I come to with a pounding head.
It takes me a few minutes to blink and get my bearings, that’s when I realize I’m in a poorly lit room that is definitely not York’s. Shit. This is bad; this is really, really bad. I quickly pat myself down and notice all the wires are gone and so is my gun and phone. Oh no, no no no. This is not good. I didn’t even get a damned confession and now I’m stuck here. He’s probably going to kill me and get away with everything.
Just magic.
“You’ve got to be shittin’ me.”
I jerk at the sound of that voice. No. Fucking. Way. I whip my head around to see Raide leaning against the wall, staring at me with a hard expression. He’s battered and bloody, and he doesn’t look good at all. His dark shirt is ripped and hanging off his body in tatters. His jeans are bloodied and his hair is a mess. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days.
“Raide?” I squeak.
“Tell me you’re not here because you went after Dean?”
I look down.
“Jesus, Grace!” he barks.
“Why are you here?” I snap, reaching up and rubbing my temples.
“Found Dean again, only he anticipated that I was coming and got twenty fuckin’ men to beat the shit out of me and drag me in here.”
My eyes soften and I say, “Are you hurt?”
“Do I fuckin’ look hurt?” he mutters.
I purse my lips and give him a truly menacing glare. “No need to be an ass about it.”
He shakes his head. “Now you’re here, too. This is just proving to be my lucky fuckin’ week.”
“I’m here because I was trying to help you,” I cry.
“Real lot of good that did ya.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I see you’re still angry at me.”
“Angry?” he asks. “For what? It couldn’t be for using me, lying to me, betraying me, and trying to get me put away.”
I snort. “Someone’s obviously not over it.”
“Over it?” He laughs bitterly. “I’ve been fucked before, Grace. But you, lady, you shoved that one right up there. Hell, it’s so far up there, I can’t get it back out.”
I flinch and say low, “I didn’t mean to hurt you, and if you knew me at all, you’d know that.”
“No? What did you mean to do?”
“Take you back for trial,” I say honestly. “Because that’s my job. Then I fell for you and got suspended. Then, stupidly, I decided to try to help you. God only knows why because you’re still as arrogant as you were the last time I saw you. Thanks for that, by the way, I’m sure Benny enjoyed finding me naked and cuffed to a bed!”
Raide’s jaw ticks and his eyes grow angrier. “What did you think I was going to do? Give you another chance?”
“No, because people like you don’t give second chances. You just do whatever suits you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he growls.
I shake my head. “It means you don’t listen, you don’t care, and you don’t do anything for anyone but yourself.”
His eyes widen and his jaw clenches. “So the last few months I’ve been chasing my sister’s killer, that was all a big, selfish act?”
“It wasn’t then. It is now.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You didn’t have me then. You had nothing to fight for. Now you do, and if you go away, that means I’m going to lose the only man I’ve ever cared about. So yes, it’s selfish. It’s selfish of you never to think about those who are going to lose you. It’s selfish for you not to tell the police the truth. It’s selfish for you to put yourself in this position!”
His entire body jerks. “I’m fucking selfish?” he roars. “What about you?”
“I never said I wasn’t,” I whisper. “God dammit, I never said I wasn’t.” My voice rises. “I’m selfish because fuck, I care about you and I shouldn’t. I’m selfish because I begged for this job, I told them I could do it, I told them I was good enough and I failed. I failed because I put my needs before my job. I’m selfish, Raide. I never claimed I wasn’t, but at least I can admit it. You just live in your own little world. Did you even care about me? Or was I just some fun on your travels?”
He stares at me. Really stares. Then he leans forward and hisses, “You’ll never, ever fuckin’ know.”
God damn him. Arrogant jerk.
I shake my head and shuffle back against the wall. I drop my head in my hands and fight back the tears. Fuck Raide. Fuck this situation. This’ll teach me to care about someone who is never going to return the favor. I’m so angry at him. How dare he make me feel like doing my job was the worst thing in the world! My pain quickly turns to rage and I push to my feet, storming over to him.
“You know what?” I screech. “Fuck you, Raide Knox! I was doing my job. I didn’t do anything wrong except fall in love with you, you arrogant prick. I made a mistake but you’re making a mistake every damned day of your life. You’re running from reality. You’re going to put yourself away with blood on your hands because you can’t let go, because you don’t care enough about the people who are still here. So screw you! I don’t regret what I am. I don’t.”
I lash out to shove him, but his hand shoots up and he catches my wrist. He pulls me down so quickly, I’m flat on my back before I realize he’s over me. I gasp and squirm, but there’s no point. He’s heavy and he’s determined.
He leans down close—so close, our lips are only millimeters apart. “You don’t get to pretend you know me,” he rasps, and God, he smells good. “There’s only one thing I’ll be running from when this is finished, and that’ll be you.”
My heart cracks open and I turn my face to the side. Tears leak out and run down my cheeks.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
“Get off me,” I whisper.
“Grace—”
“Now!” I scream so loudly, he flinches. He pushes off me and I scurry out from beneath him. I walk over to the corner and drop down, turning my back to him. My heart is throbbing and my entire world has been tipped upside down. Yes, it’s all my fault, but knowing that doesn’t take away the agony lying deep in my chest. I just want to go home. I want to forget this ever happened, but most of all, I want to forget Raide fucking Knox.
* * *
I wake with a start when the door swings open and three men enter. Not one of them is Dean. I look from one to the other and size them up. Two have guns, so that’s not good. One is apparently weaponless, but he’s big and he looks mean. He steps forward, and when the light flicks on, I see he’s got a bald head and seriously black eyes. I shiver and sit up, wrapping my arms around my knees.
I flick Raide a glance, but he’s got his hardened eyes on the three men. “Where’s Dean?” he barks.
“Don’t know who you’re talking about,” the bald man mutters.
What? “He brought me here,” I say softly. “I remember him.”
“No idea,” the man growls, leaning down, “what you’re talkin’ about.”
“That smart son of a bitch,” Raide snarls.
I don’t understand. I must be missing something.
“Now, you two are going on a nice road trip, then a boat trip, then a swimming vacation at the bottom of the ocean.”
My heart leaps. What? My eyes turn to Raide again and he’s staring at me now. He doesn’t look scared, but he certainly doesn’t look too pleased either.
“Dean tell you to do that?” he finally says to Baldy.
“No idea who Dean is. Just got told I need to do this. Girl goes first. I was instructed you’re to watch her die.”
I flinch.
“No idea why you’d be told that. I don’t even fuckin’ know her,” Raide mutters.
They all raise their brows. “That so?”
“Yeah.” Raide shrugs. “That’s so.”
The man in charge grins and says, “Then it won’t bother you if we kill her?”
Raide looks bored. “Nope.”
He’s joking? Right? He’s playing them. He has to be. He wouldn’t risk letting me get killed.
“Well, then, no point in waiting.” Baldy reaches down and hauls me up quickly.
I scream and twist as he slams me against the wall, then there’s a knife to my throat. I don’t even know where he got it from, but everything in my world just stops and all I can do is shake violently. I cry out and whisper, “Raide.” My eyes turn to him but his expression is hard.
“You sure you don’t care for her?”
“Positive.”
He presses the knife into my flesh some more.
“Raide!” I scream.
Does he think they won’t do it?
“You know what? I think I’ll enjoy her a bit first. Get on your knees.” He drops me to the ground and I scurry away from him, but he takes hold of my hair and pulls me back.
That’s when Raide loses it—he lunges forward and I hear a loud crack, then a thump. A gun is fired and I topple forward, landing on my face. I want to turn but my cheek is burning and I’m frozen in fear, waiting for the fatal bullet to be shot into my back. I close my eyes, trying to breathe as I hear the grunting sounds, and then the door slams.
I turn slowly after a few minutes of silence to see we’re alone once more, with a dead body. Raide is on all fours, panting, and there’s blood running from his arm. The bald man is facedown on the floor, but there’s a good deal of blood coming from around his face and neck. I don’t even want to know what Raide did to him.
I force myself to my hands and knees and crawl toward Raide. When I reach him, I stretch my hand out and lift his shirt. “Raide,” I cry, “you’ve been shot!”
“It’s fine,” he says in barely a whisper.
He’s in pain. I know he is. “Let me help you, please.” I push his shoulder gently and he shifts so he’s sitting against the wall. I lift his sleeve and decide there’s no point keeping that tattered mess on his body when I can use it to halt the blood dripping down his arm. “I’m going to use your shirt, is that okay?”
He doesn’t say anything, so I give it a few tugs and it tears free of his body. I tie a couple of the ripped strands together and then I bundle another piece up in a ball and place it over the wound. Raide winces, but he doesn’t stop me. I use the tied strands to secure the ball in place and then I tie it tightly. Before I’m done, the door opens and the two men enter again. This time they have massive guns that I have no doubt would obliterate us if we were shot by them.
“Don’t fuckin’ move!”
They hold the guns pointed at us while two more men come in and lift the lifeless body from the floor. Then a younger guy comes in and scrubs the blood from the floor with something that smells strong enough to burn my nose hairs.
When they’re done, they turn to us. “We’re leaving in the morning, so say your last good-byes.”
They slam the door on their way out.
I drop my head and try to come up with a plan. There has to be something we can do! This isn’t the end for us. It isn’t. Raide reaches up and his fingers graze my cheek. I close my eyes and try to stop my body from trembling.
“I would never have let him hurt you,” he assures me.
I flinch. “You just sat there,” I whisper.
“Because I wanted him to turn his back to us—and he did.”
“You risked my life.”
“Gracie,” he murmurs, leaning forward and nuzzling my cheek.
I push him off and walk slowly, numbly to the other side of the room. I lower down onto the floor and don’t make eye contact with him again. I was terrified. For a second there, I thought that guy was going to kill me and Raide was just going to sit by and let it happen. My body shakes with fear all over again, and before I can stop it, I start to sob. Loud, heart-wrenching sobs that clog my throat.
Raide is beside me in seconds, pulling me onto his lap. “I would never have let him hurt you, Grace!” he says again. “You have to believe that.”
“I lost everything,” I sob into his bare chest. “Everything.”
“You didn’t, and we’re going to get out of here.”
“My boss hates me, my friends hate me, and you hate me. I—lost—everything.”
“I don’t hate you, baby.” When I cry harder, he runs his fingers through my hair, soothing me. “Truth is,” he rasps, then hesitates. “The truth is, Grace, that I haven’t thought of a damned thing since you left, except you.”
I close my eyes and breathe him in.
“You’re under my skin.”
I rub my cheek over his hard muscled flesh.
“And I can’t fuckin’ get you out.”
I shudder and my sobs subside.
“You made me feel again.”
Oh. Yes.
“You made me want to fight.”
I turn so my ear is over his heart. There I listen to it pounding.
“You made me want to start again.”
I exhale loudly.
“With you.”
I tilt my head up and look at him. He’s staring down at me, his amber eyes filled with something a whole lot deeper than lust.
“Raide,” I whisper.
He leans down, cupping my jaw and tilting my face up. “Hush.”
Then he kisses me. His lips are rough yet so, so soft. He kisses me with force, spreading my lips and gently coaxing my tongue out with his. He shifts my body so I’m straddling him and his hands glide up and down my back as our kiss deepens until we’re panting and clutching each other. He pulls back after a few long, passionate moments and runs his mouth down my neck. I close my eyes, dropping my head back so he can move around to my throat. He kisses the little hollow there before gliding his lips back up to find mine once more.
“We have to get out of here,” I breathe against his lips when they stop dancing together.
“Yeah.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“There aren’t many choices, lady. They’re going to drug us before they take us from here, you can guarantee that. They won’t risk us escaping from the car.”
“They said they didn’t know who Dean is?”
Raide grunts. “They know. That smart fucker is making it look like he has nothing to do with this. He’s probably back at that bar, sitting casually.”
“I was wired.”
“You get anything?”
I shake my head.
“Fuck.”
“I went to the cops, Raide.”
He stares at me. “And?”
“And they sent me in, wired, to get a confession from Dean. He figured me out, and here I am.”
Raide sighs. “This leaves only one option.”
“And that is?”
“We fight.”
I narrow my eyes. “Fight?”
“Yeah, we fight. We’re not cuffed—they might be smart but they are stupid when it comes to holding captives. I wasn’t enough to take them on my own, but with you here, we might have a chance. There’s only six of them, five now I killed one. I’ve been counting them.”
“How long have you been in here?”
“Few days.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He takes my chin and forces me to look at him. “There is nothing for you to be sorry about. You didn’t put me in here.”
“If we get out, what are we going to do with Dean?”
“I’ll deal with Dean.”
My heart tightens. “Raide, you’ll go to prison.”
“Just trust me, yeah?”
My hope dies a little. He’s giving himself to me, yet at the same time he’s not. Raide wants revenge and he’ll do whatever he can to get it, no matter the cost. That hurts, because I thought I’d be enough to change his mind, but the truth of the matter is he’s not going to change his mind. He wants his revenge and no matter what, he’s going to get it.
I shift off his lap, block my tears, and say in a monotone voice. “What’s our plan?”
“Grace—”
I shoot him a look. “Just tell me how we’re going to get out of here.”
He studies me, then sighs. “They rotate, and from what I’ve heard, when they swap shifts, the other crew leaves. I hear the cars come and go. So we can assume we’ll have to take three down.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“It’ll have to be a surprise attack. When they come in, we need to take our chance. You’re tough, you can take a fully grown man down.”
“Not if he has a gun.”
“You can, look around you, Grace.”
I look around at the simple room. “And?”
“See that bookshelf?”
I look to the corner and see an old bookshelf, filled with books. Aside from a rickety, rusted bedframe that has no mattress, it’s the only thing in the room.
“And?”
“We line it up, when they step in, you push it down over them. It’ll give us a good chance to fight. If you can get hold of a gun, you do it. It’s our best chance.”
It’s not a bad idea.
“What if there’s more than three of them?”
He shrugs. “We’re going to die tomorrow, anyway. Don’t you think it’s worth the risk?”
I nod.
“Then tomorrow morning, we’ll do it.”
I nod again.
I shuffle into my corner and I can feel Raide’s eyes burning into me. I lie down, using my arm as a pillow. I close my eyes and fight down all my emotion. I have to focus. I have to get us out of here. If I don’t, I’m going to lose my fight.
And I can’t afford to lose that, too.