Getting Away With You

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^*Brian’s POV*^
I watched as Matt brought the gun up towards Danielle’s head. Chase was most probably going to kill us all anyways, regardless if Matt shoots Danni or not. I don’t want her to go. She’s a really good person. It’s not right, what Chase is doing. He’s going to kill Jimmy, Matt and I anyways. Though, I don’t want him to have the pleasure of finally getting rid of me for good. I’d rather die trying to save Danni. I’d rather risk my life for hers. I want her to live through this. I want her to survive, and go back to California, and move on from us before we’re dead and gone. If I can just save her from being shot by the guy that just finally confessed to her that he loved her, my whole life would be worth it. Just to save her. Dying would be worth it to make sure Danni stays safe. She’s only sixteen; she still has her life ahead of her. It doesn’t need to end here. I won’t let it end here. I jumped up from the couch and ran over to Danni without another thought, shielding her as Matt pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit my back, slicing a lung and making it difficult to breathe. Ricky, Todd, and Heath then began firing, and I felt each and every bullet as it tore through my skin. The fire stopped, and I slowly pulled away from Danni, trying my hardest to conceal my pain.

“You…you didn’t deserve…this.” I muttered, my voice not quite working right before I fell into the floor, my eyes open and unmoving as I was pulled into darkness.

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^*Danielle’s POV*^
I just sat in shock as I looked away from Brian as Jimmy got up and pulled a gun out of one of the men’s pockets, and shot one of them in the head before shooting the other as well. Matt automatically turned his gun on Chase.

“Maybe you aren’t as stupid as I thought.” Chase snickered. “Though, I’m glad I can’t say that for Brian.”

“I’m not going to let you live past today.” Matt growled at him.

“Brian, come on, don’t die now.” Jimmy muttered, and placed his ear against Brian’s chest before looking up at me with a small smile on his face and hope glistening in his teary eyes. “He’s still alive.”

“Jimmy, get him to the hospital, now, I got this!” Matt demanded, and Jimmy nodded before quickly picking up Brian. “Danni, go with him.” Matt told me, not taking his eyes off of Chase.

“Come on, it’ll be okay.” Jimmy said, and I looked over at him before nodding. I didn’t want to leave, but I wanted to make sure Brian was okay, because he risked his life saving mine.

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^*Matt’s POV*^
I was able to keep my hands surprisingly steady as I kept the gun pointed directly at Chase. I heard the door close, and Chase sighed.

“Okay Matthew, you don’t have to act anymore, they’re gone.” Chase said, but I shook my head. I was going to kill him.

“No. I’ve had enough of you.” I said, and he just watched me. “Ever since you’ve drug me into this shit storm, you had a gun pointed at my head, ordering me around, with threats on my life.” I couldn’t stop a smile as it came across my face. “Now, I’m the one with the gun. And I’m going to end all of this now before you can ruin any more lives.” He smirked.

“You can’t shoot me, Matthew. You aren’t half the man you were when you first came into this business. You have a heart, now. You’ve gotten soft.” He stared me down, narrowing his eyes. “You can’t shoot me. I know you can’t.” Chase stated and I shook my head.

“I can shoot you. I can shoot you for what you’ve done to us all. Everyone hates you.” I growled at him, hoping the truth would sink into his skull. But if it didn’t, I had something else to sink into his skull.

“Alright, if you hate me so much, then pull the trigger, Matthew. Pull it. End my life.” He taunted.

“You’ve put me through so much, Chase.” I said, feeling emotions nip at my mind. “You’ve taken away the one person I loved more than anyone I had ever known, and you took away my daughter before she even had a chance to live. I want to cause you pain, I want to cause you so much pain, and suffering, but in order to do that, I’d have to kill your son. You remember him, don’t you? The other son.” Chase suddenly got weak, a look of desperation on his face.

“Don’t talk about Drew. You better not hurt him.” This is what I had been trying to hit. Chase had a son. He had two, but one wasn’t really his. His second son, Drew was ten years old. I had met Drew one day, and I had never seen Chase show so much affection towards anyone like he did that kid. Drew was Chase’s pride and joy. Drew shied away from his father, he didn’t exactly fear him, but he didn’t want to be around him either. This fact hurt Chase, but Chase still loved him more than he had anything else.

“I know how much you love Drew, Chase. I knew how much you loved him before he was even born.” I said, my voice dropping slightly. “That’s how much I loved my daughter. You’ve got Drew. I hardly had Mellissa. I was going to turn my life around for that child, Chase. I was going to get out of this and start a new life. She was going to be my turning point. But you made Brian and Jimmy kill her, and Michelle. We were going to be the perfect family. You took that away from me, Chase.” I whispered, holding back emotions that were dying to scream at him. He had no clue what he did to me.

“I-I’m sorry…” He whispered, and let his head drop.

“It’s too late to apologize; my old life’s already been torn down.” I said, and he shook his head.

“Now I know what you mean. I’ve ruined your life.”

“Damn right you did. And Danni’s beginning to help me build it back up. You nearly made me end that. You planted things in my head to the point where I made Danielle carry a gun just in case I tried to hurt her, so she could blow my brains out and stop me. You’re nothing but a fucking heartless animal.” I said, and he looked back up at me.

“I’m sorry, Matthew, tell Jimmy, Danielle, and Brian that too.” He said, and I nodded.

“I just hope Drew doesn’t follow in your footsteps.” I said, hoping that the poor kid that had grown up with this monster knows the difference between right and wrong.

“Tell him I love him.” Chase looked down at the ground.

“We’ll see.” I said, and aimed right for his head again.

“Oh, and Matthew,” He looked back up, his sadness replaced with a grin that made my stomach churn. “Just because I admitted my wrong doesn’t mean I feel bad about it.” He started laughing and I pulled the trigger, and his laugh stopped as he fell back onto the floor, a bullet hole in his forehead, life shot out of him like lightening. Chase was dead. The nightmare was over.

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^*Danielle’s POV*^
I sat in the waiting room, curled up in a chair with Jimmy beside me, trying to get me to stop crying. Brian had been immediately taken back for surgery. We hadn’t heard a word in an hour, not from the surgeons, or Matt. I was worried about both. Matt could be dead, and so could Brian. It could only be me and Jimmy left here to try and go on without the two.

“Is he okay?” Jimmy and I both looked up at the voice and I sprung out of the chair and nearly knocked Matt over as I wrapped my arms tightly around him.

“We haven’t heard anything.” I heard Jimmy mutter from behind me.

“Wh-what about Chase?” I asked, looking up at Matt and he smiled lightly.

“Chase is gone. We don’t have to worry about him anymore.” I couldn’t stop the smile as it appeared on my face. “Everything’s going to be okay now.” I was happy he was okay, and that Chase was dead. Matt sat down next to Jimmy, and pulled me into his lap, where I laid my head back on his shoulder.

“So you two haven’t heard anything on Brian?” Matt asked and I shook my head.

“No, nothing. They took him back as soon as we got here and we haven’t heard a single word from them since. We don’t know if he’s dead or alive.” Jimmy said what I couldn’t. I didn’t want to think about Brian being dead; dead because he risked his life to save me from being shot.

“He’ll be okay.” Matt whispered, wiping a tear off of my cheek. Life wasn’t exactly guaranteed to Brian at this point. We could only hope he would be okay.

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We all sat in that waiting room for hours. Every hour or so that I was awake, and not asleep in Matt’s arms, Jimmy, Matt or I would walk to the nurses desk and ask if they had any update on Brian’s condition. Each time she would say no, and tell us that they would inform us if they received anything, with just a little more annoyance each time. Finally, it was nearly twelve midnight, and the doctor finally came out.

“I suppose you three are all here with Brian Haner?” He asked and we all perked up a bit from our dreary states.

“Yea, um…” Matt took a second to rub his eyes, having just woken up with me about ten minutes ago. “Is-is he okay?” He asked, looking back up at the doctor, and he nodded.

“He’s lost a lot of blood, and we’ve had to repair a few things.” Before the doctor could say anymore, Jimmy spoke up.

“Repair a few things?”

“Yes, his left lung was punctured, a bullet ripped apart one kidney, gallbladder was destroyed, his liver got hit, he’s in less than okay condition right now. We’ve taken out the gallbladder and kidney, repaired his lung and managed to save his liver. Three ribs were also broken, and he’s going to need more than a lot of rest.” The doctor sighed, looking at the chart in his hands. “It’s a miracle his heart was untouched.” He looked back at Jimmy. “How did you say this happened again?”

“Hunting accident. Thought he was something else and didn’t stop firing until I thought I had got it. I still can’t believe I did that to him.” Jimmy looked down and Matt and I weren’t fazed by what he had come up with.

“Well, don’t be too hard on yourself. It was an accident. He should be fine, but he’s going to have to stay here for a month, minimum. His body’s torn to shreds on the inside, and we still aren’t done. We aren’t even half done. There were at least forty bullet holes, and we’ve only found twenty bullets. Not to mention all of the bullet fragments. I just came out because I knew you all had been out here for a while.” He said, and we all were taken a bit by shock.

“You’re still not done?” I asked, and he shook his head. “When will he be out of surgery?”

“Roughly by morning. I’ll come back out when he’s ready to go to a room.” The doctor mustered up a smile and we nodded and he turned and walked away, and back through the double doors.

“You guys need to go home, and get some rest. I’ll stay here and as soon as he comes out, I’ll call you and tell you.” Jimmy said, and I didn’t want to leave, but I hadn’t gotten any decent rest, and I was mentally and physically exhausted.

“I don’t know…” I trailed off.

“You sure?” Matt questioned Jimmy and he nodded.

“I’m sure. I’ll get some sleep here. You two go on.” He said and I stood up from Matt’s lap, where I had been for the last four hours. Matt stood up, and we exchanged goodbyes with Jimmy, and walked out to the parking lot, where we got in the car Matt had come in, which was the big Escalade I had seen sitting in the driveway when Jimmy and I had to rush Brian to the hospital. As Matt drove down the road, I couldn’t stop thoughts from taking over my mind. Brian nearly got killed saving my life. He’s in the hospital because of me. Everything that’s happened today has pretty much happened because of me. Everything’s my fault. Bottom line. If I hadn’t of come with Matt, Brian, and Jimmy to Florida, none of this would have happened. That brings me back home. I should go back home, let them forget about me, and the destruction I’ve caused these past few days. I know my parents are worried sick. I still haven’t touched my phone since I left home. It’s still in my backpack, turned off. I know they’ve tried to call me, and left messages, but none have gotten through to me. I was beginning to feel bad about doing this to them. I was feeling bad about running off and leaving them to worry about where I was, or what was happening to me.

“Matt,” I looked over at him, and he glanced at me.

“Yes?”

“I’m beginning to think I need to go home.” I said and a frown formed on his face.

“But…but why?” He asked, sounding slightly hurt. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you haven’t done anything it’s just…” I trailed off, not exactly knowing what to say. “I feel like I’m ripping things apart with you. Like thanks to me things are falling apart.”

“Danielle, you’re not ripping anything apart. Thanks to you, I just stood up to the one person who’s made my life a living hell. You’re giving me a reason to live. You’re giving Jimmy, and Brian a reason to live. We don’t have any family left, Danielle. You’re our reason to stay here.” He looked over at me, smiling lightly. “You’re my reason to stay here.” He held his hand out for mine, and I placed mine in his, and he kissed the top of it gently before twining our fingers together. Now I saw what he was saying. I was his reason to stay alive. I gave him something to live for. I loved him, and he loved me. I don’t think I could leave him. No, I know I couldn’t leave him. He’s too special to me.

“I love you, Matt.” I said and he smiled wider.

“I love you too, Danni.”