That night, everyone had pretty much crammed into rooms. G and John were in the empty room, Jesse and Sam were in his room, Willow and Rene in mine, Lily and Jake in theirs and AJ and I in his. I didn't have much energy left in me, and after the whole high of the night had passed over, my head started hurting, badly. AJ was pretty exhausted as well, so we just went to sleep.
Before dozing off in his arms I started wondering about the heist, it was next up and the Russians had shamelessly butt in on everything else. But we couldn't afford anything going wrong in the heist. It was a do or die situation. And these people had become family, I couldn't see anyone going away.
Before my thoughts could escalate into anything else, a very dazed and drunk AJ hugged me tight and whispered, "Sleep Lilah. Tomorrow's a big day baby."
I nodded slightly and closed my eyes letting the exhaustion consume me.
I woke up to an empty bed and a hurricane of noise. Everyone must be up and ready already. I hurried and got ready before heading out towards the hall. Jesse and Willow were in the kitchen, cooking and flirting. Irene, Sam and Lily were out in the balcony by the pool. And John, G, AJ and Ghost were in the living room.
Ghost.
What the bloody hell was he doing here? After all that has happened, I could shoot the man right now!
AJ turned his back and saw my expression, he gestured for me to join the conversation. I hesitated at first. But went to sit next to him on the sofa anyways. He had a plate full of pancakes with maple syrup and a glass of juice already waiting for me. He gave it to me and nudged me to eat.
I obliged, nobody can stop me from consuming pancakes. Not even Ghost!
Ghost nodded his head in my direction, when I sat down. And went on with what he was saying.
"Look gents, I know how you must be feeling, but that was side hustle. I was trying to get those Russians to help us. If y'all hadn't snooped around it would have worked fine! Just keep in with the plan okay?" He said looking at G directly.
"I-" G began but cut himself off.
"Okay."
"And John my man, don't you worry them asses ain't gonna be bothering you anymore." He said winking.
John was red, I guess he wanted to punch Ghost as much as I did
Ghost got up to leave but before he did he added a sly, "Catch you later little cat."
And stalked out of the penthouse.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Everyone was gathered for a group discussion, even Willow, Irene and Sam. Willow was well adjusted with the takers by now, but Rene and Sam still seemed like fish out of sea.
G gave everyone work to do, since the heist was two days from today. Rene and Sam were to do some research on the Russians. Lily would 'babysit' them. John and Jake were going to go underneath the tunnels to check if all the C-4 needs anymore drilling and that everything is in order. G and Jesse would go over Jesse's escape route and G had some confidential paper work to finish. AJ and I would be going through the safety escape route. The one which we would use incase the real escape route didn't work out. So yeah all set.
"Delilah!" It was G.
"Yes?" I turned in my tracks to face him.
"I know you don't exactly trust me right now, but for all our sakes, keep an eye out. And...." He leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Do not trust a syllable Ghost says."
He turned away and walked off with a poker face. While I stood there knowing that my suspicions were right. I just didn't know what to do about it.
AJ wore a light blue shirt and beige pants with a p-cap. He looked like a hot tennis player. While I was in a yellow crop top and white three fourths.
"What's with the cap?" I asked as I slid into Lily's sedan which was our current way of transportation since AJ's convertible had been through unspeakable damage.
"I thought I'd change it up a bit." He said grinning.
"But I like that stupid fedora of yours," I said with a frown.
He leaned in very close and whispered,
"Noted," then started the car. While I was trying to catch my breath.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
We drove through the route which we would have taken as a safety exit. It was clean, no stops, no problems. Everything was good. Both AJ and I were alert the whole time as if something was going to happen. But nothing did. When we turned back to head towards the penthouse, AJ snickered and looked at the rear view mirror.
"What's wrong?" I asked him confused.
"Look carefully, the car behind us. The silver XUV. What's the plate number? Can you make it out..?" He asked trying to focus back on the road.
It was a traffic light so the cars stopped, the XUV was two paces behind us. And I could barely make out the numbers. So I crawled to the back seat and tore my eyes trying to read the licence plate.
AJ grabbed my shirt, keeping me stable.
"Be careful, don't let them see you." He said keeping an eye out for the traffic lights.
"What's with them anyway?" I said still trying my best to read the number.
"I'll tell you, first tell me, is the number KLM 806?"
I squinted my eyes and made out the first three letters...
"K....L....M..."
"It's them!" AJ said hitting the wheel.
The lights went up and all the cars started to movie again, I scrambled back to the driver's side seat and put in my seat belt.
AJ had picked up some speed.
And so did the XUV.
"Who is it? The Russians?" I asked worried because of the look on his face.
"It's the police." He said staring straight at the road ahead.
"The police?", I asked baffled. "But why you haven't done anything yet? The heist is day after."
"Yes I think it's about the robbery, the bank robbery."
"I thought you'd gotten away with that."
"We did too, but recently G told us that him and John were being followed by a police guy, Jack's the name. He's dead on to us. It has to be him again. He's only identified G. But this car must be on the radar. We need to get out." He said now clearly worried.
"It's okay we can just say it's a friend's or that we borrowed it. They have nothing against us right now." I tried to bargain.
"It's not that Delilah! You don't know how these people are. I don't want you in this mess. I don't want your face recognised by the shit police. And anyways after this heist you're out." He finished leaving me shocked and confused.
"Out? What do you mean out? I can't leave now AJ! It's too late! I'm a part of your life now! You can't just-" I was going off on him when we heard gunshots.
"Wow! What was that?" I asked looking around.
"Something must be wrong it's the perfect time for us to escape come on!" He said.
He started speeding just as I looked behind to see the commotion. Those weren't gunshots. A big truck had collided with another vehicle. It didn't seem like anyone was injured. But it had stopped the XUV from going past. And so making it the perfect getaway.
AJ flew with car until he stopped. There was a huge building near the alley he'd parked in.
"What is this place?" I asked getting out of the car. There were several others around us. Some sort of parking zone.
"It's an old mall. Not so popular. Let's go," he said grabbing my hand and leading me inside the mall.
"So-the police is chasing us and we're going shopping. Gee AJ, if you wanted to treat me you could have atleast taken me to a fancier mall!"
He laughed.
"I cannot believe you're like this, even when we're being chased. You're adorable."
"I. Am. Not. I'm fun."
"Sure fun."
I rolled my eyes and he led me to the highest floor. The walls were a washed off yellow and there was no one around on the last top most floor. Or atleast we thought. Just as AJ was going to open the door to what I assumed to be the roof, we heard footsteps coming our way.
I panicked.
AJ simply swooped us to the side and held me against the wall. His face was dangerously close to mine. His hands on either side of my face and our lips centimetres apart.
"What are you d-doing?" I asked knowing I must be glowing red right now.
"Why are you shy? I'm your boyfriend. It's not like you haven't kissed me before." He smirked.
I rolled my eyes.
Then I saw the guard, he was old and looked very annoyed.
"Ah ye kids can't find any other place! Get Outta here!" He whined in an accent I didn't know.
AJ didn't move. Instead the man started coming closer to us.
I grabbed AJ's shirt and pulled him into a kiss. My other hand lowering his cap to hide my face.
The guard hissed in annoyance.
"Geez millennials," he huffed and went away.
I ended the kiss and looked around. AJ seemed to be out of breath. I pushed him back with a smirk.
"What? You shy? No wait! You're blushing? Never been kissed by a girl?" I asked.
"Oh shut up," he said still flustered.
I grinned and he steered me to the roof. And locked the door behind us.
"No one will come here, let's go." He said walking ahead of me.
"Go where we're on a roof!" I said.
"So? Never heard of ways to get off of a roof."
"If you're making me jump, I swear to God I'm going back inside," I warned him with a smile.
"Maybe, maybe not. I think it'll be way more fun than that." He said.
"What-" but I didn't need to ask him. We turned towards the other half of the humungous rooftop and I saw something that made me a little dizzy. Because I knew exactly what was on my crazy guys mind. Now, I thought, a jump seemed better.
"No," was the only syllable I could think of.
"Pwease!" He teased me.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Infront of us was a big scary blue helicopter. Apparently the guys had left it here for emergencies. They had some sort of an understanding with the guy who owned the building. And it just stayed parked here.
"Get in." He said bopping his head towards the helicopter.
"No way! Do you even know how to drive this thing!" I screamed.
"Yes of course I do. You think I'd put your life in danger Lilah?" He asked with a dangerous grin.
"Ugh why did I want to 'feel alive' I was doing just fine, as an undead law student!" I whined wobbling my way towards him.
"Careful what you wish for baby," he swooned.
I dramatically fell into him and he caught me. My head was on his chest and my arms were wrapped around him.
"So you blushed when I kissed you?" I said trying to fluster him again.
"Don't change the subject Delilah," he cooed. His arms snaked around my waist.
"I-" he began again but we heard someone coming up the stairs.
"Delilah, let's go. It's not safe here," he said and pulled me over to the helicopter.
He propped me up and helped me in. My heart was hammering really hard. I'm so going to die.
"You're not gonna die, don't worry!" AJ said getting in. Damn could he read my mind?
"You did, didn't you?" I said while he was putting up all the safety gear on me.
He smiled wide.
And then kissed me before starting the copter.
"How cliché," I whispered.
"I think you mean classic," he joked and started the copter.
The door to the roof barged open. I didn't dare to see who it was. But we were way off into the sky for it to matter.
"Old school!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, up into the sky.
"You sure you can fly this?!" I asked him again.
"Relax!" He yelled back.
He looked so good he'd unbuttoned his shirt till his chest and his cap was on his lap. His golden curls loose and bright in the skylight.
I looked around trying to take it all in, when I saw something.
"Uh oh Delilah, you're going to have to help me." He said over the noise of the copter.
"AJ there's a copter behind us! A helicopter is coming for us!" I screamed.
"I know!" He said nervously.
"You can't be nervous right now! If you're nervous I'll have a panic attack!" I said.
"Look Delilah I think I know who it is if you could just go behind and see if there a radio or a GPS or anything. It could be the news people. Thinking we're one of them. They're competitive. They'll want to be on the scene of a crime first!"
"You want me to move in this thing?" I screamed.
"Or you could drive it!" He said
"I'll move," I said being reasonable.
"Why can't you just let them follow us?" I asked unbuckling myself.
"Because this is a news copter. They'll report it. It's too dangerous." He said.
I carefully crawled to the back of the copter and searched the seats. My heart was drumming crazily and my hands were shaking. I touched the seats and the pockets. But found nothing.
"AJ there's nothing here!"
"Look on the top compartment!" He hollered.
I touched the ceiling of the copter and found a walkie talkie.
"I found a walkie talkie," I said proudly.
"Great let's radio them!" He said and asked me to move forward.
"Okay, now I have to do something, and you will have to take control," he said looking at me once.
"You've got to be kidding me. I'll kill us. I swear AJ we'll die!"
"Listen-" he tried
"I'm not doing this! I'd rather be in jail!" I cried again.
"Delilah, you can do this. I know you can. It's not that hard. Just for a minute," he said.
"What is it that you have to do?" I asked.
"First I'll talk to them then I'll signal them with a flair." He said.
"Do you have to?" I cried.
"Yes Delilah."
"First talk then." I cried again.
"Yeah, put the frequency in." he asked me to do it and I did.
"Channel 42?" AJ asked into the talkie.
"Yes, channel 07 there?" a familiar voice said out of the talkie.
"Ugh no, we rented the copter from them for work. Official work. There are no crimes reported, you can radio your station and ask them," AJ said.
"Oh yeah we did wonder, since we knew nothing was announced. Thankyou." He said sounding not convinced.
"It's them," he said with an irritated expression.
"What?" I asked disoriented with thoughts.
"Yelena and her hunch men." He said.
"How are you sure?" I asked.
"There's no such thing as channel 42. Plus that was clearly Igor trying to hide his accent."
"No, no way! What is she a bloodsucking leach! Ugh!" I screamed in frustration.
AJ's phone got a ring which made me jump a little.
"How the hell are you getting texts mid flight. We'll die!" I said.
He looked pale now.
I opened his phone to read the message.
'Get ready to die, Romeo and Juliet. If I can't have you big boy. No one can'
"She's going to crash this. She's trying to kill us! God why did I have to love you!" I cried.
AJ didn't loose a second, he told me how to keep the copter in air. And kissed my cheek hurriedly before going to the back.
I grabbed a weird control thing and prayed to God. It was heavy. I mean of course. It was helicopter!
"AJ! HURRY UP! I'M SLIPPING!" I scremed trying not to cry.
The copter was shaking a lot. Great what I loved most turbulence and flying helicopters with no experience!
"AJ!" I screamed again just as I heard an explosion and I assumed a red flair was set free towards Yelena's copter.
Nevertheless I was startled and the copter lost control.
"N-NO! NO AJ! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" I yelled at the top of my lungs just as AJ arrived he swooped me off and took control.
I closed my eyes and wished for all of it to be over. I need land. Sweet sweet land.
"We're going to be fine Lilah it's okay breathe." He said.
Yelena's copter was no where to be seen.
"Do you think they crashed?" I asked.
"No the bad ones never die easy. They must be fine. But that's all we needed a distraction. We're almost home."
After about 20 minutes AJ landed the copter on a flat deserted parking lot.
We got out and I hugged the ground.
"Lilah get up!" AJ smiled.
Then came and picked me up.
John was already waiting with a car.
"You texted him?" I asked AJ who was carrying me.
"Yup wayy back when you were screaming."
"When I was screaming? You've got to be more detailed than that. All I did was scream today."
He just laughed.
"What about the copter? Will it stay here?" I asked.
"John will take care of it."
I looked at John then.
"Are you sure you'll be fine? With your arm?" I asked.
"Oh yes darling don't worry. Get home safe." He said and winked at AJ.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
The drive back home was quiet. AJ was tired and so was I. But something still bothered me.
"Why did you say that?" I asked when we reached.
It was almost dusk. And the sky was sleepy and darkening.
AJ sighed and looked at me.
"Because I meant it Delilah," He said. "This is not fun and games. People get hurt, killed or put in prison! I can't get you into this."
"Then what you'll leave? You'll have me leave? After all that we've been through?" I asked.
"No, no way. I love you Delilah. You've got to trust me."
"Then let me stay. I'm not leaving without you. If you're in this then I will be too!" I pressed.
"Delilah you don't understand, I was in this because I had nothing to lose! I was an orphan with a family of theives! I didn't care if I died. Every day! I knew it could be the day I died. Or G, or John or jake or Jesse!" He raised his voice now.
"So I don't care! I'll be with you! I can't just pretend the last few months didn't happen! Or that they didn't mean anything!" I raised my voice too.
"No! No I can't-" he was saying but I cut him off.
"You can't what! You've got nothing to lose right! Then why is it such a big deal!" I yelled now.
"Because I do! I do have something to lose now! I don't care who dies Delilah, it should not be you! I can't let you live this life. It's called 'Ride or Die' for a reason. I can't lose you." He screamed back at me.
That shut me up.
"S-So what are you going to do?" I said slowly.
He paused and looked at me. The last few flares of sun were everywhere. They were making his face glow. His eyes, his hair, his smile. I could feel his gaze on me, strong and unwavering.
-
-
-
"I'll quit." He answered, just as the sun set away behind the sea of buildings.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Sorry for the late update y'all! I had exams!:'(
But I'll be updating sooner now! And the book is ending soon after the heist! So yup! Please comment and vote! Thankyou for all the reads!
Xoxo💜💫✨