are shaking so badly that I’m worried I won’t be able to get the key in. A loud shout comes from down the street, and I hear a car coming. I shake my head and have a split second of clarity and slip the key into the lock and push the door open. I run in and close and lock the door behind me.
I watch the door, listening to the sounds of Carlos’s men coming. Would he really do this? After everything I’ve done for him? Would he-
The door slams open. I don’t even have a chance to scream before they’re on me. One of them slams a hand into my face so hard that I am thrown to the ground. I scramble to my feet, turn, and try to run up the stairs, but a hand wraps around my hair and pulls hard. I scream and reach behind me to scratch at the hands holding me, but it doesn’t help. They pull me, and I fall down hard again. My head slams to the ground, and everything goes black for a second. When my vision clears, it’s just in time to see Carlos standing over me.
Smoke drifts from the cigarette in his mouth, making him look like a demon breathing fire. The dark, deadly-looking tattoos on his hands and neck only make him look more monstrous.
“Giana…you should have stayed away. Now you have to die.” He says.
One of his guys chuckles, and I catch the glint of something metal before all I feel is pain…and then…nothing.
Adrian
“We have a sitting area over here if you’d like to sit and wait for your girlfriend to finish.” One of the women says.
I glance up from my phone to see the tall blonde woman batting her lashes at me. She’s looking at me with hope and a fake smile. I already know what she’s fishing for. She wants to see if I’ll deny that Emery is my girlfriend, and then maybe she could have a chance with me. Well, she’s out of luck because I’m done with women like her. Which is why I need Emery’s help tonight. I need someone to get these kinds of women off my back. Maybe if they see me with her, they will think I'm taken and leave me the fuck alone.
“Sure,” I say, not bothering to smile back.
Her smile falls a little, but she keeps up a good show and leads me to a set of bright pink couches along one side of the store near a door, which I'm guessing leads to one for he fitting rooms.
“Can I get you anything?” She asks, but I just shake my head without looking at her. “Well, let me know! We take customer satisfaction very seriously here.”
This time, I do look at her. “I’m all good. Just be ready for when my girlfriend is done. We don’t have time to waste, so I want to be out of here as soon as she’s done.”
“Of course.” She says and turns on her pink heels, making them squeak on the perfectly waxed floor.
“Your girlfriend?” I hear Emery’s voice and turn to look at her so fast that I hurt my neck a little.
She is giving me a look like she’s waiting for me to explain, but as my eyes travel down her body, all I can focus on is what she’s wearing. The dress is skin tight and smooth like silk. It’s also red. Where did she find this? The whole store is various shapes of pink. I’m pretty sure I didn’t see a single other color.
“Eyes up here, buddy.” She says, and my eyes snap up to her face. “So what do you think?”
I take another quick glance at her and swallow. “You look…beautiful.” I blurt out.
Her face tints a slight pink, but she clears her throat and tucks a strand of her brown hair behind her ears. “Thanks. I had to basically threaten the lady to find me something other than pink. She said this was a dress a customer ordered from another store and returned here. I guess they have other stores that sell whole other colors.”
She chuckles, but I barely hear anything she is saying. The red looks so bright against her lightly tanned skin, and the fabric looks so soft that I want to reach out and touch it.
“Adrian?” She says.
When I look at her face again, she looks…beautiful. Her hair is completely loose and hanging along her shoulders. She isn’t wearing a lot of makeup, but she doesn’t need to with the color of her eyes. They are a shade of green I’ve never seen before.
“This is the one,” I say, standing and letting my thoughts control me.
I reach out and slide a hand along her waist, feeling the soft, silky fabric. She lets out a small sound of surprise and looks up at me with those beautiful eyes, wide with surprise. Her lips part like she’s about to say something when the annoying woman from before appears.
“Well, don’t you look lovely! This was a great choice! Shall we ring it up for you?” She asks cheerfully.
Emery smiles and steps away from me. “Yes, please. Do you need me to take it off?”
The lady shakes her hand. “No need. I can just take the tag and scan it up front. We can grab you a bag as well for your other clothes.”
We follow her to the counter, where she rings everything up, and I pass her my card without looking at the price. All my attention is on the woman next to me. The siren I know is about to ruin my life.
