LOLA

 

I drop the gun and let it clatter against the hard ground before racing forward and offering my hand to assist him to his feet. He’s wide-eyed and confused as hell, but I would be in the same position if I hadn’t witnessed the building exploding in the background.

The first thing he does when he’s on his feet is twist around to face the building that’s half-destroyed and half engulfed in flames. I take a long look at the scene before me and I’m kind of numb to the whole thing. I know thirty-odd people are now dead, but they were all terrible people.

I glance over to see Dom rising to his feet and just decide to bite my tongue. Zach’s not ready to hear about his friend’s shady activities and I’m not about to ruin this moment by telling him. He’ll find out on his own terms, I’m sure. And when that day comes, he’ll have to make a choice for himself.

I tap Zach on the shoulder, stealing his attention. And when he turns around to face me, I don’t waste time throwing my arms around the back of his head and pulling him into an embrace. I know the authorities are on their way and they’re going to have a lot of questions, especially now that the building has been blown to bits.

I’m torn between staying here to wait for the authorities so I can hand over this information or simply just leaving the safe behind so they can find the files themselves. I think about maybe just faking my death once again so I don’t have to deal with questions that I don’t have the answers to.

Zach shuts my racing mind up with just a simple kiss against my lips. It’s short and sweet and just about knocks me off my feet. And when I retreat slightly from his kiss, he drops his head, bites my lip softly and then slips his tongue past my lip, pulling me inside out with his own mouth.

And this is basically my version of heaven even if we’re standing in what looks like the middle of a warzone. He kisses me harder and deeper and just when I think I’m not going to be able to keep breathing, he gives me enough respite to catch my breath.

I drape a hand firm against his chest to stop him from shutting me up again, and I tilt my head up to him to get a good look at his eyes. I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do and I don’t have a lot of time to make the decision.

In the near distance, I can hear the sounds of sirens approaching. They get louder and louder until the sounds are piercing through my ears and I finally know what I’m going to do.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s get the hell away from this and never look back.”

“Do you mean that?” He arches one brow and caresses my cheek softly with one hand. “If you walk away from this, then you can never be Lola Grimm ever again. Do you understand that?”

“I do.” I nod and lap my tongue over my bottom lip. “I’m ready to leave this all behind, but only because I finally have something to live for.”

I peek over to see Dom rolling his eyes and then grunting out, “Seriously? Can’t you two do this later? We need to get the hell out of here.”

Zach turns around and shushes his friend before twisting back to me and wrapping his arms around the small of my back, pulls me in closer to his embrace. “So tell me, she who used to be Lola Grimm, what do you plan on doing with your life now?”

That’s quite the loaded question so I answer, “I don’t know and for the first time, I’m okay with that. I don’t need to know who I am right now.”

“I can’t wait to discover who she is with you.” His lips hitch into a wild grin as he brushes my hair behind my ear. “And maybe you’re going to be a delivery driver. You’re sexy as hell dressed as one.”

“Shut up.” I slap him playfully on the back and move to speak again, but he shuts me up by planting his lips against mine again, stealing my words, my breath, and my thoughts.

And in the next few seconds, we will find ourselves on the run, but only for long enough to get away from the immediate aftermath of the bomb that’s just gone off. When the FBI arrives with Samantha in tow, they’ll come to the conclusion that Lola Grimm wasn’t here. They’ll believe it was someone else on the phone pretending to be me and I’ll fade into the background.

I’ll become somebody else, anybody else but the person I’ve always been. I’ll become somebody important to this world and I’ll build a life worth living for both myself and Zach. I could never say the words before and I’m not exactly ready to say them right now, but I can feel it in my bones…

Can feel it in my bones that I love him.

And I can’t wait to find out who I really am, especially with Zach by my side.