Criminal: A Bad-Boy Stepbrother Romance (11 page)

And while my threat got them to still, the guy I just
shot wasn’t out of the picture.

The shot was near point—blank, but I didn’t
kill him. Not even close. My bullet struck his shoulder, maybe only
grazed it, and while blood gushed, he wasn’t going down. He'd
dropped his gun since I’d wounded the arm that held it up, but
that didn’t stop him from hitting me with the other fist, and
my world spun from the rough blow.

“Kill that fuckin’ bitch,” came
Ryder’s cruel voice, sounding tired of the whole affair.

We had been so close, and now it’s all over. I
close my eyes, waiting for the sound, but where I fell, my big
brother came to pick me up.

In the brief moments of my almost-glory, he got up.
His fist sent a spray of red from the one man’s face as he took
the handgun from him, a mere moment later and two shots rang out. One
man was definitely dead, or just as well as.

Kaiden is like a wild animal; he’d become a
force of nature itself, and with a fury and rage that surpasses any
I’d seen, he lets loose a roar and comes for me.

Comes to my rescue.

He strikes down that piece of shit, putting another
bullet in him, then another. Kaiden isn't taking risks, not like I
did. Sympathy only put us both in danger, and he’d learned from
my flash-in-the-pan attempt to rescue us both.

I scramble for my gun in the dark, but Kaiden, oh
Kaiden… he's wrath incarnate. He's standing up, tall and
strong, gun pointed at the once cocky Ryder.

“You shit, you think this is ov—”
Ryder’s cocky words are silenced by the pull of Kaiden’s
trigger. The boom of the gun shot drops the man, and the insufferable
asshole is down on his back, clutching his wounded neck and screaming
in agony.

Kaiden advances on him, gun still aimed for his head.
And he pulls the trigger again.

“No Kaiden!” I cry, but it clicks. And no
boom follows.

It clicks again, then again.

“You don’t fucking touch my sister!”
Kaiden shouts, leaning to one side as the gun is now useless, but his
body is still sore and smarting from his beating. Instead of a
bullet, he plants the heel of his boot into Ryder’s face.

I don’t know where we are or how long we’ve
been driving. It’s still night, but even without the
streetlights, I can see the pain etched on Kaiden’s face. Blood
is caked beneath his nose, and he’s holding his side. His shirt
is torn in a few places, and I know I should be more concerned, but
honestly...

That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my
life.

It’s always been a constant thing with us. It’s
not the first time he’s kicked someone else’s ass for me,
but it might be the first time he’s been beat while doing it. I
shake my head. I know the thoughts are inappropriate, in more ways
than one, and I just try to focus on the road. It’s so quiet,
but I don’t feel safe being anywhere near Ryder.

“We need to take you to a hospital,” I
say, but I don’t glance at him. I know a hospital is the last
place he’d want to be after a fight like that. I’m pretty
sure one of the conditions of his bail would be that he can’t
be involved with those people or alcohol or whatever anymore.

“I’ll be fine,” he instantly
replies, though he winces a little. “I just need a place to lay
low. We should be far enough away, but if you see an all-night
pharmacy...”

He trails off, and I nod obediently.

“Just rest back,” I say, adrenaline still
coursing through me and making me more lead-footed than usual.

Mile after mile of road spreads out, California
desert on all sides as I make my way west, towards our old town. It’s
not that I want to go home, but I just don’t know where else to
go, and I’m craving the comfortable, the familiar. All I have
on me is a hundred bucks in tips, and instinctively, I know there’s
no going back to our trailer.

Ryder’ll have people looking for us, and I
glance at Kaiden.

His eyes are shut, and though his lips are still
pulled into a sneer, he’s absolutely gorgeous. Everything about
him, even in his pain, just screams out for me.

I lick my lips, my heart beating so loudly in my
chest.

“You saved my life,” I murmur, not even
sure if he’ll hear me. The words hang between us, and I drink
the entire situation in, trying to cope with what just happened. I
have no idea what Ryder is capable of, but now I do, and I don’t
know what to do next.

“Right back at you, Princess,” he says in
his gravelly husk of a voice, so raw and harsh after the night we
just had. “If you hadn’t given me the distraction, it’s
likely they would’ve just put me down on the spot before I had
a chance to turn the tables.”

He winces again, his thick, muscular arm draped over
his battered side as he sits there beside me in pain. He’d
taken a brutal beating from four big, strong guys and still has it in
him to turn things around and save us both. This is a miracle, all
things considered, and judging by the fact that I heard a crack or
two, he has at least one broken rib beneath his bloodstained shirt.

I stare ahead, desperate to keep my mind off of just
how damn attracted I am to him right now. We’ve spent so many
years running from one another, running from our desires and God only
knows what else.

And look at all the good that’s done us?

He’s facing prison time, and we’re both
on the run from a killer.

“We can head back, go home,” I say
distantly, but he shakes his head with a groan.

“No need.”

I look at him, my brows furrowed.

“I knew what I was getting into, Princess, and
that I likely wouldn’t be coming back. I transferred all the
money I had saved over the years into a safety deposit box in your
name.”

“My name?” I ask, drawing in my lower
lip, and he nods.

It’s not just the pain of the beating getting
to him.

“I’ve done some stupid things in my life,
Abby, but I saved every penny. I couldn’t tell anyone about it,
I couldn’t pay my bail with it because I didn’t get it
legally. So mom and dad went broke, and I was just sittin’ on
money I couldn’t spend. So a few months ago, I set up some
safety deposit boxes in your name.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

There’s a part of me that’s so mad, so
outraged that maybe there was a way mom and dad didn’t have to
sell out my future to bail him out. But it’s tempered with
gratitude.

“How much?”

He swallows with a wince and his breathing is a bit
off, but he looks at me and rests his hand on top of mine.

“When I transferred it, there was $1.5
million.”

I must have heard that wrong.

I slow down for a second before I remember we’re
on the run and speed up once more.

“Over one
million
dollars?”

He smirks, proud of my surprise, but he looks like a
scolded pup at the same time. He won’t meet my eyes, and he
nods more seriously.

“Kaiden, what the fuck? How did you get over
one million dollars?”

“Working for Ryder, doing odd jobs on the
side... taking the fall for him. He wasn’t happy about that
last one and I knew he’d try something eventually. Then I
invested it in some other projects a guy I know out of state was
involved in, before taking everything out and putting it in your
name, Princess.”

I don’t know what he expected my reaction to
be, but I’m dizzy and disoriented, and have to blink to clear
my eyes.

“You’ll have to be careful with what you
do with it, I mean… no matter how this all goes down, it’s
still suspicious money. You gotta be smart. But hey, I know I can
count on you to be smart. Always could,” he says, smiling just
a little at memories past, even as he sits there in such obvious
pain.

He’d taken down all those thugs, nearly killed
Ryder too, though once that was done, it was as if I watched the
steam come out of him. He had deflated before my eyes, and staggered,
nearly falling over before I could get to him and help him into my
car.

I’m in shock, and I nearly miss a familiar
sight. It’s a little motel, recessed into the trees, but the
neon lights are still on. I remember the name vaguely, and I point to
it as I start slowing down.

“Kaiden, I remember this place. When the house
was being fumigated that time, we stayed here a few nights,
remember?”

Kaiden looks where I point, his thick, strong neck no
longer supporting his head so sturdily thanks to the beating.

“Of course I do,” he rasps to me, so damn
tired and weary. “Mom and dad left us to our own devices most
of the time there, and we broke into the manager’s office.
Found all those porn mags and liquor stashed in his desk,” he
remarks with a dry, brief laugh. “We could be such little
shits. But hey, we never got caught. And that’s what really
matters,” he adds jokingly.

I laugh, biting down on my lower lip as I pull in,
parking the car out of sight of the road. I’d completely
forgotten that. He had a habit of bringing out the rebel in me,
making me want to misbehave.

He still does.

I open my door and come around to his side, leaning
in the open window.

“Stay here ‘til I get us a room, no need
to draw more attention to ourselves than needed.” Of course,
with my torn tank top and dirty mini skirt, that’s going to be
easier said than done anyways.

He looks me over, and even in his wounded,
pain-racked state, he manages to crook a brow and look interested.
“Dressed like that, Princess… I don’t think you
can avoid drawing at least half the world’s attention. But
you’re right I guess. Best we leave it at just half if we can
help it,” he prods me back, reaching out and pinching my side
through the tear in my top.

A week ago—hell, a day ago—I would’ve
flipped at him. Let my fear of falling for him make me push him away
again.

But I’m too exhausted, and he looks too good
for me to keep it up. Maybe it’s just that I’m running on
instinct, that adrenaline is still pumping through me, that I nearly
died, but I just don’t care anymore about pushing my emotions
down.

I bite down on my lower lip, tugging it into my mouth
as I stare at him, my heart skipping a beat before I take a step
backward. Quickly I turn to make my way to the front desk, but the
entire time, my mind is stuck on him.

I look around, and even in the darkness, I can see
how little the motel has changed. It’s aged a bit over the
years, but it’s quiet and surrounded by trees and privacy. I
make my way into the office, ringing the little bell before trying to
fix my hair in the reflection of the window.

“You need a room?” comes a bored voice,
and suddenly I’m reminded of the last motel I was at and what a
mess that became.

I turn and smile at the young man, and nod.

“Okay, we have a double bed available just next
door,” he says, taking the key off the hook board and I pause.

“What about two singles?”

My heart is instantly racing, and my stomach lurches
though I don’t know if it’s out of fear or excitement.