The Carter Family Screw Up [Carter Brothers - Book 2]

Twenty Three - "I knocked her out - but i think he's dead.."

"He's padlocked the door from the outside." Jake said.

"What's in the bag he threw down?" I asked. Jake picked it up and opened it then pulled put 3 bottles of water along with 2 bags of chips.

"I guess this was what he meant when he said he didn't want us dying on him." I said.

"Aww the violent psychopath cares." Daniel joked.

"Okay, so… If he's padlocked the door - how do we get out?" I asked.

"I have an idea.." Jake said. "..but you're not going to like it." He pointed at Daniel as he said the last part.

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"There's no need to look so smug about this, Jake." I told him.

"I dont know what you're talking about." He said, innocently.

"Yeah right. You've wanted to hit me for a long time." Daniel told him. "This will be you're one and only free pass to lay one on me, so just do it already."

Daniel finished the sentence but before he had a chance to take a breath, Jake's fist connected with Dan's mouth, causing him to stumble back somewhat. I went straight over to him, placing my hand softly on his chin to expect his now bleeding lip.

"You okay?" I whispered to him. He tilted his head as he looked at me with a soft smile across his lips.

"It takes more than that to hurt me, Sweet pea, you know that." He said; his soft voice and smile making those butterflies in my stomach go crazy.

"Do you guys mind?" Jake said with a vomitous look on his face.

"What?" I said curtly.

"If you want to flirt with this prick, you can do it somewhere else." He demanded. I don't know if it was the demand he made or the fact he called Dan a prick - either way it pissed me off. So I did something a little childish in response.

"Is that so?" I asked him.

"Yes." He replied. I nodded and turned to look at Daniel.

"Hey Dan… does your lip hurt?" I asked him.

"Not really no." He said, a little confused

"Good." I said and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling his mouth down to mine and kissing him hard. He didn't argue and his hands found my waist and pulled me closer to him as his lips meshed with mine; our tongues tasting eachothers mouths as our breathing quickened.

"Oh god, okay! I get your point! Just stop!" Jake yelled. It took all of our strength to pull away from each other but we eventually managed it.

And just in time, too - I could taste blood on his bottom lip from where  which reminded me of the dream I had had about us being naked in a ring and the taste of post-fight blood being on his tongue turning me on.

"Your turn." Daniel said to Jake with a devilish look in his eyes, along with a smirk.

"My turn for what?" He asked.

"You think John will believe you took down me - the 15 time undefeated fighter, without at least some resistance? There's no way he'll believe I didn't land a punch on you, so… your turn." Dan explained. Jake was clearly trying to think of a way out of it but he couldn't.

"You ready Jakey boy?" Daniel asked. But before Jake had a chance to reply, he was flying backwards into the wall after his nose bounced off Dans fist.

His hands cupped his nose immediately but the blood was dripping from either side of his hands.

"What the fuck Daniel?! I didn't hit you that hard." Jake yelled.

"True, but after the way you've treated Maggie recently - you deserved it."

Jake looked angrily at Daniel but didn't bother to reply - he knew Dan was right. He removed his hands from his face to reveal a tender, bleeding nose.

"So now what?" I asked.

"We wait for John to come back and hope that he believes me." Jake said. Dan and I shared a glance at eachother - this better work.

We waited for almost 3 hours for John to return. As we heard the front door slamming shut we took our positions - Dan face down on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, with Jake hovering over him. Then I myself a few feet away from them also lying on the floor.

We heard the sound of the padlock on the door being unlocked before the door opened.

"How is-" He spotted Jake at the bottom of thr stairs, over Dans body.

"I'm sorry… I didnt mean to… he just attacked me and… it happened so fast!" He said. Credit where it's due - he sounded pretty damn convincing. From what I could hear, anyway.

"Is he dead?" I heard John ask.

"I think so… I don't know… ive never seen a dead body before. Will you check?"

"This is why I usually work alone - so I don't have to fucking deal with incompetent fucktards like you." John replied, stomping down the stairs.

"What about her?"

"I just knocked her out." Jake said. "But I think he's dead - can you check for a pulse?" He asked John.

This was it. As we waited for Jake to make the signal, my heart was beating so fast in my chest I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

"NOW!" Jake yelled.

Dan and I sprung up from the floor as Jake let his fists hit John and I jumped on John's back to hold him down - or at least try to. Dan's job was to grab the gun from John's holster on his hip. He managed to get a few punches in and pushed me off more than once, but each time I jumped back on top of him.

"Got it!" I heard Dan yell and the 3 of us turned around to see him with the loaded gun in his hand pointed at John's face.

"One move, John and I will pull the trigger." Daniel said; his eyes not wavering from Johns. But John let out a unsurprised laugh.

"You think you scare me, boy?" He said, smirking. Daniel didn't say anything, only lowering his arm slightly until the gun was pointed  at John's thigh and pulled the trigger. The gun went straight back up to be pointed at John's head, once again.

"ARGHH!!" John screamed, falling onto one of the stairs. "FUCK!"

"I did warn you." Daniel told him. "Now, you are going to tell me everything about why you're here, why we're here and basically anything I choose to know. And you're going to start talking now." Dan told him. John stared back at him, trying to show him no fear.

"You want another one to match?" Dan said using the end of the gun to gesture where John would get hurt next - his other leg.

"I'm not talking, boy. What you might do to me is nothing compared to what he'll do to me if he found out I talked." He informed us.

"Who's 'He'?" Dan asked?

"My... Business partner, shall we say." John said.

"Who is he?" Dan asked. John looked away into the distance - he wasn't going to say anything. Not without force anyway. "Fine." Dan said and placed the trigger over his other thigh.

"3… 2… 1…"

"Okay!" John relented. "Okay, I'll tell you what you want to know. I have one condition, though." He said.

"I dont think you're in the position to be bargaining." Jake said to him.

"You dont understand. If he finds out I talked - I'm dead. All I ask is that after I tell you, you let me go - I need time to get as far away from him as possible." He begged. It was evident by his slightly shaky voice that he was scared.

"You tell us everything, and I'll consider letting you go. That's my only offer." Daniel told him. John considered the offer for a moment before Daniel suggested another.

"Or I could just kill you now." He said.

"He wants revenge on your brother."  John admitted.

"Killian? Who wants revenge on him?" Daniel asked.

"Fredo."