Burning Bridges

Chapter 19

I have to end this now. "Let me listen to that," I demanded while pulling the hem of his shirt towards me in order to hear the radio.

"No-" Jaden answered while pulling away, but I was surprisingly strong for a girl with a bullet wound.

"Do we have any surveillance on where he might be?" one voice broke out of the radio.

"The stoplight cam shows he went east on Grove Street towards the gas station, but there's a big traffic jam over there. You might be able to stop him," another one answered.

"I can stop him," I muttered to myself while getting up quickly, which may not have been the best move.

"Shit," Jaden commented while grabbing onto me because the room was spinning. "Please sit down." But I couldn't because this wasn't over yet. I could rest when I was dead.

"You don't understand, Jaden! I have to fix this!"

"You don't have to do anything! Just rest!" He argued back, trying to set me down, but I fought back. I used all of my energy to struggle.

"Then this won't END!" I cried out this time, melting into his touch. I was too damn tired for this.

"I know you want to help, Violet," he tried to console while hugging me. "But you're injured, and you could get more hurt going out there." It was like a flip switched on at his comment.

"You listen to me, and you listen right now," I grumbled deeply, looking him in the eyes. "I will not be controlled by you or anyone anymore. Who cares if I get hurt because if it was you fighting instead, how do you think I would feel?"

He sighed and loosened his grip on me. "You would probably feel nervous, and your injury wouldn't get better because you wouldn't be able to relax...but one of us has to do it, babe."

"Then we can, together. That way we will be there for each other if things get out of hand."

Silence was his answer for a moment before he grabbed his keys and sighed, "Fine, we can use my car."

"Great! I'll have to drive because you need two hands to shoot from the car."

"Absolutely not! Are you crazy?!" Jaden stopped in his tracks on the way out the door.

"Maybe a little bit!" I exclaimed while snatching the car keys from his hands and running out of the house. The only issue is, I don't know which car was his. I only had a second to decide before he got out the door-

"Violet fucking Santiago!" Oh shit.

"The red one is his," Bones mumbled to me from within the compound. Leaping with joy, I muttered a quick 'thank you' to him and ran to the driver's seat.

"You're not driving," Jaden grumbled out of nowhere, trying to open the driver's door on his Lexus RCF, but I had locked it instantly.

"Then why am I in the driver's seat?" I quipped back with a pleading smile, starting the engine, which rumbled like thunder. God damm, I want one of these.

"You can't-fuck, fine! Just stop looking at me like that," he argued, getting in on the other side.

"Like what?" I asked back, continuing the same childish look on my face.

"Just drive." He didn't have to tell me twice. Stepping on the gas, I exited out of the compound, hearing the sportscar roar to life. This was my first chance at freedom. The air just felt so different out here, I realized as I drove towards Grove Street, searching for Mr. Jones.

"Wait, what happened to my ankle tracker?" I questioned in disbelief, realizing that it should have been shocking me by now.

"I had to turn it off before you ran all the way outside and tried to leave me. You know, to go find Mr. Jones."

"Oh." Oh? That's all I had to fucking say to him? "I-I mean, thanks...I could have been seriously injured if I tried to leave, but I wasn't going to leave you behind. It took a lot of convincing in the first place to let me come with you."

"You're welcome, look. I get why you did what you did yesterday...I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes. You had to betray one of us, and honestly, I'm not mad."

What? It took me a second before I responded back in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because I understand the importance of loyalty to your gang. You were sent on a mission, and you had to side with your gang because they were there for you. It's important to not forget where you came from because they helped you survive. Besides, I don't think that I could ever be mad at you. And you took a bullet for me."

"Yeah," I laughed even though it wasn't funny. "I really did."

"It was stupid of you to do so."

"What the fuck, Jaden? I thought you were thanking me?!"

"For risking your life? I think the fuck no-" An inaudible voice from where I was sitting, crackled on his radio. He repeated the words on the radio with frustration, "Fuck, he's on Alpine Highway done below us in that black Honda Civic, but I don't know how-"

"Do you trust me?" I cut him off, inching closer to a rundown parking garage on the right of us.

"Of course, but what do-"

"Then get ready to shoot!" I exclaimed, pressing on the gas towards the garage at eighty miles an hour.