Dangerous

Chapter Twenty: Jamie's Antiques

When I wake up three hours later, Justin is spooning me and Cole is in the bathroom.

I untangle myself from Justin, not wanting to even imagine what Cole was thinking when he saw us. I knock on the bathroom door and Cole opens it, eyes dark.

He has a towel around his waist and he's still wet from a recent shower. "What?" He scowls.

"I know what you're thinking...but I didn't, I woke up and he was-"

"I don't want your explanations, Ariana," Cole spits, hurt and anger evident in his eyes. "I've seen enough."

"Cole," I plead, reaching for his arm. He slaps me away and knowing I deserve it, I don't do anything back. "I'm sorry."

He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I am too." He closes the door in my face and I'm left staring at the door, guilt welling up in me. I've been playing the both of them for too long. It's not like I've been doing it on purpose, I just need time to decide, but they're both shoving everything on me and making me feel guilty when the other shows affection for me, even though it's not my fault.

"Ari?" Justin says softly.

I take a deep breath and turn to him. "What?" I spit. "What do you want? To try and ruin me? Your own damn sister is on the side of people who are trying to kill me! I have no reason to-"

"Wait, what?" He interrupts, furrowing his brows.

"Anna tried to kill me the other day!" I yell. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I do deserve to get shot in the face about a billion times, but she's your sister, Justin, so how can I trust you?"

"She tried to kill you? And you...you didn't hurt her, did you?"

I roll my eyes. "I got a couple kicks and punches in before I found out it was her. She ran but that's not the damn point. The point is I'm sick of all this! You two tossing me around and then getting mad when the either catches me- it's sick!" I grab my jacket and my gun and slam the door behind me.

I'm furious as I climb in my car, this time being sure I'm alone in there. I lock the doors and pull out my phone. This is the perfect time to find Quinn's mother.

As I pull out of the motel, I turn on the music.

Twenty minutes later, I pull into an old brick building, the sign on it covered in rust and falling apart. I narrow my eyes and climb out.

I look through the store window and can't see by thing except a bunch of.....antiques. I sigh and open the door, the bell jingling as I enter. "Hello?" I call. "Mrs. Sterling?"

"Oh, a costumer!" A scrawny old woman comes around the corner. She's wearing a red apron over a brown shirt and a floor-length skirt. "Hello, dear! Welcome to Jamie's Antiques!"

I push my eyebrows together. "Are...are you Jamie Sterling?" This is not how I imagined Quinn's mother.

"That would be me!" She grins a toothy grin and points to a sign that says her name.

"Right. Excuse me if I'm wrong, Jamie, but do you have a daughter?" I ask, looking her over.

She sighs dreamily. "Ah, Quinn. She was beautiful and lovely. I remember how one day she started telling me about a new friend...er, what was her name again? Ally? Aaron? Something like that- it started with an A, I believe. But anyways, soon after that, she hardly ever came home and she started talking back. That was around the same time her daddy started drinkin'. He wouldn't hurt us, but he was never around, he at least made sure of that. Quinn just kept getting worse and worse until one day she announced she was moving in with that friend of her's! I told her no, but she wouldn't listen. I decided I'd let her to teach her a lesson. And when she came crawling back to me, she'd understand that I've been trying to help her. But she hasn't returned." The woman smiles sadly. "Sorry to dump that all on ya, didn't mean to."

"Julie- I mean, Jamie, do you have any clue as to where she might be?" I look her in the eye, forcing her to answer.

"I-" she cuts off as someone enters the store. I turn around to see someone dressed in black from head to toe, a hoodie hiding their face, looking in our direction. "Oh, just one second, hun! I'll be right there!" Jamie calls.

She turns back to me and drops her voice to a whisper, "I'm sorry, sweetie, I have no idea. Was she a friend of yours?"

"I guess you could say that," I mumble, glancing at the figure as he or she walked through the store. "Thank you, Mrs. Sterling. I hope you have a good day."

"Wait, er, don't you want to buy anything?" She asks eagerly.

Sighing, I decide to help out the poor woman. I grab a random object off a shelf. "How much?"

"Fifty for that beauty," she answers proudly. I raise an eyebrow and stare at the rusted old vase that had stickers attached to it. I pull out some cash anyways and hand it to her.

"Hey, where'd that man go?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.

Her eyes search the store. "I'm not-" her eyes widen only ever so slightly.

Duck! My mind screams. But if it's a bullet about to come at me and I duck, it'll hit Quinn's mother, so instead, I jump forward, shoving Jamie down with me. The bullet shatters a case that holds a small china set and Jamie wails.

I hop up on my feet and fake a punch. The figure moves his head out of the way, and while he's distracted, I kick him in the back of the knees so he falls on his butt. He let's out an inaudible sound and tries to get up, but I kick him in the chest before he can. He grabs my foot and yanks it so that now I'm on the floor and he's towering above me. He stomps his foot on my eye. HARD. I cry out and cover my eye.

He pulls out his gun again and aims at me, a small chuckle escaping him.

I prepare myself to die, thinking of all the bad and good I've done. I think of Justin and Cole. Quinn.

I open my eyes as I loud shatter pierces the small silence. The figure is on the ground, out cold, pieces of a broken vase covering him. Jamie is shaking. "Go!" She commands. "Run! I'll call the police, just go!"

I gape at her as I stand. She saved me. "Thank you," I say quietly.

She pushes me. "GO."

I run out of the store and jump in my car. My eye throbs the whole way to the motel.

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Like one person has read my last chapter so I'm trying to decide wether I should update again tonight or not😁 I have the chapter all written I just don't know if I'm posting it. But love you all!