Mac nodded towards the door. “Everyone out.”
No one moved.
She arched a brow. “Did I just speak Klingon? Out. Now.”
All three of them left the room with reluctant frowns, and scrambling to my feet, I grabbed a shirt from the floor and shrugged it on. Bracing myself, I lifted my chin and faced Mac.
“Right.” She jabbed a finger in my chest. “Time for a chat.”
***
Standing off the side of the open stage behind the bulky width of Travis, I peeked around his shoulder, carefully eyeing the Melbourne festival crowd. Was he out there somewhere—watching me? Travis said the first rule was to trust your gut, but mine was so busy doing gold medal winning backflips that it was unreliable. My deadline was up in two days, and Mac, Lucy, and now Evie who’d been apprised of recent events, hadn’t been able to agree on a solution.
Even though Travis was working, I slipped my hands into the waistband of his pants and held on. He didn’t unfold his arms but he tilted his head and leaned back slightly, his body shielding me from the brisk wind. I shivered at the protective gesture.
“Cold?” he asked.
I nodded. “A little,” I replied, because I was. Melbourne was chilly and I hadn’t packed accordingly. My mind had been focused on more pressing matters.
“Where’s your jacket?”
“I left it in the hotel room.”
Travis unfolded his arms and peeled his work jacket off. “Put this on.”
I slipped it on and he turned patiently and started rolling up the sleeves. The warmth of his scent wrapped around me, and I bit down on my lip as I breathed it in.
“Quinn,” he said.
At the warning tone in his voice, I looked up from watching his hands work to see his eyes on my lips. He turned back, the hard edge returning to his eyes as he once again folded his arms and glared at the crowd.
After my escape plan went south, not even managing to even get dressed or make it out of the wardrobe, Mac had taken me hostage. We’d waited for Lucy in tense silence because every time I opened my mouth to speak, Mac glared at me.
“Quinn. Did you think running would stop them looking for you?” Mac had asked.
“Of course not,” I replied, “but it would stop them going for any of you.”
Lucy growled her anger. “Fuck me sideways. That’s dumb. You’re being dumb. Dumb as dog shit.” Her look had been one of utter disappointment. “After everything, you still couldn’t ask for anyone to help you?”
My body bristled in the face of her disappointment. “And risk any of you getting hurt because of me?”
“How would they even know you spoke to us?”
“I have no idea. What if my phone’s bugged? Or my bag? These are the kind of people that have people in their pockets—like the police.”
“Oh, that is it. I’m ringing Travis,” Mac ground out.
“Wait.” I grabbed her arm. “There’s got to be another way out of this.”
Both of them folded their arms and faced me, waiting for me to tell them what it is.
“I just haven’t worked out what it is yet,” I hedged.
Mac grabbed for her phone.
“You can’t,” I burst out. “I don’t want anyone involved. Not any of you, not Travis. I didn’t want this touching anyone. It’s my mess. Mine. I’ll fix it.”
“That’s not how we roll, Quinn.”
“It’s how I roll,” I told Mac. “I have no idea what David is dealing with, but you know the person he is. These people he owes money to have guns, and all of you, you’re high profile people. Evie stands out in the middle of a stage,” I whispered furiously, “and Travis and Jared stand right off the edge, in full view of everyone. He threatened to shoot people if I talked or if I didn’t get the money.”
Lucy sank heavily onto the bed. “We need to get the money. Rick and I have savings.”
“Are you kidding? We need to take these bastards down,” came Mac’s solution.
“No. I need to talk to them. That’s all. I’ll just explain I don’t have the money and that it’s got nothing to do with me.”
“You think they’ll be happy with that?”
“Maybe,” I muttered.
Evie yelled, “Last song!” and it brought me back to the present.
I glanced sideways at Mac. I knew what was churning through her mind. It was the same thing as me. The deadline was getting closer and my idea to just explain I didn’t have any money was sounding like a really shitty one. She returned my look with a glare and a nod at Travis, her actions informing me that if I didn’t tell Travis, and soon, she was going to.
My lips pressed tightly together, and I returned her nod. It was then I realised Travis had caught our silent exchange, and his brows were pinched together in a frown.
He looked between the both of us. “What’s going on?”
Travis waited for one of us to speak.
Mac cleared her throat pointedly.
“I was going to let you go,” I blurted out. “I wanted you to be safe, but none of you are because I can’t get anything right.”
Travis looked from me to Mac and back again. “Who’s not safe?”
“No one if I don’t get them the money.”
He grabbed hold of my arm, frustration oozing from his body. I could actually see the vein pulsing angrily in his neck. I focused on it because it was either that or the anger in his eyes. “Get who the money? Can one of you start talking some goddamn sense?”
“You can’t tell anyone, Travis,” I replied.
Travis let go of my arm and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “Tell anyone what, dammit?”
His voice had kicked up a level, and I was starting to sense some impatience. “About the bad guys.”
Travis flared his nostrils dangerously, and Mac shrugged at me when I glanced at her. After drawing in several deep breaths, Travis spoke.
“You...” he pointed at me “...and you...” he pointed at Mac “...back to the hotel room right now.” Mac started protesting and he simply raised his voice over hers. “I will make sure the show is wrapped up and everything is packed away and dealt with.” Then he spoke into his speaker. “Sean, need you here right now. Mac and Quinn need an escort back to the hotel.”
My brows flew up because Sean and Travis were not best friends, and I somehow felt responsible for that. It seems that Sean, aka Wolverine from the Florence Bar, had quit his job and started working for Jamieson and Valentine Consulting. I had no idea, and really, why would I? It had nothing to do with me, at least until Sean met us at the airport for our Melbourne flight to form part of the security detail. I’d been busy throwing up in the airport toilet. Seems I wasn’t a good flyer and that was before we’d even boarded the plane. Lucy said it was a good idea for me to take a couple of sleeping pills to relax the nerves, but they just rolled around in my stomach, finding a friend in the nerves that were already there. Then the nerves and pills combined forces and there I was over the toilet bowl, making a drama out of an hour long flight.
When I made my way out of the public restroom, pale and shaky, I found Sean forming part of the Jamieson huddle. When his eyes caught hold of me, they rounded in surprise. Then he picked me up, hugging me as he spun me around, saying he’d been keeping an eye out for me and was disappointed I’d never returned to the bar. I must have paled further from being launched upwards in his big arms because he set me down hastily. When I teetered, Sean reached out in concern and I hung on.
Travis reached my side about the time Sean decided to ask why I never rang him. Travis slid his arm around my waist, tugging me close, at the same time glaring at Sean. My body leaned into Travis, and I simply told Sean it was because I wasn’t dating. His eyes glanced pointedly at the arm around me, and Travis glaring daggers at him, and I hastily tacked on that I was dating now. Dating Travis. Against all my better judgement, but I didn’t add that part. It didn’t seem the right time.
&nbs
p; Not to mention my main focus was on my troubles. Now it seemed my troubles were going to become Travis’s troubles. I didn’t like that at all. It left the blood in my veins feeling ice cold.
Sean arrived and Travis let my arm go. “Take Quinn and Mac back to the hotel.” He faced the both of us. “You get there you do not leave that room. If I find you have taken one step outside that door before I get back and deal with this, so help me God, both of you will be fucking sorry.”
I flinched at the whiplash in his voice and the anger in his beautiful eyes. Taking a step back, I pulled out my phone.
“I just need to message Lucy so she can come with us.” There had been no holding Lucy back from coming to Melbourne with us after our little chat.
“Does Lucy know what’s going on?”
I nodded.
“Who else?”
“Evie too,” Mac added helpfully while my fingers tapped out a message.
He threw his hands up in frustration, and after Sean arrived at the side of the stage, Travis gave us his back and focused on doing his job.
Moments later, the three of us were in the car with Sean driving us towards what now felt like my doom, but he didn’t appear in any hurry, so that was nice.
“Did I stuff up?”
Mac didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“No, I mean, did I really stuff up?”
Lucy took hold of my hand. “The reasons behind your actions were noble, Quinn, and maybe if I thought as little of myself as you do of yourself, I would understand, but I just don’t.” My lips trembled and she added, “but I’m sure this can be fixed. Right, Mac? I didn’t know you’d planned on spilling your guts to Travis tonight. I mean, it wasn’t the best timing, but there’s never a good time to share bad shit, is there?”
Mac shook her head in agreement. “Don’t mind Travis, Quinn. He’s just shitty at being kept out of the loop. If you haven’t yet noticed, my brothers all have a knight in shining armour complex.”
“So what happens when they rescue their fair maiden, Mac? The knight complex doesn’t just disappear.”
Mac snorted. “You’ve met Evie, haven’t you? She’s a full time trouble magnet. Jared chose well.” She turned her eyes on me. “I’m starting to think Travis has too.”
At the front door of our hotel room, Sean ushered Mac and Lucy inside and held me back. “I’m in the room right next door, Quinn. If you need me, just yell, okay?”
I nodded and slipped through the door, shutting it behind me, and blinked at the utter chaos.
“You’re not Evie,” a drunk guy pointed at me with a frown. Two more of those were busy partying up by the corner bar in the sitting room. Mac and Lucy were yelling and trying to hustle them towards the door.
“Wow, you’re quick, aren’t you? And what the hell are you doing in our room? And how the hell did you get in here?”
He held up his hands and winked. “Whoa with all the questions. Waiting to meet the band of course,” he slurred. “And Evie.”
I took off the bulky, black jacket that Travis gave me and flung it towards the couch. Drunk guy number one followed it with his eyes, catching the big white lettering on the back. “Jamieson Security?” He turned back to me, his eyes roaming over my tiny stature with disbelief. “Times must be tough. You gonna throw me out?”
I pointed towards the door. “No. You’re going to walk out.”
He laughed. “Good one. Come on.” He indicated for me to rush him, and it was honestly tempting, but my self-defence lessons from Travis had been exactly that—there was no lesson on how to initiate my own attack. Drunk guy, tired of waiting, rushed me, and it seemed so easy to just take a step to the side and watch him stumble over his own feet. When he turned again, I remembered Travis telling us to be resourceful, so I grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a chair.
Narrowing his eyes, he took a step towards me, and in a panic, I flung it towards him and yelled, “Fire!”
The chair missed and crashed into the wall behind him—the legs breaking off carelessly and denting the plaster. Everyone paused for a moment to watch the splinters scatter across the floor.
“Fuck yeah!” yelled one of the guys. “Rock stars know how to live the fucking life!”
I caught a bottle of rum getting thrown, and it smashed across the floor. Mac started dialling on her phone, but it was snatched from her hand and sent to join the rum.
Then I was tackled to the floor, hard. Feeling winded and hurt, I grabbed the packet of Pringles that landed on the floor beside me, ready to bean the closest drunken idiot I could see when a gunshot ricocheted in the room. It wasn’t loud, but having watched every action movie in existence, I recognised the popping sound. So did everyone else by the looks of it because it wasn’t just me that froze—even the drunk and disorderly realised that shit just got real.
“As fun as this is…” all eyes swivelled to the voice “…Quinn and I need to have a chat. So if you’ll just excuse us.”
A man stood just inside the door, lean but built. Sunglasses covered his eyes and a baseball cap was lowered on his forehead. He faced where I lay panting on the floor from the scuffle and nodded towards the door. “Let’s go.”
Recognising the voice as the Money Guy, I carefully placed the Pringles container on the floor and replied, “I still have two days.”
He shrugged and shifted the gun to his other hand. “Two days, two weeks. Whatever. Move.”
I didn’t move.
“Now!” he snarled at me and pointed the gun at Mac. “Or I’ll shoot her.”
“Oh you so did not just do that,” she snarled and took a step forward.
“Mac!” I shrieked.
“Relax, Quinn. I got this.”
“You got this? You got this? What the fuck, Mac!” I yelled in panic. “Who do you think you are? Jackie Chan?”
I stood up and inched towards the door. “None of you have got this, because I do.”
“So help me, Quinn,” Lucy ground out, getting up off her hands and knees, her face pale. “If you take one more step towards that door, I’ll—”
Mac scrambled and then all of a sudden she had a gun in her hands and was aiming it towards Money Guy by the door. Lucy paused and her eyes went as wide as mine. All of a sudden our hotel room had become the wild west, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see tumbleweeds start rolling by.
“Holy shit,” I heard Lucy mutter.
“Never again,” were Mac’s words of ultimate steel. “You take one step towards Quinn and I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”
Of that I had no doubt. Her eyes were flat and cool, and she looked completely badass. I was relieved she was on my side, but he didn’t appear to be backing down.
“How on earth did you smuggle that thing on the plane?” Lucy muttered.
“I didn’t,” she said out of the corner of her mouth. “I hid it inside the truck that transported all of our equipment. You drunk fucktards on the floor, I suggest that now is a good time to leave.”
Faced with a real threat from both sides of the room, they didn’t hesitate, slinking out of the room without a backward glance.
I inched closer to the door. “Mac, just put the gun down, okay?”
“Yeah, Mac.” The bad guy smirked. “Put the gun down.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” she growled.
“That’s of no concern to you, princess. I’m here for Quinn.”
Lucy and I stood there, our eyes swivelling between the two of them.
“Yeah, well fuck you, because Quinn’s not going anywhere.”
“Mac,” I called out. “Maybe I should—”
“No, no,” she said. “You keep out of this.”
When I was halfway towards the door, Sean was suddenly there, slamming into Money Guy from behind. He took the blow full force, his body dropping forward. The gun flew forward and it must have been loaded, cocked and ready to go because it let out another pop, ripping a hole in the wall across the room.
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Money Guy spun around, catching Sean with an elbow before scrambling for the gun.
“No!” I shrieked and dived for it. He landed on top of me and my jaw cracked on the floor. “Arrghhhh!”
I rolled and started scratching at his face when his weight disappeared off my body and he was thrown across the room. Sean started after him, but he got up on shaky feet.
“Two days, Quinn.” He pointed at me. “Or you’re fucking dead.” He pushed off the wall and disappeared out the door. Sean took off after him as I struggled to my feet, trying to catch my breath.
“Is everyone okay?” I choked out, my legs trembling. I stared at Mac. Mac stared at me, then we both turned to Lucy who rushed over, grabbing my forearms.
“Ouch,” I muttered when her nails dug in.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine. Absolutely fine,” I assured her as my legs kept trembling beneath me.
We paused a moment to survey the hotel room: bullet holes, smashed chairs, and glassware littered the floor. A picture was hanging crooked and the bar was strewn with empty bottles of alcohol. Lucy looked reasonably neat, but Mac’s hair was a little wild, and her gun was hanging by her side. She caught me eyeing it dubiously and shrugged. “It’s not loaded.”
Lucy gaped at her. “You were playing chicken?”
Mac raised a brow as she smoothed her hair.
“You were asking Travis for pepper spray when you have that?” I added.
“Well. I did warn him about shooting first.”
Mac was picking her phone up off the floor, examining the shattered screen, when Sean returned. He ran his eyes over each of us before surveying the scene silently.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“Damn straight fuck,” Mac replied.
“The boss’s sister and girlfriend shot at, a trashed hotel room, and a gunman on the loose on my first real assignment. I think I can pretty much consider myself fired before I’ve barely started.”
Lucy shrugged, trying to remain positive for her friend. “Well, they’re not dead, so that’s good for you, right?”
“It’s not your fault, Sean,” I told him, tears clogging my throat and burning my eyes. “It’s mine.”