Page 85 of Total Obsession

"Go wait outside, Teddy," Primo instructed.

I waited until just the right moment. I almost felt bad for doing it, but it was the only way out that I saw.

In order to get to the door of the safehouse, Teddy had to step over me, who was currently lying on the ground, acting quite incapacitated. As soon as he took that first step, I grabbed his legs and twisted myself upright. He went down hard, and I pulled the pistol out of my holster, the one that the guys had been too sloppy to take from me.

Teddy landed on the ground, and I pressed my gun against his temple.

There was a lot of screaming at that point between Beau and Primo. It was obvious that the two couldn't work together. Primo was telling Beau to hold his fire, and Beau was telling him that they should just shoot us both.

"Sorry about all of this," I said to Teddy, and I felt the man shrug.

"I'd have done the same thing," he replied.

I stood up slowly, coaxing Teddy to follow my movements. Beau kept his firearm locked on both of us. Primo kept looking between Beau and Teddy.

"You're seriously going to just let him get away?" Beau yelled as I took slow and steady steps to the door.

"Take your gun off my brother," Primo said, finally turning his aim to Beau.

That's when I saw my chance. In the blink of an eye, I moved my gun from Teddy's temple to Beau, shooting him dead. I pushed Teddy into Primo and the both of them went down.

I was already out the door, running for the car as fast as I could when I heard Will's voice yelling after me. I had to give the kid credit, I didn't think he'd have the guts.

Especially considering that he was completely unarmed. Gotta love computer hackers. They operated in a limited sphere where they felt like their keyboard was a kevlar vest. Only thing was, that he wasn't behind a monitor right now.

I launched myself into the car and turned the engine on faster than I knew possible. Will jumped in front of the vehicle, but I didn't let up off the gas. He went flying up and over the windshield.

I threw my earpiece and cell phone out the window, knowing that the little bastard, while likely injured, wouldn't be out of commission for that long. Which meant that he'd be able to track me with any device that I had. I also didn't trust the car, which he'd arranged for me to pick up.

Within ten minutes of driving on the highway, my heartbeat started to stabilize. I tried to take stock of my situation.

Beau was likely dead if my aim was true, which I hoped it was. Primo was unlikely to ever stop hunting me for this. Will was an unknown as to what his actions would be, but he also had too much information on me for my comfort level.

Zoey.

I needed to get to her.

All the things that Will had said to me over the past several months about my behavior towards her, plus all of the things I'd confessed to him about her, flashed before my eyes. They'd know that she was my pain point, especially after I told him I was calling everything off yesterday.

A plan formed in my head. Ditch the car for a new one and get to New York as fast as possible. I just hoped I wasn't already too late.

twenty-seven

ZOEY

The little coffee shop that Axe and I had first visited in the city was fast becoming my favorite retreat. I was feeling really good about everything and was just learning how to take some time for myself and slow down during these off months between filming.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I put down my latte to pick it up.

"Hey, Sarah," I said to my agent. "What's up? Any news on your end?"

Sarah hesitated on the phone, and I immediately knew that something was wrong. "Not news on my end, Zoey," she said. "More like news on your end."

"Sarah," I said slowly. "What's going on?"

"I'm guessing you haven't seen the gossip columns yet?"

I was really starting to panic now. What could be so bad that would actually warrant Sarah calling me over it?