I could only silently drink the water to refresh my lungs—it helped me breathe easier without coughing that started to annoy me. I didn't usually have asthma attacks unless I was stressed or scared to the point I start hyperventilating. I really pissed him off this time. My eyes were locked on the water bottle and the opened bag of frosted animal crackers.
It's not like I told my mother anything, I only wanted to keep her from worrying so much. I wanted to tell her I was fine, but it ended up doing the exact opposite; I couldn't fight against the temptation. I didn't think Neil would get so angry, I thought I was going to get another asthma attack from the way his honey brown eyes glared so fiercely at me.
My heart was pounding so hard I was afraid it might jump right out of my chest. He was scary as hell when he's angry; the silence pressured me, and I was too much of a coward to bring myself to look at him.
"What did you tell her?" I flinched, nearly jumped out of my skin when he spoke—cold and toneless. I swallowed hard, "N-Nothing." I ended up squeaking, slouching more onto the seat gripping onto the bottle and snack on my lap. I was anxious, nervous because I didn't know what he was going to do or what was going to happen next.
I very much wanted to be alive.
He snickered humourlessly, "You wouldn't call her and just tell her 'nothing'. I bet you said all kinds of things while I was gone, hm? Go on, tell me what you told her. It's not like it's going to change anything."
It didn't take long before that familiar agitation started kicking in, "Stop being such an ass. I'm not lying, I didn't tell her anything I only wanted her to know that I was fine." I snapped.
He hummed in a mocking manner, "Oh, really? Not only did you let her know that you're fine, except the fucking Mafia will know that you are with me the second they find out we were seen at a gas station. Great job, Matt. Should I give you another rule or are you going to break that one too?" He said in a sarcastic tone only adding to my agitation but at the same time, I was worried he was right. Would the Mafia really know? How dangerous are these Mafias?
"Shut up, I'm not a dog."
"You might as well be," Neil retorted glancing at me, "Because that means I'll have to train you."
I wanted to hit him oh so badly; punch him on the face or kick his damn crotch for being a prick. I bit my tongue gazing at the window; nothing I said was going to make things better. All I could see were trees as we passed by, it was calming yet a bit uncomfortable because it reminded me how bad things happen in a dark forest in the movies.
"Are you breathing better?" He asked subtly without the cold tone this time; I shifted, "Yeah...Thank you." I said under my breath remembering my ear against his broad chest listening to his heartbeat. It was beating hard yet steady and when I looked up at him, suddenly realized how handsome he looked—probably even hot. Heat rushed to my face pushing those weird thoughts out of my head; our faces were so close.
Neil didn't say anything else as he drove, and I took the opportunity to sleep. Maybe when I woke up this was all simply a bad dream—a very bad, horrifying dream that happened to have a hot guy in it.
"Matt, wake up. We're here." I was pulled from the deep slumber, my brain scrambling to understand where I was for a moment. My eyes opened, staring into a pair of honey brown eyes that suddenly stole the air in my lungs. I quickly noticed I was still here...with Neil...kidnapped...and handcuffed.
I groaned, "No." It came out more as a whine, closing my eyes as an attempt to shut everything out and imagine myself at home playing video games or hanging out with Brian and Chrisander. "You can try as hard as you like but this isn't going away simply because you closed your eyes. Now get your little ass out of the car." I opened my eyes again glaring with all the hate and anger within me; he simply took it with a sneer.
I grumbled under my breath pushing myself out of the car and closed the door after I got out. My eyes landed on a tall, abandoned warehouse with wood latched onto the windows shutting itself out from the world. It was still pretty dark serving to give the warehouse an unpleasant impression. "How long have I been asleep?"
I heard something slam shut catching my attention; Neil held a large black duffle bag probably got it from the trunk. He was walking to me, "Over three hours. We're meeting a friend who can help us and don't touch or say anything, he is very unfriendly towards strangers."
I scoffed at him even though he didn't see me, "I'm the one being handcuffed so spare me some sympathy."
He shot a glare over his shoulder having me swallow the words at the tip of my tongue, "Last time I did you called your mom with my cell phone."
I grunted, "You're still angry about that?" I followed after him, the handcuffs collided once in a while. My eyes observed his muscled back how broad his shoulders were; it made me wonder if he worked out. "No, I'm happy because I'm going to meet your parents in an orange jumpsuit." He replied sardonically.
For some reason I flushed, imagining him meeting my parents. I must be getting sick, although I couldn't help the small snicker seeing him in a jumpsuit. "Yeah, orange doesn't suit you."
"Precisely." He answered with more sarcasm.
I kept my mouth shut staying close as to him as possible, I didn't know who it was we were going to meet. "So, who is he?" I blurted out unable to really stay quiet unless I was sleeping or had a gun to my head. We stood in front of a door, having to move to the side to see him press a button creating a buzzing sound. I looked up coming face to face with a camera on the upper right corner of the entrance.
I faked a smiled raising my hands to expose the handcuffs and waved at it; I had no idea why, I just felt like it would be worth something. "Why is he wearing handcuffs?" A voice spoke through a speaker, it startled me for a moment lowering my hands just when he looked over at me. He gave me a deadpanned expression, "Just open the fucking door." He grunted in annoyance subtly and forcefully grasped onto the handcuffs making me wince.
It was uncomfortable, and it hurt my wrists, I wanted him to take them off, but he was being a bitch about it. The door buzzed open and we went inside letting it close by itself; at first, it was a bit dark but as we continue to walk there was so much light at the center of the building. Two tables as well as a lot of electronic devices were on top.
Computers, laptops, cell phones, and things I haven't seen before either; Neil had a hard look on his face when he looked at me again. I swallowed harshly under his scrutinising gaze, "I'm not going to bother telling you anything. One wrong move and I'll shoot, this time I'm deadly serious." He spoke slowly and murderously, for a split second my heart was stricken with fear.
Like his glare isn't enough to kill me.
I nodded my head vigorously as I was tugged again towards the table; there was a guy sitting behind a computer screen. He had short brown hair with stubble across his jaws, he wore a flannel with faded jeans. "Are you going to answer my question now?" He laid back onto his chair with a curious gaze.
"He kidnapped me." I stated bluntly.
"To keep you safe. Can't you understand that or are you too stupid to get it through your fucking head?" Neil snapped.
"It's kind of hard to believe someone who kidnapped me and happens to be a fucking Hitman who is trying to protect me from people you pissed off."
He turned sharply to face me, and I flinched, "Didn't I tell you not to say anything? You know what? Forget it, you don't listen," He dragged me toward a chair far from the table and sat me there with a glare; his hand went onto his back—pulling out a gun.
I froze with wide eyes and suddenly I felt cold on the inside, "You move one single inch and I will shoot." His threat was enough to have my ass glued to the chair; blue eyes met with a pair of brown eyes, "What happened?"
"He gave me the wrong information and now the Mafia is after me."
"What about the kid?"
I felt mildly offended and I would've said something if Neil wasn't holding a freaking gun. "I stole a car and he happened to be inside of it. Can you help or not?" I could tell Neil was getting impatient from the way he was frowning so deeply, and his honey brown eyes were narrowed. The guy whose name I didn't know stared at him, "What do you need?"
I stopped listening to their conversation as I surveyed the place; it was so dark in here that the only source of light was the light bars. The radiance stretched further only dimly lighting up the rest of the warehouse; unfortunately, there wasn't anything I could see other than a door with a small light slithering through. Maybe a room?
I unintentionally flinched when I sensed Neil walk back to me and snapped my head at his direction. He was holding what looked like to be some kind of collar, the ones I saw on people who are emo or gothic—I really don't know. I stared at it with knitted eyebrows and it goes around my throat making me frown.
"What is this?" I heard a small click as it was clipped together, and I lifted my hand running my fingers over the leather material. "A choker with a tracking device—think of it as your dog collar." My eyes captured the smirk plastered on his lips, his eyes were glinting with mischief and merriment.
It dawned on me, he put a fucking collar on me! "You son of a bitch." I hissed wrapping my fingers around it and tugged at hard as I could to break it. I gasped in shock at the subtle burn of rippling electricity running through my body caused my muscles to spasm. I could only move for a while, blinking and breathing sharply, "You can't take it off unless I do it. It's waterproof and shockproof just in case."
I glared up at him with a breathy growl, "Fuck you, you motherfucker. Get this shit off me," I spat venomously.
He laughs to himself, laughing at my humiliation and vulnerability; my throat was closing up, eyes burned. I swallowed as hard as I could trying to hold back the tears, it wasn't fair—I felt like I was just ripped away from my freedom. "I thought you were supposed to protect me." The words slipped from my lips in a whisper; I didn't like this.
I tugged at it lightly not wanting to do it hard enough to get shocked again, "Oh, so now it's convenient for you to say that. If anything happens I'll know where you are, why else do you think I put something like this on you? I'm not into that kind of stuff." He seemed to have paused for a while, I kept my face away from his view.
I didn't want this shit on me, I didn't care about the tracking device—this was humiliating. I felt like a dog who got himself an owner; a shiver ran down my spine at the thought of it. I didn't say anything else, my eyes observed his shoes as he turned around walking away from me. Fucking bastard.
"Here, there's a ghost chip inside like the last one. This is the other alias that you had me keep from last time."
"Thanks, Frank."
A loud noise that came from outside startled me; I glanced around nervously. It was probably nothing, maybe a rat since this place was technically a freaking dump. "Okay, I have to go." I glanced at Neil, he was strapping the bag across his shoulder making it look like he was carrying a guitar.
His hand was clutching onto his gun, eyes darted at his surroundings as he stalked towards me—reaching out. I stood up to get in hands reach and his hand landed on my arm; his reaction confusing me. "Frank, what did you do?"
"What are you talking about?" There was a small crack in Frank's voice and something about that was scaring me. Neil's hand glided over my shoulder pulling me close to his large chest, my head tucked under his chin. I closed my eyes listening to his heartbeat, nothing is happening. Nothing is going to happen, it's just us being paranoid. "You fucking asshole." Neil's voice was hard and cold; my trembling fingers tightened onto his shirt.
He started to take steps backwards when buzzing was heard from the same door we came through. "That's them. How did they find me? Did you tell them?"
"N-No! Neil, you know me! I wouldn't do that."
"Of course you wouldn't because you know I'd kill you if you did." I flinched; my heart thrashing against my chest wasn't helping me in the slightest. There was a knot in my throat because I hated how weak I was right now; I wanted to go home and pretend this never happened. "Do you have anything that can track you?"
There was silence until I remembered that we were caught by the gas station. Were they tailing us that closely? How did they know where we were going to go? I mean there was no way they'd know, right?
"Go, Neil. Go and keep the kid safe, I'll try to hold them off here." I could hear a chair screech against the pavement ground as Neil pulled me somewhere. "Frank, be careful." It was the first time I heard such a caring tone on his voice; it filled me with a strange warmth. I wish he can talk to me like that. I scowled at myself and my own pathetic thoughts.
Before I knew it Neil was helping me through another exit; we went through the same door I was looking at earlier. Instead of a room, I was met with a hallway probably that led to the other side of the warehouse or something. Neil's hand gripped onto my own as we jogged our way through hearing piercing gunshots behind us.
"Matt, you listen to me, okay? If anything happens or if it gets too dangerous I want you to run. Run and hide and I'll find you." Neil's words were crushing me, I shook my head vigorously in fear. "No, I'm staying." I argued.
He gritted his jaw glaring his honey brown eyes, "This is not the time for you to be stubborn. You will run, and you will hide, I'll find you, I promise."
I was being stupid, I know I was, but I didn't want to leave Neil's side; I may hate his guts and wish I could just punch his smug good looking face, but I couldn't. He was the only one who knew what he was doing, I had no idea what the hell was happening or why.
There were people here to kill Neil and they would've killed me too for hanging around him innocent or not. "I said I'm staying, I'm not going to leave you to die." I spoke firmly, my voice cracking lightly; it was the truth. I didn't like seeing anyone die nor do I wished for anyone to die no matter how much I hated them.
"Fuck, Matt. Can't you listen to me for once?!" He abruptly halted, yanking my arm so hard it hurt as I collided to his chest again. It was beginning to grow agitating because he's so tall, "I said you will run and you'll hide. I'll find you, I promise I will."
I glared into his eyes, "And I said I won't leave you." I answered stubbornly, he wasn't going to change my mind no matter what he said or did. I wouldn't run away when someone needed me, I would rather die than let someone else die because of me. A shot rippled through the air interrupting our glaring moment; a curse dropped from his lips as he pulled me out of the corridor and had me crouch onto a wall.
His back was pressed against it, holding his gun with one hand as he breathed steadily—trying to relax. I—on the other hand—was panicking; I covered my ears to tune out the noises and focused on my own heartbeat. The last thing I needed was another asthma attack. At least that's what I thought when I began to realize it wasn't an asthma attack. It was a pumping adrenaline rushing through my veins and the shakiness of my hands.
A few rounds of gunshots came from Neil's gun, the duffle bag was right next to me. It wasn't the time to get curious to see what was in the bag, "Matt, we have to keep moving." Neil declared catching my attention and I nodded, I grabbed the bag strapping it over my shoulder and waited for Neil.
He made a gesture with his hand telling me to go ahead but I was reluctant, he gave me a look and that's when I hesitantly did. I stayed in a crouching position, my blue eyes looked around for a way out, but the room was pretty large. I caught a glimpse of a rusty, chipped door on the left and I went right for it. I nearly squeaked when another bullet sliced through the air and I could have sworn it brushed my leg. I opened the door finding myself outside of the warehouse and I peeked slightly waving Neil over.
"Neil!" I whispered harshly trying not to yell to get their attention; his eyes found mine and he nodded. He shot a few times before he started moving to my direction, my heart was so loud in my ears with elation. We were almost out when gunshot pierced the air, Neil stumbled forward with a pained groan.
"Fuck." He hissed pushing me back as he closed the door and grabbed as scrap metal shoving it underneath the door like a wedge. My eyes were locked on his shoulder, blood soaked his jean jacket. He turned around grasping my hand and guided me towards the direction of where we parked the car.
Instead, he had us run pass the cars into a fence across from the entrance of the warehouse. "Go, go." He hurried me through the opening of the fence and I slipped right in without any trouble. He came in after and continued to drag me away from there until we came across a car a few feet away.
He tore open the door to the passenger seat surprising me that it was unlocked; I fixed the duffle back across my back and jumped in. He scurried around the car throwing himself in the driver's seat; he pulled out a set of keys—different from the one he had the last time I saw. He started to put the key in the keyhole when suddenly there was a gunshot again shattering the rear window.
Neil cursed, turning on the car, shifted the gear and slammed the gas; the tires screeched then darted forward. There were more shots after, but it didn't seem to hit anything—except Neil. I chucked the duffle bag to the back seat shifting around uncomfortably with my hands still in handcuffs—and a collar around my neck.
"Neil-"
"I'm fine," He interrupted making me frown, "But are you okay? Have you hurt anywhere?"
I was startled that he even asked but at the same time I got annoyed because he was bleeding all over and driving. "Don't ask me that when you have a fucking bullet in your shoulder. We need to stop the bleeding." I snapped at him, but he didn't seem to be fazed by it, on the contrary, it's like I didn't tell him anything.
"It's not the first time I've been shot. I'll be fine."
"Fuck, Neil. I'm not fine with you bleeding all over the place and you're driving. What if you pass out or die on me?!" I yelled, breathing heavily after all the running and arguments I've been doing with this asshole. He scoffed, "I'm not going to die, I'm a hard guy to kill."
I didn't care but it didn't make it better, my mind was racing with so many things. "I'm sorry." I blurted out, laying back onto the passenger seat gazing elsewhere. "I shouldn't have made that phone call." I admitted.
"You don't need to apologize," He said, "What's done is done."
There was silence and once again I couldn't keep my mouth shut, "Are you going to do something about your wound?"
"I will as soon as they stop following us."
I perked up looking over my shoulder to see a slick black SUV following us several feet away. My eyes widened, how did they get here so fast? I didn't think they'd follow us this far. "Matt, do you think you can shoot a gun?"
I was shocked at his question gazing at him like he lost his damn head—he probably did. "No! I can't!"
He glanced at me with a grin on his lips, "Then I'll give you shooting lessons."
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