Devil In The Elevator: A Hartman Romance

by Laura Christopher

  Was this guy for real?

  There was no way he was serious right now. Maybe he had drunk too much in the bar?

  Was I on Punked or something?

  Was Allie pranking me? It was something I wouldn’t put past her.

  He was just smirking down at me, and I bet women dropped their panties for him when he put on this little performance all of the time.

  “Liar,” he smirked and for the first time, I realized that he too had dimples, just like the guy he had been sat with at the bar. Were they related or something, or did they only hand them out to good looking people? It’s a fact that dimples make an already hot person ten times hotter.

  The doors to the elevator opened with the same ding as when it had arrived at the top floor and as he pushed away from the wall, putting some welcomed distance between us, he motioned for me to follow him.

  “Come with me,” he sounded, so god damned confident and cocky.

  “No” was my answer while I calculated how likely I was to actually kick him in the nuts as he took steps backward into the underground parking garage, leaving me standing in the elevator. All I had to do was push the button for the lobby, and I would never have to see this Diablo ever again.

  “Come on,” he beckoned me with his hands again, biting his bottom lip. Jesus Christ.

  “Absolutely not,” there had to be something wrong with him. A mental issue, or maybe he had taken one too many bangs to his head. This was not normal behavior. Only my feet began to move on their own accord, right towards him.

  “You know you want too,” cocky bastard. Throwing that smirk my way as he clocked that although my mouth was refusing to follow him, my feet had done so anyway.

  I was about to answer him, and not with words that he would be happy with either. The words were on the tip of my tongue when suddenly, three guys stepped into my vision, meaning I was unable to get them out.

  Subconsciously I had stepped all of the way out of the elevator as we had been conversing, and the door had shut long ago without me even realizing it.

  These three men, well, I am assuming they were men because they all had these creepy ass clown masks on and were dressed entirely in black. Oh god, the one in the middle was he, yes, he was holding a gun. Shit.

  Panic seared through me, and I didn’t know what to do.

  What was even happening right now?

  It was as though everything went into slow motion. My eyes were darting from the three masked men to the Devil I had been just about to curse out and probably kick. I hadn’t decided on that yet.

  What was this?

  What the hell had we walked in on from the elevator?

  My eyes roamed the room, expecting to see someone else.

  Within a second, all hell broke loose around us, and the room went from slow motion to fast forward. Noah took one look at them and grabbed my arm, roughly tugging me as he ran, but they seemed to be even faster. As we dived behind a black van, my feet began to skid at how quickly he was pulling me.

  “Come on, Sneaks,” his voice didn’t sound as panicked as I am sure mine would have if I dared to speak. All I could hear apart from our hurried steps was my heart pumping loudly in my ears.

  Why were they chasing us?

  Suddenly a loud bang echoed around us, a solo shot from the gun, making the both of us freeze. Daring a look backward, towards where the masked men stood. My eyes homed in on the one with the weapon which was currently aimed at the car next to us, that now had a very flat tire after a bullet had ripped through it.

  Someone must have heard that surely, they would be coming to help us.

  The cops would be on their way in no time, right?

  Weren’t there cameras in places like these?

  Someone was must be seeing or hearing what the hell was going on right now, right?

  I mean, I hardly came down to parking garages. This was New York, after all. I took the subway like any average New Yorker. It was only the rich showoffs that bothered to drive in this city.

  Pushing me behind his body, Noah stepped in front, completely blocking my view of the three masked men, but we both continued to back away from them without communicating it, instinct, I suppose.

  Craning my head around him, I could see that the gun was now aimed right at us, and my blood ran cold. I felt like someone had put an intravenous drip full of ice water straight into a vein.

  They had us cornered in behind a silver Tesla. We had nowhere else to go. One of the masked men came up on each side of us while the one with the gun just stood static, gun aimed right at us still, unmoving. If I could see his face, I bet he wouldn’t even be blinking.

  Oh god, this is it, because of freaking Diablo, I was going to be murdered. Only twenty-eight years old and my life was going to end in an underground parking garage. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  Why hadn’t I just pressed the button for the lobby when I had first stepped into the elevator? If I had, I would not be here right now. Damn it.

  “Who are you?” Noah's voice sounded clear and controlled. Still standing protectively in front of me, all broad shoulders and tall. No sign of fear in his voice, “what do you want?”

  Ignoring Noah's questions, the one holding the firearm gave us his own demand. “Get on your knees” the voice was all distorted like you hear in bad horror movies, robotic almost as if they were using some kind of distorter “both of you, now.”

  “Shit,” Noah turned to look at me as if he had forgotten I was there for a second. “Look, if this is Jack’s idea, just let the girl go, she doesn’t need to be involved in this stupid shit.”

  Who the hell was Jack?

  And what stupid shit?

  I was so confused right now with what was happening. Did he know who was doing this and why?

  If this was a prank, I was suing for the years of therapy I was about to need. He looked like he was good for it.

  My cell phone began to vibrate in my purse. No doubt it would be Allie wondering where I was as she would no doubt be waiting for me in the lobby by now.

  “Knees, now, both of you.” The same guy repeated.

  “Come on, Sneaks,” Noah's voice had turned quiet as he waited for me to move before, he did. “It will be okay, I promise.”

  He promises? This guy, this man, he was the most incorrigible asshole I had ever met. If there were ever a real-life devil, he would be it, or at least his right-hand man. How could he expect me to believe that it was going to be okay? Promise? Jesus.

  “Hands-on your head,” the same robotic voice came from another one of them. They were both so tall, definitely over six feet. Taller than the Diablo even.

  The feel of all of the blood draining from my body, purely from fear, made me feel light-headed. All three of them came to stand in front of us now. We had nowhere to go. A cold, leather-clad hand grabbed ahold of my wrists, and before I knew what was happening, they were secured with what sounded and felt like a cable tie behind my back. No room for movement. It was so tight, cutting into my skin like a knife through butter. I think I’m going to be sick.

  Next, a dirty rag was pulled out and tied tightly around my eyes, leaving me in nothing but darkness. This was almost worse than just being tied up by my wrists. Now that I couldn’t see, I began to really panic. Tears began to fill my eyes and dampen the fabric restricting my ability to see anything around me.

  As my cell phone began to vibrate again, the purse was ripped from my body, and from the sound that followed, it had been thrown on the ground somewhere in the distance.

  “Hey, get off me, my cell phone is in my jacket pocket, asshole.” Noah's angry voice echoed around us.

  “Please,” begging as a hand grabbed me around my elbow, pulling me upwards to stand. My feet unable to move, and with my vision blocked, I felt like I was stumbling around like Bambi taking its first steps. Tripping over my own feet, one of them groaned at my lack of coordination but continued to drag me along.

  “I don’t…. please let me go.”
All I wanted to do was go to the lobby. How was I in this situation?

  “Sneaks, Val, just stay quiet,” Noah's voice came from behind me, and before I knew it I was being hoisted up, off the ground and thrown down onto my back in what I assumed was either a trunk of a car or the back of a van. It was cold and smelt like trash.

  Sobs began to fill my chest. I was never going to see my best friend again, oh god Allie. She was only one floor above me, but it was too far. My parents, I would never have to fake love the horrendous pasta dishes my Mom attempted to make every Sunday for family dinner nights. She may have married an Italian boy, but that woman could not cook to save her life. It was a miracle we had survived as children.

  “Will you stop crying” Diablos annoyed voice reached my ears just as an engine started almost as soon as the sound of doors slamming, securing us in. We must have been in a van because we weren’t touching, so we could not be in the trunk of a car.

  “Look, Sneaks, this is probably my brother's sick idea of a prank, he has done this twice before its best just to go with it, and when it is over, we can get back to what was about to happen.”

  “Nothing was about to happen!” I shrieked at him. God, maybe he was as crazy as Allie was. Perhaps it was me. Perhaps I attracted craziness to me. That had to be it.

  “Just, fuck off, Diablo.”

  “Suit yourself,” he sounded like he was almost laughing. “But I’m going to tell you ‘I told you so’ when you beg me to fuck that attitude right out of you.”

  “Drop dead, Diablo.”

  “I’d rather have you drop to your knees in front of me, and I will happily return the favor. Just say the words.” Was he serious right now?

  “You’re disgusting, and do you not think it's a little too soon to be making jokes about getting onto my knees after what just happened? These fucking cable ties are cutting my wrists up, so if this is a joke from your brother, I am going to cut his fucking dick off.”

  “Surprisingly, you wouldn’t be the first girl to try to do that to him.”

  “What?”

  “He's an asshole.” Was all he said.

  “So are you.”

  Snorting, he simply said, “Touché.”

  Suddenly the van took a sharp corner and began speeding. This was New York City, there was no such thing as speeding, there was traffic, and then, you guessed it, more traffic. Where the hell were, they taking us?

  “You sure that this is just your brother playing a joke?” What kind of person did this as a joke, and to involve a complete stranger? This was not funny in the slightest.

  After a moment, he finally answered, “Yeah, probably.”

  “And if it isn’t?” Because there was no way, someone would do this to people as a joke, right? That was not a normal thing to do to another person.

  “Then I guess we need to…”

  “We need to what?” when he hesitated, my heart began to race, even more.

  “I don’t know, Sneaks.”

  Groaning, I couldn’t stop my reaction. “Will you stop calling me that!”

  “Absolutely not, it will forever be my name for you.”

  “No offense, actually no, please do take offense, but if I know you for one more hour, it will be too long.” And that was an understatement. It had already been too long.

  “So much feistiness in one small body.”

  “If my hands weren’t tied up right now, I would punch you in that perfect face.”

  “So, you think I’m perfect?” He was almost gloating, and my fists curled. If only I wasn’t tied up, I could punch him in that face, and with any luck, I would break his nose, and not my fist.

  Knowing my luck, though, it would likely be the latter. Figures.

  A loud bang behind us made me jump, followed by the robotic voice, “Shut the fuck up, now!”

  Swallowing the excess saliva in my mouth, I began to breathe deeply, attempting to calm myself down.

  What the hell was going on here?

  Chapter Two

  Noah

  My eyes had zeroed in on her the moment we stepped into The Lilac Orchard wine bar. My brother, Jack, was prattling on about some nonsense to do with work. No doubt, or what weights he had been lifting at the gym, but my eyes stayed on her as we moved. Silver shoulder-length hair and these bangs that framed her beautiful angled face. She was easily one of the most beautiful women in the room, and one hundred percent my type, if I so allowed.

  Unlike the usual social climbers, I found myself between the sheets with. There was usually only one thing that they were after, and it had nothing to do with me, well, most of the time. I was not horrible to look at woman starred at me open-mouthed at times, blushing when I would shoot them a wicked wink. Despite that, these entitled women, well they were more interested in a trust fund, a high roller who could give them a cushioned life where they didn't need to lift a finger. A life that they could spend their days getting manicures and haircuts. Bullshit. That is what it was. How anyone could be happy with that kind of life, a loveless marriage. I would never understand.

  As a person without a heart, marriage was not something I would ever have. A promise that had been made many years ago, that I would forever keep. Having an endless stream of one-night stands would see to that.

  There was also the added bonus of my antics being the bane of my father's life. My actions pushed his buttons, especially when his 'friends' would inform him of the tales of the daughters, the nieces, the wives I had slept with and left broken-hearted. When I didn't return their calls or when they woke the next morning realizing that I had snuck out of their apartments before the sun had even risen.

  No, the girl with the silver hair was not one of those girls. With her Guns' N' Roses shirt and skinny jeans, so tight that they looked like they were painted onto her tight, little body. She was not like any of the women I shared my bed, metaphorically, with.

  "Are you even listening to me?" Jack shoved my shoulder, making me take my eyes off the beautiful woman I had been staring at for too long.

  "Are you still talking?" I retorted. Boredom was evident in my voice.

  "You are a pain in the ass, you know that?" He laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world to him right now.

  Grinning, I took the vodka soda he held out to me as my eyes found a tall blond woman about to walk past, and I could not help myself from hitting on her. It was what I did. It had become second nature to me since coming back to the city for college. This had been my life for so long now that I wasn't sure there was anything else to me anymore.

  "Dude, I don't think I have ever seen you crash and burn that bad," Jack laughed as we went to take a seat by this ridiculous plant. "I mean, did you even notice that she was wearing a wedding ring?"

  Shrugging my shoulders, I refused to let my eyes wander back to where I knew she was, the silver-haired beauty I was dying to look at just once more. No, looking at her again would only pain me more and possibly allow fantasies about having her take over my mind. Taking what I shouldn't from this woman. I could never give her more than a night, unwilling to pull anyone into this life.

  Knowing that I could not and would not go there, I eyed my brother, "Does it matter?"

  That small metal band people wore around a particular finger meant nothing to most. Given the opportunity, with just the right amount of flattery, most of the elite women in this town would drop their panties with so much as a wink from a man with the proper credentials, money. The men were just as bad any pretty woman in a short skirt, and they would be putting their expensive lawyers to work.

  "You are... something else, man", he laughed, showing me those signature dimples, a Hartman trait inherited from our mother's side of the family. "One day, you will find someone you actually want to woo, you know?"

  "When hell freezes over, and you are one to talk," raising one brow at him, I had cut him off mid-sentence. "Have you even spoken to her this month?"

  Flinching, and I hadn't even said her na
me "Don't" his voice held more anger than I thought it would "you can be a real dick sometimes" He only stayed in this town because of the company that he would be taking over one day, unwilling to disappoint our father. Well, any more than he already was with me, his eldest.

  "Tell me something I don't know," sipping on my vodka, I could feel someone looking at me, the sensation of eyes burning into the side of my face. Pinching the fingers around the glass in my hands to stop myself from turning to see who it was while my brother continued to speak. His words making the same glass freeze on my lips as I was about to take another sip.