Beau, as if connected by a string, walked forward also. “Look outside,” Beau pressed. “That’s my Lamborghini. You can have it too. Outrun the cops, no problem.”
Lola didn’t dare check to see if the man looked.
The man whistled in Lola’s ear. “You weren’t kidding. Keys in the car?”
Beau patted his pockets. “Yes.”
“You stay here while we check,” he said, dragging Lola backward with him. “Everything’s good, I’ll let her go.”
“Leave her,” Beau said levelly.
“Nope. She’s my collateral.”
“The car is nothing.” Beau’s jaw clenched and unclenched, causing his face to contort. The gun was still on her, between her and Beau, putting them on opposites sides of danger. “I can get you so much more. We don’t have to get the cops involved. Just let go of her.”
Lola couldn’t hold her breath anymore, and she gagged.
“What’s wrong, little lady?” the man asked tauntingly. “You know, there’s one thing you’ve got that he can’t give me.” He squeezed her more tightly against him.
She’d die before she let that happen. Before she could gag again, she grabbed his forearm. “Let go of me.”
“Shut up,” he said with a hard shake.
Beau’s hands had stopped moving. His expression smoothed as any emotion drained away, leaving his eyes colder than she’d ever
seen them. His back became unnaturally straight. “You might want to rethink who you’re pointing that gun at,” he said. “I don’t think you realize how much you’ve just pissed me off.”
A wave of panic crashed through Lola. He had the same indifferent look he’d had the night Johnny had gone after him at Hey Joe. It was the complete inability to predict his next move that terrified her—not that he’d do anything to jeopardize her, but that he wasn’t thinking of his own safety at all.
Beau strode forward, each step longer than the last. The man pushed the gun into Lola’s throat then pulled it away. It wavered in the air a split second as he seemed to hesitate. He pointed it at Beau and shot. Lola screamed. Shoved back into a display stand, she lost her footing and fell as it crashed around her. Beau was at her side in an instant, yelling at her, but all she heard was the reverberation of the gunshot.
Frantically, she reached up and felt his chest. “He shot you?”
He grabbed her arm, checked her over and left her on the ground. He ran back to the counter and lunged over it, reaching for the attendant.
“Beau,” she said lamely, unsure he could even hear her. “What are you doing?”
Beau grabbed the kid by his shirt and pulled him forward. He was tearing something from the guy’s hand—a gun. He was going after the man. Dread rose up her throat.
He bolted for the door. She scrambled to her feet, hurtling into his path. “It’s just money. It’s not worth it,” she cried.
He went to move around her, but she grabbed his shirt in two tight fists. Now that she had him back, she couldn’t risk losing him again. “Please, I’m begging you. Don’t do this.”
“It’s not about the money,” he said, his face bright red, his chest heaving. “I won’t let him get away with this.”
“I need you here,” she said. “Don’t abandon me.”
He glanced anxiously behind her. “I can’t just do nothing. I’ll come right back.”
She couldn’t shake the thought that he’d been shot. Her chin wobbled. “You might not come back.” Her strength seeped away, leaving her knees weak. His arms automatically went around her waist, and the gun pressed through the back of her T-shirt, cold even through the fabric. “Let the police handle it. Stay.”
“He deserves to pay,” Beau said through clenched teeth. “You’re asking me to let it go? People don’t just get away with this. He could’ve killed you, Lola. He deserves to run for his life—from me.”
He was like a wolf separated from fresh meat with only Lola in between. His heartbeat was strong under his chest, and all his muscles were tensed as if he might break into a sprint at any instant.
He wanted payback. Why couldn’t he see the gift they’d been given? A second chance? He would risk his life to make an insane man pay—for what? They were both unharmed. She shook him by his shirt. “I don’t deserve to lose you. Not after all this. I need you here where I can see you and touch you. If you go, I go with you.”
He opened his mouth, trying to speak but nothing came out at first.
“If you go, I go,” she repeated.
“But he…and you…” His face closed. “What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you leave when you had the chance? Why didn’t you just do what he said?”
She would take all of Beau’s anger if it meant keeping him there in that building. Her fingers loosened with her relief. “Why didn’t you let him take me outside?”
He looked up at the ceiling. “You know why.”
“Then you know why I couldn’t leave you here.”
There was a word for that, but Lola couldn’t let it form in her mind. If she did, she’d never see clearly again. They stared at each other, both breathing deeply.
He detangled from her finally and went to turn away, but reached back and took her arm. “Do not leave my side.” He walked them up to the counter where he placed the gun down but didn’t release it. He kept his other hand on Lola. The attendant was on the phone with the police.
“Tell them we can still catch the guy,” Beau said, glancing at the door. “And to hurry the fuck up.”
“Beau?” Lola asked.
“Not now. I have to do this.” He let her go and took the phone right out of the kid’s hand. “Is someone on the way?” he asked and waited. “Every second that passes, he gets farther away. I don’t even know—”
Sirens sounded out front.
“Never mind,” Beau said, dropping the receiver.
He took two steps before the attendant called after him. “Dude, my gun. You go out there with that and they’ll turn you into Swiss cheese.”
Beau rubbed his forehead tensely and looked at his hand.
“Put it down,” Lola said. “He’s not coming back.”
He slid it across the counter to the attendant. “Stay here,” he said to Lola. He didn’t move a moment, then took her shoulders firmly. “Do you hear me, Lola? Don’t try and be brave. Just stay put until I come get you.”
He was afraid. Now that her sense had returned, she was too. She nodded quickly, breathlessly. “I won’t move.”
His fingers loosened, but he wouldn’t stop looking at her. “You really fucking scared me, you know that? This is why I never stray from the plan—not ever.”
She searched his face. “What plan?”