A Wilde Handful: Glad you like it!
Hopelily: Thanks! You're a big help! I was getting frustrated 'cause I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Ha.
Chase: Two words: Thank you!
Lucky13: Thanks! Hope you enjoy it!
Jennio: I'm not much of a 'damsel in distress' type person. Hopefully this will work out better.
Christine: Hope you continue to enjoy it!
Pandacat: I hope you enjoy it!
Awesome: Thank you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy it!
Arianna: Thanks! Hope you like it!
Miralinda: I hope you continue to enjoy it. And I hope I don't get too ooc with this fic. I'm marking it your job to let me know if I do!
Athyna: Thank you, esp for the compliment on SF. I worked hard on that story. Hopefully this one will match up.
Charmed: Well, I'm a big fan of violence so hopefully this meets your expectations! Lol. I'm not a big fan of Chirteen, so hopefully I can keep other non-Chirteen ppl drawn in. Chase is okay...er...not my favorite character. I'm kinda nervous to write him.
Noelle: Huzzah! 13th review! ...and, no, Chase isn't going to save her. Keep dreaming. xP
M86: Hope you enjoy the update!
Thanks to Vanamo for beta'ing this. She does a wonderful job! Btw, if you haven't read her stories, I HIGHLY recommend them!
And thanks to RolyPolyQuorra for answering all my dumb House questions that I'm too lazy to look up myself.
Chapter Two
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Remy sputtered. She could just barely make out Darrien's reflection in the mirror and the window. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it was her though. She wanted to run, to turn around and knock the other woman to the ground then take off, but a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that there would be a bullet lodged in her skull if she tried anything.
Darrien took a step back, gripping the back of Remy's shirt and pulling her back. "You don't want to know how I got out?" she asked. "Or, better yet, how I found you?"
"You caught me as I was leaving work," Remy stated calmly, tilting her head down and staring at her keys. "Followed me here and waited until I came out. I don't really need to know how you escaped."
"I knew you were smart when I met you," Darrien said. Keeping the gun pointed at Remy, she knelt down and picked up her keys. "Lucky for you, that means I can use you." She held the keys out on her palm.
Remy pursed her lips together and pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth. She slowly took the keys, absently using her thumb to brush some of the gravel off of them. "Are you taking me hostage?" she asked, glancing up again and arching a brow at Darrien.
"That would imply I'm willing to offer you up for ransom," Darrien replied. "I'm not." She waved the gun in the general direction of the vehicle. "Get in the car."
"So you're kidnapping me." Remy's gaze followed the gun, her eyes widening a bit as the other woman's finger came dangerously near to the trigger. She wasn't sure if she was trying to process what was happening or buy herself some time. If she was lucky, Ryan would walk outside for a smoke break and -
"I said get in," Darrien demanded, shoving Remy back toward the door.
Almost on autopilot, Remy opened the car door. The gun was still pointed at her as Darrien walked around the front of the vehicle then let herself in on the passenger's side. Remy slid down into the seat then shut her door. She gripped the steering wheel with both hands, still holding her keys. "D…" she started.
Darrien shut her door then turned to face Remy. "Start the car," she commanded.
The gun was drawing her attention. It was rested on Darrien's lap, but the woman was still gripping tightly and it was still pointing directly at her. "We should talk about this," she stated firmly, not loosening her grip on the wheel. Her throat felt dry and she had to force her voice not to start wavering. Any sign of weakness was something that could potentially be used against her. "Look, if…"
Darrien lifted the gun and pressed the barrel back up against the other woman's temple. "Start the fucking car, Remy," she said slowly, resting her finger on the trigger. "Unless you want to be a passenger in the trunk, I suggest you listen to me."
"Okay," Remy whispered, fumbling with her keys.
"Shut up," Darrien spat. "Stop talking, put the key in the ignition, and fucking drive."
Remy shoved the key in the ignition and started the car. She grabbed the gearshift and put the car in reverse, backing up out of the parking lot before putting it in drive starting down the road. She kept one hand on the wheel, reaching over and grabbing her seatbelt with the other.
"I want you to go to the intersection then turn left," Darrien said. She leaned back against the seat and dropped the gun back down to her lap again. "After that, turn right at the stop sign."
Exhaling, Remy chewed on her lower lip and kept her eyes on the road. She tried to determine where the directions were taking her in her head, but nowhere specific came to mind. Then again, she didn't go many places besides her apartment, the hospital, and a few local bars.
The light ahead was green but turned yellow as they approached it.
"Hit the gas," Darrien said.
Remy didn't question orders this time. She had had that gun pointed at her enough times to know one of these times the trigger would just be pulled. She pressed her foot down and accelerated across the intersection before the light went red.
Turn right after the stop sign.
It couldn't be that far ahead. Her foot felt like lead against the pedal and she shot a glance at the speedometer. Up ahead, apartment buildings turned into a large stretch of grass and several light poles. No amount of physics calculations or questioning the ability of airbags outweighed the sudden desire to escape. She sped passed the stop sign and, before Darrien could say another word, drove straight into the nearest pole.
xxxxx
The world flickered for a moment.
Remy slowly lifted her head off the steering wheel, blood trickling down her face. She glanced to the side where Darrien was already exiting the car, even more blood on her. The streets were empty, but the crash had to alert someone in the nearby apartments. She unbuckled her seatbelt then pushed her door open and stumbled out of the car, landing on her hands and knees on the gravel.
Darrien stumbled around the back of the car, struggling to stay on her feet. A large gash just above her eyebrow was spilling blood down over the side of her face. She wiped at the crimson liquid, only managing to smear it. "Get up," she demanded, trying to hold onto the gun.
Not bothering to brush the dirt off her hands, Remy lifted her fingers to her face. The blood was coming from her nose, and possibly even from her lip. It was impossible to tell when her entire face hurt and blood was going everywhere. She lifted her head and glanced around, refusing to look at Darrien. Her chances of being shot had just gone up by a ten fold. Lights were on in a few apartments. The brightness created spots in her vision that lasted several seconds after she looked away. Someone had to have heard them crash.
Darrien must have realized why she was stalling because she quickly looked around then immediately stumbled forward. She grabbed Remy by the arm and roughly hoisted her up onto her feet. "Move," she said, trying to push her forward.
Remy began walking, unsure of where they were going. Everything was blurry and nothing felt real. It wouldn't have shocked her if she was still back in the car, unconscious from the impact. Despite the pain that seemed to tear through her entire face, she pinched her nose shut in attempt to stop the bleeding. Her heart was thumping in her ears and her stomach dropped further each time one of her feet hit the ground.
A door to the right of them opened and a young woman carrying a toddler on her hip rushed outside. "Are you okay?" she rushed to get out, stumbling over her words. "I should call 911." She barely gave the totaled car a glance, staring wide-eyed at the two injured women instead.
Darrien hid the gun between herself and Remy, tapping it against the young doctor's tailbone as a warning to keep her quiet. "We're fine," she stated in a disturbingly calm voice. "We'll call from our friend's house. He's just down the road." She stopped walking at the stop sign.
The woman with the child didn't look so sure. "You shouldn't be walking," she said, far more panicked than Darrien or Remy. "I can call an ambulance, I can find your friend…" she offered, looking around.
"We're fine," Remy whispered, the gun repeatedly being tapped against her lower back. She worried for the safety of the mother and baby. "Actually, maybe…" She rubbed her forehead with the hand that wasn't holding her nose. "Maybe you could give us a ride to his house. D'you have a car?"
The woman nodded almost immediately. "I'll go get my keys," she replied before turning and rushing into one of the apartment buildings.
Remy watched her go, feeling like she was staring at a ray of hope slipping through the cracks. She shot a glance at Darrien then turned at the stop sign and attempted to pick up her pace so the woman wouldn't try to catch them when she came back outside.
"You could make quite the con-artist with a little work," Darrien told her.
"I was protecting her," Remy replied. She ran her tongue over her lower lip. It was definitely bleeding. Turning her head to the side, she spat some of the blood onto the sidewalk. The world kept tilting on its axis and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay on her feet. She suspected she had a concussion and it wouldn't be of much surprise if Darrien had one too. From the looks of it, they had both hit their heads pretty damn hard. "Where are we going?" Remy asked.
Darrien stopped outside an off-white building. Most of the lights in the windows were off, as they were in the surrounding buildings. She glanced at her hand where an inky address was smudged across her skin. "We're going here," she answered before pushing the door open and letting herself into the hall.
Remy followed her, trying not to drip blood all over the tiled floor. "Why?" she asked. "Andre live here?" They stopped outside room five.
"Knock," Darrien said, nodding toward the door.
Narrowing her eyes, Remy shook her head. "It's one of your friends," she replied. "You knock."
Darrien lifted the gun. "I've about had it with you-"
Remy took a step forward and pounded her fist twice against the door. Again with the weapon. By now, she had been held at gunpoint enough that it was beginning to make her slightly immune to the fear that came with it, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. She stood back again and stared at the door. "There's probably no one even home," she said. "Or they're sleeping like a normal person."
The door flung open. "Because normal people…" what started out as a possible snide remark trailed off into silence as Chase stood there looking at the two women in front of him. "What the hell happened?" he asked.
"Fuck," Remy whispered under her breath. She dropped her hand from her nose, the blood beginning to make a stream down the lower half of her face and soak into her shirt again. She had followed her right to Chase. If she had known where they were going, maybe she could have thought of a better distraction.
Chase grabbed her by the shoulder and half pulled her inside his apartment. He raised a finger and pointed it at Darrien. "Get out," he said firmly. "I'm calling the cops."
"She has a gun," Remy told him before Darrien even had a chance to act with the weapon.
"Get your keys," Darrien said. "We need to go."
Chase looked dumbfounded. "You need stitches," he corrected, looking at the cut across her head. He turned to look Remy over. "The two of you aren't going anywhere." He tried to motion Darrien inside.
"Well then you better hope the three of us find somewhere to pick up a sewing kit on the way," Darrien said, lifting her hand and touching the gash on her head. "Pick up your keys before you don't have a hand to pick them up with."
Chase stared at her for a moment before looking at Remy. She had her jaw clenched and her eyes focused on the ground. Trying to ignore the anger already beginning to boil in his gut, he snatched his keys up from the stand beside the door then stepped outside his apartment.