Page 44 of New Beginnings
“No, I’m good,” I sighed, with my hand against my forehead as I tried to get my heart rate under control. “I... I just thought I... Never mind,” I said, shaking my head. “What are you doing here?” I asked instead of telling her I thought someone was following me. “It seems like you’re spending more time at my place than you are at yours.”
There wasn’t any point in scaring her about a person who may or may not have been following me. She wouldn’t do anything but blame my paranoia on J.D. and Caesar anyway. And I didn’t want to hear her bash them. I liked J.D. more than I probably should and Caesar was one of my closest friends. She didn’t have to like either of them, but I refused to listen to her try to dictate who I spent my time with while talking shit about them in the process. However, I really wanted to know why she was here so much.
Maybe it has something to do with a certain biker. At least I hope it does.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She fiddled with the charm on her necklace—a dead giveaway that she was hiding something from me.
She’s had that necklace since we were teenagers. I had one just like it, but I hadn’t worn it since our grandfather died. These gifts were given to us by him when we turned fifteen, and she never took hers off. It had become a habit for hers to play with the infinity charm when she was hiding something.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re lying but I won’t push you about it,” I said, picking up all my shit from the floor. “Not yet anyway.”
Thank God my muffins were still in the bag, but I still wanted to cry. My coffee was everywhere. I was shit at making coffee and the coffeeshop not too far from my place had some of the best coffee I’d ever tasted.
“I’m not keeping anything from you,” Rumi said as she kneeled next to me, using my napkins to wipe up some of the spilled coffee.
“If you say so,” I mumbled as I walked to the kitchen, leaving her to clean up the rest of the spilled liquid.
I placed my phone and muffins on the kitchen island, then removed them from the bag. Just as I pulled the fridge open to grab a bottle of water, the doorbell and excessive knocking on the door sounded.
“Police!” Another flurry of pounding echoed inside the apartment. “Open up the door!”
I rushed out of the kitchen not even closing the door of the fridge.
“Rumi! Don’t!” I shouted just as she opened the front door.
She looked at me like I was an idiot. But I needed to be cautious, especially with me having that feeling of being followed.
“It’s just the police,” she said, shrugging.
She turned her attention back to the doorway then screamed as she backed away from the door with her hands up. I saw the glint of the chrome barrel of a gun with a silencer at the end aimed at her before I saw the man walk in. He kicked the door closed behind him without lowering the gun.
He was stocky, his graying hair was disheveled, and he looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few weeks. He hadn’t seen me yet, so I slowly backed away trying to get as close to the kitchen as possible without drawing his attention.
“Rebel Pierce!” He kept the gun pointed at my sister. “You’ve been causing a lot of problems lately.”
Fuck! He didn’t know I had a twin. Who the hell is he?
The sheer terror etched on my sister’s face left me feeling utterly devastated. I had to get her out of here. This had nothing to do with her, and the thought of something happening to her sent shivers down my spine.
I grabbed my phone from the kitchen counter beside my muffins. I pulled up J.D.’s number, and hit the call button, then slid the cellphone in my back pocket. I prayed he answered even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk to him. Maybe he’d hear what the hell was happening and get his ass over here before shit got worse.
Banging on the door drew the attention of the man and my sister. He grabbed her around the neck, put the gun against her head, then faced the door. Rumi whimpered, then my front door flew open.
“Stay back!” the man yelled as soon as the big ass biker stepped inside my apartment. “Stay back or I’ll fucking kill her.”
Even though I didn’t know who the biker was, I was relieved to see him. When I saw the same leather vest J.D. wore, I knew he was on the way. I just had to hold on, keep all of us safe until he got here. Maybe I could distract the intruder long enough for thebig guy to grab him and hopefully that would force him to let my sister go.
“Let her go.” I held my hands up, stepping closer to my sister and the intruder. I also spoke loud enough just in case J.D. had answered my call.
The man’s attention jerked to me, and his eyes widened before narrowing.
“Let her go,” I said, again. “She’s my twin sister. I’m Rebel. It’s me you want not her.”
My plan to distract him was working, as of right now, he seemed completely focused on me. The huge guy moved closer, and the man was no longer holding the gun to Rumi’s head, but he had it aimed at me. It wasn’t the first time I had a gun pointed at me, but I was still scared out of my mind. Not about dying. We all would die one day. But I was more afraid of what I’d miss out on if this bastard killed me. What would happen to my family?
What would happen to J.D.?
