Young Love Murder (57 page)

Anna’s already opening the heavy front door to a three-story gray brick building. I catch up to her and hear the rap of Max’s dress shoes on the sidewalk behind me. She holds the door open just long enough for me to grab it and starts climbing up a narrow stairway. 

Once on the third floor, there are two doors, one to the left and one to the right. Pulling a key out of her pocket, she unlocks the deadbolt at the door on the left. Her place must take up half of the top floor. Still seeming preoccupied, she leaves the door wide open for us and I turn around to tell Max, “Lock the deadbolt.”

When I whirl back to get answers from Anna she’s gone. Barely registering the homey decorating as I walk through a spacious living room, I go down a hallway, following the sound of Annabelle banging around. When I reach her she’s moving a distressed white wooden bed, pushing it against the far wall of a bedroom. 

After all the hotels, it’s surreal to be with Anna in a place she actually calls home. This is her real bedroom. It makes me want to make love to her on that bed. Instead, I watch as she starts pulling up the loose cherry wood floorboards that the bed had sat on top of. Since they weren’t nailed down, their removal is effortless. Moving closer, I peer down in the hole she’s creating. Before she has the chance, I grab the large black duffel bag that seems to be half-filled with something heavy. Probably weapons. 

Stepping around the hole in the floor, where she’s replacing the floorboards, I place the dusty bag on a dresser. Then, without being asked to, I start moving the bed back into place for her. When I go over to where she’s standing, Anna already has the bag unzipped and is pulling out guns and knives. 

I take a couple for myself, not knowing where to put them, and ask Anna, “Does your brother have clothes here?”

She was thinking so hard that I startled her. “What? Oh yeah, the bedroom at the end of the hall. Take Max with you, he looks horrible.”

Figuring I’ll get answers from her when she’s ready to give them, I find a dazed-looking Max on a large couch and motion for him to follow me. Jackson’s room is bare of anything but a small dresser and bed. Seems like maybe Anna spends more time here than him. Going through his clothes, I make sure to throw lots of them on the floor in my search. Finally settling on jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie for me and handing Max jeans and a sweater, we get dressed. I quickly shut the top drawer of his dresser when I find underwear in there, then pull out socks for both myself and Max from the second drawer down. 

Anna’s waiting for us in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water. Glancing up at me, she looks upset. I know we might be in danger, but I take a moment to just stare at her, still amazed that she’s back in my life. “You and Max need to get out of France, like now.” Her guilty grimace makes me want to assure her that everything’s going to be alright, but I’m not sure it will be.

Leaning my back against the fridge, I slip my hands in the hoodie pocket, feeling for the gun and sheathed knife I stuck in there. “What about you?”

She’s quiet for a moment, just looking at me before breathing in and out deeply. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Obviously, the men were waiting for me to show up at your hotel.” Looking away from me and out the small kitchen window, she has a thoughtful expression on her pretty face. “I have to assume that they don’t know the location of this place, otherwise they would have come after me here.” When she turns back to me, her eyebrows are drawn in concentration. “Somehow, they found out about you and used you as bait, just waiting for me to show up at the hotel so they could make their move.”

“Who do you think is after you?” I ask, enraged at the thought of anyone trying to hurt her.

She laughs humorlessly. “It could be anyone. From anywhere, really.”

“Um,” Max cuts in warily, “What if we go back to the U.S. and they come after us?”

Placing the now empty glass in the sink, Annabelle answers him, “Because they want me. I have no plans to return to The States anytime soon, so you guys should be safe if you’re far away from me.”

“Wrong,” a new voice enters the conversation. 

Pulling the gun out of my hoodie pocket, I automatically point it at the intruder. When I see that it’s Jackson, I keep it pointed at him, grinning. Anna walks over and gently pushes my hand down, lowering the gun. “What are you talking about, Jackson? And what the hell is going on?”

Ignoring her, Jackson gets in my face. “What are you doing in my house?”

“I invited him.” Anna leans one hip against the counter, crossing her arms, obviously bracing herself to have it out with her brother. 

“I thought you were done with him.” Jackson backs off but is still looking at me like he wants to start something. 

“Marie gave him my email address.”

Finally turning to Anna, Jackson has an expression of mock astonishment. “And he was able to learn our home address from an email address?”

Ignoring his sarcasm, Anna casually says, “We were attacked at his hotel. This was the safest place to come. Plus, I needed to load up on weapons and ammo.”

Pointing at me, Jackson says, “All you need to do is ditch him.”

“What are you talking about?” Anna’s casual demeanor changes to perplexed. 

Jackson looks very satisfied with what he’s about to say next, “Well, little sister, it’s not you they’re after. Someone has put a hit out on Gabriel.”

Max, who has been quiet in the corner, makes a choking sound from behind me.

“Well . . . ,” I begin, at a loss for words, “doesn’t that suck for me?”

Chapter 43

Annabelle

God, I so feel like blowing someone’s brains out right now. 

Preferably, whoever took the hit out on Gabriel. But really, at this moment, any average piece of shit criminal would do. The messenger is so lucky that he’s my brother. Otherwise I’d shoot his ass. I may not be able to shoot the messenger, but I sure as hell can beat the crap out of him. 

Taking Jackson off guard, I propel my body into his and we go tumbling into the living room. He lands on his back with a loud
thud
, a pained groan and me on top of him. I get one good punch in before he’s flipping me over onto my back. Grabbing both my wrists in one hand and pinning them over my head, he uses his free hand to give me little slaps on both cheeks. He knows it pisses me off when he does this. 

From nearby, I hear Max ask Gabriel, “Shouldn’t we help her?” 

Without glancing their way, Jackson says, “Don’t even try it loverboy and sidekick. This is between me and my sister. If she’s gonna throw a tantrum, I’m gonna to treat her like a child.” He doesn’t seem all that reluctant to pick on me.

Twisting my body under his, I know the situation is useless with my hips pinned. “Get your fat ass off me, Jackson!” Out of the corner of my eye, I see a big black boot coming at Jackson. Kicking my brother in the chest, Gabriel quickly backs up, taking up a defensive position common to most martial arts. 

Jackson, who was thrown off of me from the kick, is now glowering at Gabriel, looking ready to kill or kick some major ass. “Okay, boy toy, I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.”

Gabriel gives Jackson a ‘come hither’ gesture with one hand, which is totally cheesy and cliché. “Bring it on, Jackie. I’m a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a black belt in Taekwondo.”

Taking off his jacket, Jackson gives him an evil grin. “Oh yeah, well I’m a black belt in
everything
. Black and red belt in Jiu-Jitsu, if you wanna get specific.” Gabriel’s eyes go wide for a split second, but I gotta give him props, he doesn’t take off out the door. The eager glint in Jackson’s eyes gives prelude to the beat down to come.

I’m contemplating tackling Jackson again, before he goes all Bruce Lee on my ex-boyfriend, leaving me to clean up the blood, when Max surprises me and beats me to the punch.
Literally
. Very brave of him, but stupid. Luckily for him, Gabriel decides to join in and tag team my brother. 

Feeling both physically and mentally exhausted, I take a seat at the far end of my big, comfy couch and watch the rumble unfold. Gabriel does have some good moves, though he’s a little too technical in his fighting. However, with a little real world experience, he’d improve. Max obviously doesn’t have Gabriel’s skills, but his technique is straight-up street fighting. Jackson blocks most of his attempts while a few manage to connect. 

Sinking back into the cushions, I decide to enjoy the show. Max and Gabriel have the upper hand until Jackson lands an uppercut to Max’s chin, taking him out momentarily as he falls to the floor. As soon as Jackson is done executing the punch, Gabriel kicks him in the thigh. Jackson gets a couple good hits on Gabriel following that, but then Max is back in the game. 

Seeing that this fight isn’t going to have a real winner, I decide it’s time to break it up. Coming up behind Jackson, I grab hold of his neck in a chokehold and hook my legs on the inside of his, causing us both to fall to the floor. He’s heavy as his weight lands on mine. Straining to keep him in place, I grunt out in his ear, “Rear naked choke.” Once he stops fighting it, I finally let go of Jackson, allowing us both to roll to our knees and stand up as I announce, “I win!” Then to Gabriel and Max, I say, “He forgets that I’m a black and red belt too.” 

Trying to catch his breath, Jackson laughs. “God damn cheater.” A girl does what she must. Besides a few bruises, we’ll all survive.

Putting my hands on my hips, I stand in a don’t-mess-with-me position facing my brother. “Back to business. What the hell do you mean, Gabriel’s the target?”

Straightening his twisted clothing, Jackson gives me a tired frown. “What I mean, Annabelle, is that we’re finally getting rid of him for good.” The frown turns up as his lips quirk at the thought.

“Is the contract yours?” I ask, not sure what I’d do in a situation where my brother and ex were trying to kill each other for real. Probably knock them both out and tie them up. After that, well I don’t know. 

“If it was, he’d already be dead.”  It’s not like Jackson’s confidence is misplaced. After all, he’s almost as good at killing as me. Poor guy is always living in my shadow.

“How do you even know it’s me they’re after?” Gabriel asks Jackson suspiciously. Plopping down next to Max on the couch, he uses the sleeve of Max’s sweater to wipe his forehead. “And why?” Max yanks his arm back and uses the hood of Gabriel’s sweatshirt to wipe at his own sweaty forehead.
I’m not even gonna comment.

Jackson shrugs negligently. “Don’t know, don’t care. Good luck and all though. The door’s that way.” I reach out to smack at the hand he’s using to point at our front door. Jackson gives me a bewildered, ‘What’d I do?’ look.

Max looks as white as a ghost, still and silent. Oh wait, now he’s starting to turn green. Rubbing a hand roughly over his face, he asks, “Is this for real? People are really trying to kill Gabriel?”

“Yep,” Jackson says cheerfully, obviously back to his good mood. Mockingly, Jackson asks Max, “Why is it such a surprise?’

Looking at Gabriel like he’s some sort of freak, Max sounds baffled, “Why would anyone want to kill my cousin? He’s practically a hermit. He doesn’t even screw any of the easy chicks I throw at him.”

Yeah, Max is
so
not getting a present from me this Christmas. Unless it contains a time bomb inside of it.
Note to self: Something to try in the future. Maybe during a December assignment.

Gabriel smacks Max on the face with one of my throw pillows. “Half of those chicks were your leftovers. No thanks, man.” Smiling all lovey-dovey at me, he adds, “Besides, none of them were the love of my life.”

“Pathetic,” Jackson mutters loudly enough for all present to hear then he laughs evilly. “I can think of three people who’d like to see Gabriel in a casket, but none of us took the hit out on him.” With a smug look, he adds, “Of course, all three of us would just do the deed ourselves.”

Shoving Jackson, I say, “I don’t want him dead.”