Hey there, Aven Addicts (is that cool? Can I run with that, or nah?).
My apologies once again for not posting last night (I spent my evening working on a new show that I'm working on with Link Up TV -whoop whoop! -and I had so much fun that I wasn't even that cranky. It will be dropping in a few months so keep your pretty eyes peeled). I had every intention of doing posting when I got in, but chile, when I tell you the sandman seduced me. Had me lying in my bed feeling some type of way (that's how good the sleep was lol)!
Right, so here's the second half. Please remember to vote, comment and share, and use the #RunningWilde hashtag on Twitter to tell the loser that aren't reading it yet to climb aboard the winners train.
Enjoy ^-^
***
Because I feel it all fading and paling and I'm begging
To drag you down with me to kick the last nail in
-Fascination Street
The Cure
"Fuck!" He had to hurry. Soon the fire blossoming under the hood of the Jaguar would be too much and the real explosion would come, and if that happened then no one would make it out alive.
Aiden pulled the neckline of his t-shirt up over the lower half of his face, covering his mouth and nose to lessen the amount of smoke he was set to inhale, and moved to the underside of the vertically position vehicle. The car was sweltering, the metal almost too hot for him to bear but he'd made up his mind that he would get her out of there. He would do his best to save her. He lodged his boot on top of one of the pipes, grabbed onto another higher up, then proceeded to climb up onto the passenger side. He tried to peer through the black smoke, "Ava-Marie, I'm here," he shouted over the rumbling crackle of the flames. He could faintly make her out her shape but she didn't look good. Her body was slumped back into the position it was in when she was unconscious, mouth open, head lolling to the side and absolutely no idea of how close she was to catching fire. "Fuck," he cursed again. Now it was going to be even harder to get her out, which meant that it would take longer than Aiden intended, and with the fire rising, time was most definitely not on their side.
Aiden reached inside the broken window and flipped the lock, and then with a deep grunt he grabbed onto the handle and yanked as hard as he could on the severely dented car door. It cracked open and the smoke billowed out even faster, making his eyes sting and water profusely. With no time to undo the buckle he grabbed Ava by her arm with one hand, and then with the other he took his mora knife blade and sliced through the seatbelt straps. The moment the straps came free her body shifted downwards to where her father lay dead against the floor. Aiden quickly tucked the blade back into its sheath, grabbed her with both hands and hoisted her up.
He set her down against the backseat doors, leaving her legs dangling over the edge, before he jumped down and tugged her limp frame into his arms. "I've got you, Ava-Marie. You're going to be okay," he said sweeping her legs up so that he could carry her. He cradled her against his chest, "You're mine now."
Aiden took off as fast as he could, away from the car and down into a nearby alleyway. He ducked behind a dumpster as the night lit up with a horrific explosion of fire, metal and the remains of Vincent Lockewood. The sound thundered through the atmosphere like a warning; the head of The Syndicate was scattered across the streets of the city he once owned and now the hierarchy of the underworld was hanging in the balance. The police would be there soon, and once they figured out what happened and who it happened to, every news outlet would be on the scene to document the sudden demise of who the outside world knew to be the multi-millionaire club owner, and that would alert every major cartel that the top spot was theirs for the taking if they wanted it bad enough. No one was safe —the war Aiden wanted to avoid was coming whether he liked it or not, and once they found out that it was him who permanently removed Vince from the throne, he would be their primary target. He needed to get away from the crime scene and fast.
Aiden propped Ava up against the side of the dumpster and took her bloodied, soot covered face in his hands, "Ava-Marie, can you hear me?" The only response he got was her harsh and wheezy breathing. He pursed his lips then slapped her face, "Ava-Marie!" Ava frowned and made a groggy, groaning sound. Aiden frowned back at her. She didn't look like she would come around any time soon, and he'd rather not hit her again.
Sirens sounded in the distance and small tittering flocks of people began to gather at the scene, gasping and taking pictures and videos of the wreckage on their camera phones. Aiden slung Ava over his shoulder and quickly carried her through the alley and onto a quiet side street, pulling at the levers on the boot of every car he saw until one popped open.
He set Ava down again then ran his fingers along the inside of the trunk door until he located the emergency cord. He yanked on it and the backseat fell forward. The police sirens were getting louder. Aiden crawled in and headed straight for the driver's side. He slotted the tip of his blade into the screws on either side of the cover underneath the steering wheel and loosened them so that he could pull it away. He quickly removed the wiring harness connector then yanked out the yellow and brown wires, stripped back the insulation covers and tied them together. He crawled back out and got Ava, laid her on the floor in the back, pulled the boot shut then jumped back into driver's seat and connected the yellow and brown wires the red one. The car started perfectly. Years of practice had made Aiden a pro. He put his foot on the gas and drove away from the area, smirking at the spinning red and blue lights that bounced off of the buildings on the other side of the block as more officers arrived.
Aiden headed south and called Dougie.
He picked up on the first ring. "Aiden," he sounded relieved but not surprised.
"Meet me at the back end of Drury Lane. When you get here tell the rest of them to stay put, I want to speak to you alone. Bring the money."
Dougie took a pause then said, "Okay. We're on our way."
*
Aiden pulled over to the side of the road and waited in the shadows for Dougie to arrive. Soon after, the blacked out SUV rolled silent around the corner and Dougie jumped out of the front seat with the briefcase in his hand. Aiden exited the stolen vehicle and walked towards him.
"What's going on, A?" he asked, handing over the briefcase.
Aiden didn't look at his friend as he put the briefcase on the hood of the car, "Get a bag."
"Aiden_"
"Get a bag, Dougie." Dougie raised his chin but didn't say anything more. He walked back to the SUV then returned with one of Stone's duffle bags. Aiden unclipped the briefcase and began loading half of the money into the bag. "This is for you guys to do whatever you need to do with it until I get back."
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know yet." Aiden continued piling wads of cash into the bag. "Did they get Ash out?"
Dougie gritted his teeth, "Yes. She's in the other truck. They're in their way to the hospital."
"Good. Get Baby to make her funeral arrangements. How's Trish and Jamie?"
"They're fine. They're safely in the panic room."
"Tell Driver to take them to my mother's house."
"We can't have them so local."
"We can't have them so far away either. A lot of shit's about to happen so I need everyone to stay together."
"And what about you?" he frowned.
"I have to go. I need to lay low for a while."
Dougie snapped the bag shut before Aiden could put another load of cash in, forcing his friend to look at him. He looked tired; not the kind of tired that could be cured with sleep, but the kind that made him look older than he was, as if he'd aged ten years over the three days of hoping and waiting to see Keegan again. His eyes had dark circles beneath them and his jaw was tense and set in a deep frown like he would forever be disappointed at the world and was pressing his teeth together so hard to keep how he truly felt about those disappointments from slipping out before he was ready. Dougie sighed, "Aiden, I know losing Keegz is hard, but you can't just piss off by yourself. You need to be with your family and we need to be with you."
"This isn't about Keegan. I'm trying to protect you, all of you."
"And I'm trying to protect you, but I can't do that if you're not here."
"I don't want you to! I killed Vince Lockewood, Dougie. Once word gets out that he's dead it won't be hard for The Syndicate and whoever else is associated with them to figure out who did it, and they will come after me with everything they've got. I don't want to bring that down on any of you. You guys and Jamie are all I have left..." Aiden looked away and clenched his jaw, "I don't want anyone else to die because of me, so I need you to hold things down until I'm back. Now stop fucking around and open the bag."
Dougie opened the bag up and let Aiden finish loading the money inside of it. "I don't understand. These are mobsters that we're dealing with and now that Vince is gone it's open season for the top spot on the food chain; our whole team is a threat. If they're gonna come, they will come after all of us anyway, so you might as well stay."
"I told you, I can't," Aiden growled.
"Why not?"
"Because you have a better chance of survival without me. Fuck, Dougie! Have you heard a word I've said?"
"I have, and it's not making sense." Dougie narrowed his eyes, "What are you not telling me?"
Aiden kissed his teeth and snapped the briefcase closed, "Doug, I gotta go. Just do as I said." Aiden walked back to the stolen car and opened the door.
Just before he could slip away Dougie called out, "Where's the girl?" Silence hung in the air and Aiden gripped the roof of the car. "Aiden, where is she?"
He could lie and say that she had died too or that she'd escaped him and no one would be any the wiser. "Why?"
"Did you kill her?"
"No."
Dougie raised his eyebrow, "Then where is she?"
"I don't know. I let her go."
"You did what?" Dougie stormed towards the car. Aiden threw the briefcase down and walked out to meet him before he got too close. He couldn't risk him seeing Ava lying at the bottom of the car because then saving her would have been all for nothing. Dougie would shoot her on sight. "Are you fucking crazy? She's going to talk and you'll get locked up or you'll end up dead. Is that what you want?"
"I'm Aiden Michaels; when am I not at risk of getting locked up or ending up dead? Back the fuck off, all right; she's one girl and she didn't need to die."
"It's not about whether she needed to die or not it's about covering your tracks, Aiden, you know that. FUCK," he boomed. Dougie gripped his head, "I never should have let you touch her."
Aiden's eyes widened, showing more white than black and he clenched his fists, "What did you say?"
"I said I should have never let you touch her. Ash may have been a fucking head case, but she was right about that —you couldn't handle it. I should have stopped you."
"Stopped me? Stopped me?" Aiden shoved Dougie's wiry frame back. "You can't fucking stop me from doing shit," he shoved him again, "I RUN THIS. I'M THE BOSS, NOT YOU!"
Dougie threw up his hands. Aiden was clearly upset about more than what Dougie had said. He still hadn't dealt with his feelings about Keegan and Ash yet, so this was just an excuse to let some of his frustrations. "A, chill."
"No," he shoved him even harder, "Don't talk about me like there's something wrong with me."
"I never said there was. I don't give a fuck about how you like to fuck; shit, I tie bitches up too sometimes, but it clouds your judgement, and you know that. That's why you didn't get rid of Ash even after I warned you she would fuck you over, and that's why you let the girl live. It's only a matter of time before she does too."
Aiden kissed his teeth and turned back to the car, "Whatever."
"Wait! What about Keegan? We have to bury him."
Aiden stopped walking. The things that he didn't want to feel were slowly eating through his mental blocks and his heart was starting to ache around the edges. Dougie was right; he had to bury his brother and suddenly all he could think about was a closed casket full of pieces of Keegan being lowered into a whole in the ground, and a gravestone with two dates too close together to be considered a full life. He swallowed the lump forming behind his Adam's apple and sped up, as if getting away from Dougie would help him get out of his mind. "Make the arrangements and I'll be there."
"You're not gonna do it yourself? He's your brother."
Aiden jumped into the car. The ache was spreading and the dark thoughts were leaking out, "I can't Doug, I just...look get my mum to do it."
Dougie furrowed his brow, "Your mum? Aiden_"
"I'll be in contact." He slammed the door shut, sparked the wires to start the car up again and raced down the road out of sight.
Dougie got back into the SUV and handed the duffle bag to Stone. "Okay, let's head back to the compound."
"Where's Aiden going?" Mighty asked frowning at his laptop.
"He said he's laying low for a bit. I think he just needs some space."
"He can't need that much space if the Lockewood girl is with him."
Dougie spun around in his seat and looked back at Mighty, "What?"
"He pinned his tracker to her, right?"
"Yeah..." Mighty turned his laptop around so that Dougie could see the pulsating green outline of the inside of a car with a man in the front seat, and a map in the bottom right-hand corner following the route Aiden just took. "You have got to be kidding me."
*
"Hello, my name is Emily Watts and you are watching BBC London News.
Following the destruction of Aldwych station last Friday, police have revealed that the event may have lent itself to what appears to be a gang related incident, which journalists are now calling the Aldwych Station Massacre.
Paramedics were called once investigators were able to get inside of the historic building and found thirty-two people dead - thirty-one of them with gun wounds and one man brutally beaten to death.
Around the corner from the station, the vehicle of affluent business man, Vincent Lockewood was found. Police arrived on the scene after receiving multiple calls of from panicked onlookers. The car was burnt to a crisp with Lockewood still inside. Forensics say what was originally assumed to be a tragic accident does not actually appear to be so. During the autopsy they found a bullet identical to those found in twelve of the victims of the Aldwych Station Massacre, lodged into the front of Lockewood's skull.
There were witness reports that a black man was seen fleeing the scene with a passenger that he rescued from the wreckage, described as a young biracial woman in her early twenties. There has been no sighting of either of them since the incident.
The investigation is still ongoing and police are eager to get to the bottom of the incident. In other news..."
Max clicked the TV off and threw the remote down. He was relieved to know that Ava was still alive but the fact that Michaels had her made his temples pulsate with rage. Now that Vince was gone and his brother was dead, lord knows what he would do to her.
He was going to get her back, if it was the last thing he did.
***
There you go, now you know how to break into a car and hotwire one too. It's like info-tainment :D
So Aiden's all messed up (well more than he was before) and has fucked off with Ava, Dougie knows that Aiden lied to him about her, and Max is on a mission to get her back (it's all so very exciting!). What do you think is gonna happen next?
If you like it, please vote, comment, share and use the #RunningWilde hashtag on Twitter.
You can also follow me at @ScottyUnfamous ^-^
Thank you for reading, gorgeous xx