Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 122: What the hell was that for?

Breathing became exceedingly harder with time as she laid under the bed with her heart in her throat waiting. She was pressing up against the wall under the headboard of the bed trying to stay as hidden as possible.

The second Gareth had left, and he had not closed the door she had felt exposed and vulnerable. What if somebody could see her from the hallway? She had shuffled as far back as she had could, cursing her hips and ass for being a tight fit. Not that fitting under a bed had ever been a measurement used for her weight loss.

At first her hands had been shaking from the shock of it all, then she had calmed down trusting completely in Gareth's men and it being a home court advantage so to speak. The explosions had stopped rather quickly, the gunshots had not.

Just before Gareth had run out of their room, he had slid a gun to her urging her to shoot anybody if she felt threatened, even if it were his men coming in. Though her hands were clammy to the point where she had doubts that she would be able to hold a decent grip on the gun if it came to that, Mackenzie knew her abilities. She remembered her training, that did not mean she was not scared out of her mind.

The open door mocked her fueling her vulnerability.

It had been a while since she had heard the last gunshot. Mackenzie was still breathing shallowly, the air under the bed was not great. Absurdly she had spent time thanking the cleaning staff for them being extremely thorough with their jobs, otherwise it would have been unbearable.

Somehow, the silence was scarier that the gunshots. One way or the other it was over; Mackenzie could do nothing but wait for the result to roll in. She was not coming out from her hiding spot unless Gareth was there, or she was being dragged.

She waited.

And waited.

Time had no meaning to her. All Mackenzie registered was how many dreadful and heartbreaking scenarios her twisted mind could come up with while waiting.

Time was cruel that way.

Not knowing how much time had passed, finally footsteps could be heard. They were not discreetly sneaking or thunderingly running. Casual footsteps not indicating friend or foe. No sense of urgency or purpose.

Not helping her chaotic mind at all.

The footsteps were silenced by the carpet in the room, she could not hear the person anymore, but she could see the shoes. Black sneakers.

Not Gareth's.

He had been wearing dress shoes when he ran off.

She saw the person get down on all fours. Mackenzie held her breath pointing the gun straight at the person ready to shoot.

A worried face popped into her vision.

"Cupcake?" Jace mumbled, keeping his cool looking down the barrel of a gun held by a very nervous woman. "Are you ok?"

Mackenzie threw the gun to the side, shuffling and shimmying to get out from under the bed. "Is he ok?" She crawled out and got up with the help of Jace who wrapped his arms around her just like she needed. "Tell me he's alright, I beg you."

Jace held her trembling body and saw the terror in her eyes when she turned her face up to him. Mackenzie always impressed him, she was not crying, it seemed she was not even trembling because she had been scared. She was shaking because she feared something had happened to Gareth.

A logical conclusion with Gareth not being there.

"Please...?"
"He's fine, relax. It's just a fleshwound. He got shot in the arm but he's perfectly fine." Jace chuckled in his usual carefree way like it was all a joke to him. "Last I saw him he was giving the hospital personnel a crash course in profanities in every language known to man as they hauled him from the lawn. He's probably still at it."