“Thanks,” she said softly as I buttoned up the waist. When I was finished, my hands lingered a little bit longer than needed in the area just below her breasts.
“Come on,” I said, draping an arm over her shoulder and tucking her against my side. We started walking as I kept my eye out for a cab.
It wasn’t a far walk, but it was late and cold outside. Of course this would be the one night I didn’t see any of the usual one dozen cabs flying dangerously over the streets. “Looks like we might have to walk the whole way.”
“I don’t mind. I like to walk. It’s good for thinking.”
“And what do you think about when you walk, Charlie?”
I felt her shrug under my arm and I didn’t push. I already felt like I learned a lot about her tonight. Usually learning anything other than a woman’s bra size was just too much information for me, but for some reason, Charlotte was different.
“Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on with you?” she asked as we walked.
“Am I really that different lately?” I’m not sure why I wanted a play-by-play of how miserable at being Max I really was, but I guess I was a glutton for punishment. He always was the one that had his shit together.
“I’ve been worried.”
“Don’t worry,” I told her. I wanted to add that everything was going to be okay, but I couldn’t promise her that because things weren’t okay right now.
Up the street I heard a car approaching and I turned to see a cab heading our way. I pulled away from Charlie to step up to the curb and hail it down.
Then all hell broke loose.
16
Charlotte
I loved watching him move. He had this way about him, this confidence that drew the eye. His shoulders seemed more square, his posture a little more straight. What’s more, I loved the way he felt when he moved against me.
I thought I might die when he picked me up off the pavement, leaving my feet to dangle in the late-night air. I had been suspended. Suspended in moments of perfect bliss, where all I could feel was the hard contours of his body, his vise-like arms anchoring me against him, and the way his mouth felt moving over mine.
The erection in his pants had been mildly startling but completely alluring. Just feeling it press against my abdomen made my panties feel slick with moisture.
My body ached inside. It felt coiled with need. It begged for release as if it knew the next time Max and I were together, it would be far more satisfying than it had ever been.
I smiled to myself, all the alcohol I ingested making me feel relaxed and carefree. He stepped away from me, toward the curb to hail a cab. I stepped backward so I could lean up against the building. My shoulders hit the wall first, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as I expected the contact to be. In fact, it didn’t feel right at all.
I realized I hadn’t backed into a wall.
But a man.
His arm snapped around my waist, roughly yanking me all the way against his body. I started to squeal, but the feeling of icy cold metal against the side of my head had me biting off any sound.
He had a gun. He was holding it to my head.
I was literally seconds away from a bullet plowing into my brain and ending my life.
Forever.
My eyes, already leaking tears, found Max where he stood at the street, his arm in the air. I wasn’t ready to die.
“Give me your purse,” the man demanded in my ear.
I whimpered and held it out.
Another man appeared in front of me. He too was holding a gun… He was also wearing a black ski mask.
He snatched the bag out of my hand, and over his shoulder, I saw Max begin to turn.
“Max, run!” I screamed, risking getting shot to warn him. As I yelled, I forced my body to go slack. The man holding the gun to my head cursed and grappled to hold on to my body as I dropped toward the ground.
I heard a shout and the pounding of feet, but I didn’t see what was happening because the gunman grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked me back. He pulled so hard black spots appeared before my eyes. I cried out, unable to keep the sound of pain inside.
He jerked me so hard it kept me from hitting the ground. Instead, my knees hit the pavement, scraping over the rough concrete. As I knelt there, completely at his mercy, he forced the gun up under my chin, stabbing the delicate flesh on the underside.
“Come any closer and she’ll be dead before you blink,” the voice above me cautioned.
I forced my watering eyes open to focus on Max, who was standing just a couple feet away with a gun pointed directly at his chest by gunman number two. Instead of rifling through my purse, he was holding it like he didn’t even care about it, dangling it over the ground without a second thought.
He kept his eyes on Max, while Max kept his eyes on me.
“Let her go. It’s me you want,” he said.
I know my hair was being pulled really hard, but I’m pretty sure my brain still worked and that sentence made no sense. They wanted our money, not him.
“Give me your wallet,” gunman number two demanded of Max.
Max’s eyes narrowed and flicked over to him. He didn’t look scared. He looked pissed. He also made no move to grab his wallet.
“Give it to him!” the man holding me screamed and twisted his hand a little bit more. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. I looked at the ground, searching for something I might be able to use as a weapon.
This had to be the only street in New York that had spotless sidewalks.
Max looked at me again, trying to tell me something with his eyes. Get ready to move.
Then he glanced away. “I’m going to reach around to my back pocket and get my wallet,” he said slowly. It seemed to take forever for his arm to finally reach around and find his back pocket.
“Hurry up!” the man holding me yelled and jammed the gun into my skin. I couldn’t help it; I yelped. My skin burned with pain as tears filled my eyes. I waited for the popping sound of the gun. I waited for my life to end.
Max jerked his wallet out and extended it. Gunman number two reached for it, but Max had other ideas. Moving more quickly than I’d ever seen him move, he sprang into action, throwing the wallet at the man and knocking the gun out of his hand. It landed with a hard thunk on the pavement and Max kicked it, sending it skittering into the street and away from the man who was wielding it.
I watched as he quickly twisted the man’s arm around his back so hard I heard his shoulder pop out of place. The man cried out and hunched over. Max was ready and brought his knee up, ramming it right into the masked face.