The Criminal

Ch. 25: Get on all fours.

Torin and Murphy have stopped arguing and are now listening to our conversation. Hunter carefully keeps his eyes trained on Lowes, unprepared to drop his guard.

"He doesn't like you, Nicole. He's fucking using you, sweetheart."

My head buzzes from all the information I'm being fed.

"Don't bother protecting him, because he certainly hasn't returned the favour."

I'm too busy processing everything to pay much attention to the small movement happening left of my shoulder. One minute, I'm staring at Hunter and his blank face. The next, I hear gunshots and I'm being forcefully dragged to the ground. My ears ring, the impact too intense. I check my body to see if I'm the one who has been shot and am rest assured when no blood presents itself to me. Hunter is in my face, concern evident. I can see his lips moving as he talks to me, but nothing is penetrating that awful ringing. His hands hold my cheeks as he shakes me, desperate to break through the haze.

"Nicole! Nicole!"

My hearing is back.

"Baby—talk to me."

I reach out and lightly touch his cheek, immediately comforted by his warmth.

"Were you shot?" I ask.

He shakes his head.

I look to my left and see Jack lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Lowes and his men are still stood, swarming his dead body.

"The kid shot himself."

Torin comes rushing over, the commotion of Jack and what he's just done buying us a few precious minutes.

"You two need to get the fuck out of here now!"

Hunter takes hold of my arm and whisks me towards the exit, the sight of Jack's dead body still lingering. I struggle to run in my heels and eventually kick them off, alongside getting rid of my crown, liking my chances better in barefoot. Thankfully, we make it to the end of the hallway just in time for Lowes to yell at us.

"Hunter, get your arse back here now!"

We quicken our pace, clearing Torin's house by pushing on a door that leads straight to his garden. The cool hair whips at my hair as Hunter and I sprint across the lawn, his huge hand resting in mine.

"Almost there," he encourages.

We reach the edge of Torin's driveway, the area swarmed.

"Fuck!"

There's no way we can get to Hunter's car undetected.

"We need to hide," I suggest, tugging on his sleeve.

I hear Lowes and his men shouting in the distance, my heart kicking into gear the closer they get. I'm moments away from dragging Hunter towards a wooded area when a car comes barrelling towards us, stopping just short of running us over.

"Get in."

Fiona is driving and I swear just about every muscle in my body unclenches when I see her.

"What the fuck happened back there?" she asks, once we're on the main road.

"Lowes is pissed," explains Hunter.

"Yeah, no shit!"

I'm still panting, exhausted from running the length of a football field in the deadass dark of night.

"You okay?" he asks, resting his hand on my thigh.

I remove it now that we're no longer in immediate danger.