Hey guys! Before you start sharpening the pitchforks and lighting your torches let me just say I am soooo sorry about my ridiculously long absence and I'm not dead. But, that whole time I promise not once did I forget about you guys. I'd been working on this chapter little by little so I could get it out to you guys and I hope you haven't forgotten about it. I know it's not as long as some of the others, but I figured you'd suffered enough so here it is. So on this final apology, on with the show!

"It was him wasn't it.?" He asked through clenched teeth, a question that needed no answer, gripping the steering wheel till his knuckles turned deathly pale. My heart beating wildly in my throat prevented me from responding and my mind was running too fast for my mouth to catch up. Everything was happening too fast. The clouds in the sky seemed to retreat as if they all knew hell was coming. Sky was left a blanket of pure emptiness, the only sound resonating being the slight murmur of the truck.

How did he find me? Has someone been watching us this whole time...are we being followed right now? I bet it was that blonde. She's probably working with him to get me out of the way...but why would she risk Riley? I thought they were friends...exs...whatever.

"Shantel, listen to me...listen. To. Me," I managed to slow my breathing enough so a panic attack was out of the equation...my heart though had a mind of it's own at the moment and could not be controlled. Looking up to meet his eyes I felt myself physically and mentally relax a little; an effect only he had on me. Never averting my eyes my heart gradually slowed to a normal speed, my breathing returned to normal and I could finally think, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, trust that." He vowed. There was a spark of anger in his eyes, but I knew it wasn't directed at me. I just couldn't seem to believe that. How was he supposed to protect me from D-Mac and Sage. Not to mention how many "goons" they have working for them combined...there was no way he'd be able to kill every single one of them. There wasn't even a remote chance we'd walk out of this alive...or at least not the both of us and I had a feeling he knew that which only angered me more. I shook my head. Men never seem to grasp the concept that they're not invincible...while they're protecting you no one is protecting them. They never understand that you need them just as much as they need you, probably even more, especially in life or death situations like this. They always have to be the hero, the savior, the brave soldier. And I wasn't about to be the weak, incompetent damsel in distress who ends up heartbroken and left behind...alone.

"And who will protect you? What am I supposed to do if you get yourself killed?!" I snapped. I didn't mean to be harsh, but loosing him was something I wasn't ready to prepare myself for. He simply smirked and kissed me on my forehead leaving fireworks in their absence.

"Nice to see you have faith in me...don't worry I'll be fine." He replied brushing the matter off as if it were that simple. I rolled my eyes and decided to leave it alone for now...there were bigger things to worry about. Like how we'd possibly survive the next few days together.

Together...

"What are we gonna do?" I asked hoping he had an answer because my mind was completely blank. D-Mac knows people...everywhere we go he'd probably find us...whose to say he didn't bug the house, could've been listening to every word and watching our every movement, or hid a tracker under the car; not like he didn't have the resources. Running was useless, after all look at where it had gotten us, it would only piss him off more. The best thing to do was for me to just give myself in and for Riley to run, but I knew there was no way in hell Riley was going for that. There was no escaping...

I should've never agreed to staying with him...this is all my fault.

I couldn't help, but think about how things would be if I had never agreed to staying with him in the first place. However, the pros far outweighed the cons and I just couldn't find it in me to regret my decision no matter how much I wanted to. Didn't make any difference now can't change the past...Riley was no doubt the best thing that had happened to me in a long time and I wouldn't trade that for the safest place in the world. I loved him, guns and all, but that didn't change the fact that this was crazy.

"We're leaving, I'm getting you out of here like I should've done days ago." I snorted in return.

"Leave? And go where? Unless you own some remote island no one's ever heard about, then no matter where we go we're fucked," I didn't mean to be so negative and harsh, but that's pretty hard when your worst nightmare comes to life and the world starts crashing down around you...just when it was starting to be something worth living. I sighed, "I'm sorry, I just-I..." Tears threatened to fall as the severity of our situation really hit me-hard. Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth I nibbled on it to focus on something else, anything else, besides the hurt. Suddenly my whole body started to shake, my breathing became strenuous and my chest started to constrict as it all became just too much. Images started to advance before my eyes like a movie; D-Mac with a gun, Riley with a bullet between his eyes, me with multiple bullet wounds to the stomach and chest, Sage with a knife to my neck, our graves-unanticipatedly a large, warm hand brought me out my own suffocating scrutiny. My breathing was slowly returning back to normal as he gripped my hand tighter and brought it up to his lips. It took me a few minutes to realize that we had pulled over down a dark alley concealed by the darkness closed in from the brick walls.

"Th-" Before I had the chance to get another word out he grabbed my face and pulled me in for a kiss. This kiss was slow and sensual, every word that couldn't be spoken was shared in it as he comforted me in probably the only way he'd be able to. It appeared to last forever, but not nearly as long as I would've liked. Reminded me of when we were back at the house, laid out on the couch, caught up in our own lusts' and desires'. If I would have known the world was coming to an end so soon I would've preferred to spent our last moments right there on that leather couch. When we broke apart my breathing was back to normal and my heart had slowed to regular speeds.

"We're gonna be ok." It wasn't much, but it was all it took to keep me centered. I simply nodded and sat back in my seat, still not quite calm. The both of us were on edge for the rest of the ride. I couldn't help but feel as if death was just lurking around the corner...waiting for us. Suddenly, my phone rang causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on edge. Without a second thought I tossed it out the window and never looked back.

"That shoulda been done a long time ago." Riley grumbled I knew his anger wasn't directed at me, but I couldn't help but feel the weight of guilt latching on to my heart with no intentions of releasing it anytime soon.

"Where are we going, Riley?" I asked quickly changing the subject before he had the chance to punch out one of the windows.

"Somewhere safe." With that answer I could practically feel my blood boiling as my temper spiked straight to it's peak.

"That doesn't tell me shit, Riley!" I didn't mean to take everything out on him, the stress was causing my hormones to surge along with my nerves flying all over the place. If anything it wasn't a good idea to piss off the one who would be able to save my life. I could handle the sky falling, and the gates of hell opening and the world ending, but I could not handle them happening all at once. Out of all the shit that had happened in my life this beat them all out by far. I usually always tried to tell myself things could always be worse, but that didn't seem like it would work...not this time. I'd just found the one thing I needed in my life to finally make me whole after all these years...and I just wasn't ready to lose him.

Don't think I ever will be.

"Look, Shantel! I don't exactly have a plan, ok? I just know that I'm going to end all of this once and for all. Now, you can either just ride with me till the end or I can let you out and you can be free to go wherever you please and I'll finish this on my own." He barked. How he managed to keep his eyes on the road I had no idea. It was in that moment I realized that he was just as scared as I was, but masked it better. For me. I was being selfish. I was so busy freaking out and caught up in my own troubles I was practically throwing him under the bus. In the back of my mind I always knew this was coming...just didn't realize how close it actually was. However, now it was here and there was no possible way to avoid it. It wasn't either me or him as I was making it out to be. It was us or them and I had a decision to make. Pushing all my personal negativities aside I strapped on my balls and dug deep down to find the old Shantel. The "Jewel" who knocked the infamous "Escobar" on his ass in less than 30 seconds, the woman who had been through years and years of strife living in a fool's paradise and managed to find her way out, the woman who could take on the world with no possible chance of winning and still hold tightly to her "fuck it" attitude with a venomous smile.

That same smile in place I glanced over at my Clyde and laced his fingers firmly between mine. There was no turning back now. It was just me and him against the world and I wouldn't want it any other way.

"Then let's ride, baby."

Awww that's it? Yea for now, sorry. Like I said before I know it's not that long compared to the others, but I just had to give you something. Hope it satisfied you guys for now and calmed your rage. And it is my pleasure to announce that I will be starting a Holiday Collection Just for Riley and Shantel! That means one-shots (maybe even a few two/three-shots if enough people ask) for every holiday whether it's something as big as Christmas or as small as St. Patrick's Day you can bet they'll be celebrating it! I'll be starting with Halloween since it just passed and then move on to Thanksgiving, Christmas and all that so definitely be on the look out for those. Also, I'll let you guys know when one's coming so you can feel free to give me some ideas on any personal things you as readers would like to see them go through associated with these holidays (maybe cheating on Valentine's Day :O, no gifts on Christmas, alone on Thanksgiving, no luck on St. Patrick's Day, things like that), but hey they don't all have to be bad so you all will have a say as well. Hope you're looking forward to them. My gift to you guys :). Now on to everyone's favorite part...QUESTIONS!

-Where the hell are they going?

-Can Riley and Shantel escape?

-How did D-Mac find out?

-Who shall feed Jack and Daniels?! :O

-Do you want holiday "specials"?

Until next time...

~xXBrokenThoughtsXx