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Murphy
I stewed on her words.
I wouldn’t have said Tatum was an open book, but she did try to tell me what she needed from me.
The problem was, I wasn’t ready to give her those things.
Five years ago, I had been guarded about letting anyone into my life. I had wanted someone to share my life with, but I didn’t want to actually tell her what my life was. I wasn’t some businessman working a nine-to-five with weekends and holidays off.
Tatum knew I worked for Leo, and most people guessed about what type of things Leo did, but no one knew for sure. At least not the people who weren’t in his inner circle.
I never let Tatum in that inner circle.
She told me she needed more from me. She needed to feel like she was a part of my life, and not just someone standing on the outside looking in.
I never gave that to her.
“Nothing to say?” she asked. “You were the one who wanted to take a trip down memory lane.”
I glanced at her. “I wouldn’t say I was illiterate to what you wanted and were saying to me.”
“Then what would you say it was?” she asked.
“I heard what you were saying, but I knew I couldn’t give it to you, Tatum.”
“Couldn’t, or wouldn’t?” she whispered. She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
“I couldn’t, Tatum. I’m not a good man who goes to work and comes home every night.” I turned back to the window. “Just look at you now. It’s been five years since we saw each other, and you were kidnapped because of me.” I never would have thought that Brandt would wade through my past and find Tatum.
“Any other ex-girlfriends you’ve had going to be tossed in here with us?”
I grabbed the next board and pulled with all my might. I managed to get the nails from one side out and grabbed closer to the other nails. “Only you,” I grunted. I pulled again and tossed the loosened board onto the ground.
“Only me?”
I nodded and wiped my face with my forearm. “You’re the only girlfriend I’ve had, Tatum. The only one I ever cared about.” She had been there when I thought that I had a shot at a normal life.
I had watched Apollo and Greer together and thought I could have that, too. Apollo told Greer everything, and there weren’t any secrets between them. I had tried to bring Tatum into my world, but the fear of something happening to her because of me was too much to handle.
“I find it hard to believe that you weren’t with anyone before or after me.”
I gripped the next board and easily ripped it off. “We’re about five minutes away from breaking out of here, baby girl. How about we continue this conversation when we’re miles away from this dump?” I suggested. I wasn’t interested in going into what I had been up to the past five years.
Tatum scrambled off the ground and moved close behind me. “This can’t be that easy,” she whispered.
It did seem a bit too easy to me, too, but I wasn’t going to not try to bust out of here. “We’re gonna have to be quick once I bust this window.” I had no idea where Brandt was in relation to the room we were.
“They have guns,” she reminded me.
“I know.” I leaned forward and took in what I could see. “Assuming Brandt and his goons aren’t right below the window, we should be able to make it to the woods before they get their heads out of their asses.”
“What happens when we get to the woods?” she asked.
I glanced at her. “We run like hell until we get to a main road and I figure out where the hell we are.”
“And then what?” she asked again.
I closed my eyes. This right here was why I didn’t tell Tatum what I was doing. I didn’t need fifty questions and the doubt in her eyes. “I figure it out then, baby girl. You gotta trust me right now.”
She tipped her head to the side. “That was something I never struggled with, Murphy. I just wanted to feel like I was a part of your life.”
That was what I had wanted, too. I just didn’t know how to do it.
Focus on getting us out of here, Murphy.
“Just stay close to me, and do exactly what I tell you, okay?”
She nodded and stood straight. “I’m ready.” She tipped her head to the side again. “Well, as ready as one can be when preparing to run for their life.”
I shook my head and turned back to the window. “It looks like the sun is going down. That is going to work in our favor. It’s hard to find what you can’t see.” I ripped off two more boards and handed one to Tatum.
“Uh, you want me to bring this with?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes. We need anything we can get our hands on for a weapon.”
She looked down at the board in her hands. “Hit them with the side with the nails sticking out?”
I blinked rapidly. “Uh, well, that is a very good suggestion. I was just going to say hit them anyway you can, but if you can get them with the nails, then good.” Here I was worried that Tatum might not be able to keep up.
She gripped the board in her hands and held it like she was ready to swing it like a bat. “Are you taking the last one with us?” She nodded to the last board over the window.
I ripped it out of the wall and braced it on my shoulder. “I break the glass, I jump out, you follow right behind me.”
She nodded. “Got it.”
Five years ago, I had been worried about Tatum getting caught up in my mess of a life, and now she was firmly in the middle of chaos breaking out.
I took a deep breath and reached out to wrap my hand around the back of her neck.
“What are you–” she started, but I cut her off.
I pulled her close. My lips pressed against hers, and she yielded to my touch instantly.
This was what I missed about Tatum.
Well, I missed a whole hell of a lot about Tatum, but her kisses were at the top of the list.
She never hesitated when I touched her. She gave in to me as if it was second nature. She gave in as if there weren’t five years between us.
“What was that for?” she whispered when I pulled away. Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared up at me with her doe eyes.
“Just in case I don’t make it, baby girl. I want my last moments to be good.”
She blinked slowly, and her lips parted. “Okay.”
I thought about Tatum often these past five years. Wondering what she was doing, and if she had found someone else. Someone who could give her the type of life she deserved.
“Is... is there...” Did I want to die knowing that Tatum had moved on from us?
“Don’t you think you should have asked that before you kissed me?” she whispered.
I brushed my thumb over her cheek.
“It’s always just been you, Murphy. You stole my heart and never gave it back to me. Not even when you broke it.”
Jesus.
“We make it through this–”
She pressed a finger to my lips. “When we make it through this,” she corrected me. “When we make it through this, we’re going to talk.”
I nodded and pressed a kiss to the pad of her finger.
I didn’t know if it was the adrenalin pumping through my veins, the danger in the air, or the very good possibility I wasn’t going to see tomorrow, but I didn’t want to die without kissing Tatum one last time.
“We’re gonna make it, Murphy.” She smiled softly. “Now break that glass, and let’s see if this all-state track star can beat you to the trees,” she smirked.
I shook my head. “Not a chance, baby girl.” I pressed a quick kiss to her lips. Tatum stepped back, her board at the ready, and I turned to the window.
It was now or never.
I smashed the window, glass flew everywhere, and Tatum jumped.
“That was louder than I thought it was going to be.”
I couldn’t help but smile. We were in the middle of possibly dying, and Tatum was making me smile.
I jumped out the window, my feet hitting the soft grass mere seconds before Tatum catapulted herself out the window, knocking me down.
“Jesus,” I grumbled.
I was worried about Brandt hurting me when it was Tatum I should have been worried about.
“Oh my god,” she gasped. “I’m sorry. I’ve never jumped through a window before. It’s kind of like going down a slide. Count to five Mississippis before you go.”
Tatum struggle to her feet, and I managed to stand. “You’re a nut, Tatum.” I brushed my hands on my pants and looked around.
There was no movement.
Odd.
“Why is no one shooting at us?” Tatum whispered.
I looked around. “I don’t know, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
She wrinkled her brow. “I’ve always wondered what that even means. Who has a gift horse?”
I shook my head and grabbed her hand. “Another thing we can talk about later when we’re not running for our lives, baby girl.” I tugged her hand. “Run.”
We took off for the woods, my eyes scanning the area, ready for Brandt to strike.
“I thought there would be more bullets whizzing by us,” Tatum called.
I did, too.
This wasn’t right.
We made it to the woods, ducked behind a large tree trunk, and I looked back at where we had just escaped from.
“Is this normal?” Tatum asked, whispering. “Where are the goons? The bullets? A mad man screaming at us that we’ll never get away?” she goofed.
I didn’t know, but we weren’t going to wait around for them. “They might not have heard or they’re gathering their attack. Either way, let’s go. I don’t know where we are, but we gotta find a phone.”
“Let’s head down the driveway. You know it has to lead to the main road.”
It more than likely did, but it also had a good chance of cameras or goons. “We go this way.” The house was surrounded by woods, which meant it might take us longer to get to the main road, but it gave us a better chance of actually getting there. “Trust me, Tatum.”
She looked up at me. “Fine.”
She put her hand in mine, and we headed in the opposite direction of the house. I was on alert, looking everywhere at once, and keeping my ears open.
“Do you think I can ditch the board?” Tatum asked after a few minutes of walking. She waved the board in the air. “I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get to get a few good swings in.”
“You’re one of a kind, Tatum. Most would be happy they didn’t need to fight for their lives.”
Tatum shrugged and stepped over a downed tree. “I guess I’m not like other girls.”