I watch as she paces the hall, which is seriously irritating me right about now. I mean the dumbass shot his ass, not like he shot his dick off or his head. I can’t help, but to press my lips to keep myself from laughing again. What a fucking moron.

“Would you stop smiling, this is serious. He could have shot himself somewhere else, or worse he could have shot YOU!” she hugs herself and gives me a glare.

I snicker, he could have shot me. Sure, he seems so damn coordinated. “Uh…there is no way in hell, I would have let him shoot me.” I raise my brows and stand up, to face her. “You need to calm down. He just shot his ass…”

“You would have killed him?…I mean…” she shakes her head, then looks up at me. “I’m starting to think that killing is a sport of yours. You do it so easily…”

Oh shit, she’s putting the fucking pieces together. Say something Jack, and fast. “Well anyone would kill…if their in danger. These people are dangerous, and I have to eliminate them, before they eliminate me….right now…US!”

“Yeah…” she places her hands on her hips “Well…Jack…who are those people anyways? Why are they after us?” I see the fear return to her eyes. Do I really have to answer that? I can’t really see myself telling her that, I’m an assassin on a mission, who all of a sudden has become someone else’s mission. Nice, that sounds like a great explanation. “JACK!!”

“Huh?”

“We’ll talk about this later, the doctor is coming.” We both turn to face the doctor, who to me, looks like he has a smirk on his face. Hell, who wouldn’t find it funny for someone to shoot their ass. Just remembering the incident makes me want to laugh

"Well, Mr. Carter's wound..." I lift a brow, as the doctor struggles, not to laugh. See? I’m not the only one who thinks this dumbass' accident is fucking funny as hell. "...he um...he's stable and he's going to be fine. Actually the bullet just pierced his flesh." He purses his lips, receiving a glare, from the kid. HA! So I’m also not the only one to get that look, either!

The doc leads us back, to Nick's room. Crystal wants to see him, WAY more than I do! What can I do? I know what I would normally do...tell her tough shit, and then walk away. Damn it...I've become, her little fucking puppy, and she has me on a god damn leash! Why the fuck am I following her to this jack ass' room? The hell with it...let's just get this over with. At least, I can get a good laugh in!

We enter the room and blondie is on his side, staring out the window. “Nick, you have some friends here to see you” the doc informs as he scribbles something down on the chart, in his hands. As soon as he gets a glimpse of us, he turns tomato red. You know how damn hard it is to keep from laughing at him.

“Nick” the kid flies to his side, rubbing his arm. “Are you alright?” she asks. Didn’t the doc just say he’s fine? I watch as she still rubs his arm. That doesn’t bother me one bit…really. Ok, maybe it sends a small current of jealousy through me, but it’s no big fucking deal, I can handle it. She takes a seat on the bed, next to him, still rubbing his arm tenderly.

I purse my lips, leaning against the wall. Fuck this jealously shit…where the fuck did it even come from? “I gotta hand it to you…you sure were prepared!” I snicker, as my lips form into a cocky grin. Ok, so I just irritated the kid. She walks up to me, with annoyance written all over her face. But, hey at least she’s not fawning all over dumb fuck now! “For the love of pete, Jack. Can‘t you control your unnecessary comments? You have no respect!” Her eyes stare into mine, as I look down at her.

She is right about that, he hasn‘t earned my respect. Hell, it's not like shooting his own ass, helped him any. There are only a few people I respect, no make that a couple…cause some have lost it, in the past couple of days. "I..." Before I can get a single word out of my mouth…blondie speaks up.

“He’s got the right to laugh, Crys. Hell, I’d be laughing if it were the other way around.” Damn that stupid fuck, for talking. Now she is back on that bed, sitting next to him.

After what feels like an eternity in that room, we head out to the hall, to give the idiot time to change. I’m surprised he didn’t ask for some fucking help pulling his pants up. “I need to get some water…I’ll be right back. Please stay here…“ she looks at me with pleading eyes.

Oh, so now I’m a damn bodyguard. “Sure…” it’s disgusting how easily I give into almost everything she asks. I watch her disappear around the corner, then I just stand there staring at the wall in front of me. Even with all the shit that is happening around me, I just can’t get all the information I found out about today, out of my head. I had a little sister…and someone cut her life short. Fuck! Why didn't I die with them? Why?

I start to lean my head against the wall, when I see a shadow from the corner of my eye. I turn my head, just in time to catch a glimpse of the person in a black suit, with short, sandy blonde hair, disappear around the corner. I know that… “Tom” I mumble under my breath, as I sprint to the corner. I peer down the hallway. I see nothing, he is already gone. He always was a fast little fucker. God damn it! Out of everyone, he was the only one that I thought might be on my side. It’s fucking obvious, that he’s not.

“I thought you were going to stay over there, Jack!”

I whip around, looking like a scolded little kid. Fuck, not only is it disgusting how easily I give into her, it’s also pretty fucking pathetic that I feel bad when I don’t follow through. “I…I…am…” I furrow my brows, trying to keep my demeanor, not that stuttering helps much. I have to stop being such a pile of…putty around her.

“No…you aren’t Jack. I asked you to stay over there” she points in the other direction. “…by Nick’s door and you’re over here, in a separate hallway.” She crosses her arms, looking at me, like she’s my mother and I’m a bad child. I bite my lip with frustration, fighting the urge to apologize. Jack, does NOT apologize! “Sorry, Crys.” Fuck! “We should go.” I take her hand, and start pulling her towards the elevators.

She comes to a stop and yanks my hand, “We can’t leave NICK!” Oh great…yeah…of course she‘s thinking about him . My jaw tightens and I back her up against the wall. My face is close to hers, as I stare into her eyes. “Look Crys. I’m here, cause I saw someone, okay? Do you think, with a bullet wound in the ass, that he’ll be able to keep up with us? I fucking doubt it! Therefore, he’s better off, if we leave him here.”

Looking up at me, I see a hint of fear in her eyes again. “They are here? Its like they're watching our every move. We can’t just leave him, Jack…they’ll kill him!”

Good, then he’ll be out of my fucking way and I wont have to worry about her devoting her attention to him and his wounded ass. Fucker, gets on my nerves, worse than the kid does. You know what, I don’t like him, plain and simple. I catch a shadow in the corner of my eye, again. “Fine, go tell him to hurry the hell up.” Wait a damn minute, did I just give into her again. I’ll tell you this, If he falls behind, I‘m leaving his patched up ass.

After a couple of minutes, they exit the room, and we begin down the hall. I decide the stairs are safter, I open the door and we begin down the stairway, they aren’t far behind me. We have barely gone down a flight of stairs, when I hear the door, we came through, slam. We all come to a halt, then I lean over the rail and look up, catching sight of none other than Tom. Shit! “Come on!! Hurry up!!” I whisper, harshly. The twosome surprise me, with how quickly they begin descending the stairs.

Finally, we reach the first floor, with Tom still on our tail, I can hear his footsteps, and he’s not far away. We bust through the busy lobby, making all the people sitting in their chairs, snap their heads towards us. I look around paying no attention to the odd looks. I see an alternate route and wave the twosome to follow me. We rush around some people and head down another hallway that according to the signs leads to the cafeteria. We are only a couple of yards away from the exit. I look back, there’s no Tom in sight, but my eyes rest on Nick and Crystal’s linked hands. Just as I turn back around, I hear a gunshot echo through the hall, followed by rupture of panic stricken screams.

I hurriedly shove the twosome through the cafeteria doors, and rush in behind them. We weave through the tables, almost knocking some of them over, till we reach another set of doors. As I stand there trying to figure out which way to go, a bullet buzzes right past me, missing my head by an inch, I watch as it jams into the wall. Motherfucker! “Shit, the kitchen…go through the kitchen…hurry the fuck up!” Nick wraps an arm around Crystal’s waist protectively, my jaw tightens, as I look at them. Here we are getting chased and shot at…and all I can think about, is how damn clingy she is getting to that dumb fuck.

I shake the thoughts out of my head, it’s not the greatest time to be feeling this way. I barrel into the kitchen, instantly pots and pans, clank onto the tiled floor as we knock shit over, and the employees shout at us to get out, as we push them out of the way. Once we exit another door, we find ourselves yet in another damn hallway, with a stairway and elevator at the end. I motion for them to follow, as we hurry down the hall, we make it halfway, when I turn, there is Tom advancing right toward us.

I don’t even notice that I have stopped and Nick and Crystal have continued walking. My ears hear a bell, as I see him lift his shotgun, aiming in my direction, but I know it’s not at me. What should I expect, what the hell do the twosome know about dying, or killing. from the corner of my eye, I watch Nick limp into the elevator, pulling Crystal in with him.

Doesn’t she know that I am the professional here, we somewhat cleared that up earlier didn’t we. I don’t understand why the fuck, she is following his every damn move. Why the hell would he take her, where there is no escape? Well Tom, does have to get past me first…I have already taken aim with my gun, its pointed right at his forehead and his is still pointing towards the elevator, I’m not sure why he’s taking so damn long to take the shot. I know Tom and he usually does things on impulse, no thinking it through.

I can’t believe we are ready to blow each other’s brains out. The only person I’ve probably shared a moment of normalness with, a long night of drinking at a bar, hell, we had even been teamed up on a mission. I also know that he doesn’t look like your average hitman and he’s the only one in the group with a family, besides Don.

His chuckle startles me, but instead of taking a shot, he lowers the shotgun, a cheesy smile is plastered on his face. “You’re an idiot, Jack!” he cocks a brow, standing only a couple of feet away.

I should just blow his fucking brains out, right now, but something is holding me back. You know, it blows, how much I second guess my myself, ever since I came to this town. “Mhm…and why is that, Tom?” I ask, my jaw tightening and my patience running out.

“The rules Jack…the fucking rules. We all looked up to you, Jack and now your nothing…” his mouth curls into a cocky smile. “You know, raping the boss’s daughter isn’t usually a good idea, either.” What? Rape? Psh…I’ve never... "I always thought highly of you Jack..." Now, I might be a cold hearted motherfucker, but I’m not that desperate and horny, that I gotta make some chic screw me. I chuckle bitterly, that Katy, nice way to get back at me for turning her down. It wasn’t my fault if I didn’t want a fucking relationship with her.

“Yeah, well don’t forget the other rule, Tom. Two assassins…” I trail off, knowing damn well, that he knows what the rest is.

“…equals one. Nice knowing you, Jack.” I have to act quickly, he’s drawing his shotgun again.

I bend my arm in, letting my elbow connect with his unusually square jaw, making him stumble back. He brings up his shotgun, jamming it right into my side, I let out a groan. Then he shoves me, making me crash into a mop bucket, spilling its contents all over the floor. I slip and slide my way towards the elevator…as he does the same. My fingers feel on the wall, till I find a random button, and press it repeatedly.

“I bet you’ve heard this more than once! But l should remind you...that, your going to die Jack…or is it Alex?”

My head shoots up, and my blood boils, this bastard new it all along. I grab the empty bucket, taking a hold of the handle, I swing it up over my shoulder and let it ram into his head. He falls back, and lands sprawled out. I stand over him my gun pointed at his head “You…fuck…” I cock my gun, ready to kill the bastard, when I hear a bunch of footsteps and voices coming my way, I quickly turn around. “You just got lucky Tom, kill you later…” the elevator dings, and I jump in.

I place my gun back in its usual spot, then look ahead. My heart is pumping with adrenaline, and my blood is still boiling with anger. Did I say there were a couple of people that I trusted? Well, how about we make it one person now. I let out a sigh of relief, for now, as I watch the doors close.