by Belle Knight
“No,” Station said slowly. “That’s not possible.”
“She’s a fucking bitch,” Heald said, stepping forward. He ignored how those crude words left a bitter taste on his tongue. He ignored the way it looked like someone had punched Laura in the gut and how he could sense a part of her turning to ice. “We’ve got what we came for. Tie her up and let’s get out of here. She’s not worth the trouble that would come after us.”
Station approached Laura. She flinched back.
Heald surged forward, catching himself in time before one of Station’s bodyguards pounded him into the ground.
Station pulled on the red lanyard hooked around Laura’s wrist and examined the badge.
“I switched the badges,” Heald said. “I needed a way to get out of here with the horns.”
“Yes, of course,” Station said. “But when did you switch the badges?”
Confused, Heald tried to think through what the truth would reveal to Station. “Why do you care?”
“Indulge me,” Station said.
Heald didn’t like it. He didn’t know what Station was trying to get at. “When she first let me in.”
Laura yelped, as if she had immediately caught the danger in his answer.
“Into the basement,” Heald said. “I made the swap after getting into the basement.”
Station leaned over Laura.
She stood tall and unflinching under his scrutiny.
A fire lit inside Heald’s stomach. This woman had courage in spite of nothing—no training, no experience. She was a teacher of a bunch of ten year olds. Yet she stood under Station’s examination like his intimidation didn’t phase her.
Heald was impressed but also scared for her. Station had a number of murders rumored to be under his belt.
“You smell like man,” Station said, sniffing her hair.
“Fuck you,” Laura said.
Station raised a hand as if to slap her.
Heald felt that old darkness creep over him again, tainting the edges of his vision like he was entering into a tunnel. He was his brother’s protector. Before Heald could stop himself, he was up the stairs, feet away from Station.
Station looked over his shoulder, hand still raised, and laughed. “Now, now. You never raise a hand to a lady. Wouldn’t want to leave a bruise. I’m sad to see you think so low of me.”
“Fuck you, both,” Laura said.
“No. I’m pretty sure there’s only one person in this room you’ve fucked,” Station said.
Heald gritted his teeth. His options were closing fast.
Scratch that, his options were fucking gone.
Somehow Station knew—and that was going to make it so much worse for all of them. Especially Laura. She hated Heald now, but that didn’t matter.
He thought about making a break for it with her.
Five guys.
He thought he could take down three of them himself. But that would leave two to go after Laura. She was courageous, but she wasn’t strong enough for something like that unless she was hiding a secret black belt.
“Take them both back to the tusks.” Station nodded at his men and they roughly dragged Laura down the stairs.
Heald frowned, tensing, but let two more of the men grab him and lead him by the shoulders back to the mammoth tusks. The horns were still there, packed in sacks that would be easy for the men to carry.
The men put Laura and Heald next to each other and trained their guns on them. Heald was close enough to Laura’s body he could feel her heat.
She was like a furnace of fury.
He wanted to move into her, pull her into the safety of his arms and force her to listen until she understood what he had done and why he had done it. He wanted to take back the crude words and cruder brush off while covering her face and arms and chest and stomach and thighs with kisses until she believed him. Just thinking about it created an erection, but at least the shadows covered up his embarrassment. Plus one glance at Laura’s expression and he knew she’d be more likely to scratch out his eyes out before he could say a word.
Station removed a rhino horn from one of the sacks, examined it, then brought out a second one. He lined them up side by side on the desk, the light shining down on them. Then he took two of the fake bone tusks and arranged them just so, to make it clear to anyone that the horns had come out of the tusks.
Heald looked on silently. He knew without asking that whatever Station had planned next wasn’t going to bode well for either of them.
“What are you doing?” Laura said.
Station glanced up, tilted his cowboy hat in acknowledgement that she had spoken, but continued arranging the little scene until it looked just right to him. Then he took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his prints clean from the horns and fake tusks. He nodded to two of his men, the ones not training a gun on Laura and Heald.
“Take those other fakes and bury them in the stacks somewhere,” Station said. “Make them hard to find.”
His men ran off, picking up the other bone containers and vanishing into the shadows.
“Look, can you get your men to stop pointing a gun at me?” Heald said, trying for bravado and business sense. “You know I’m in this until the end. So I fucked the museum volunteer. I saw an opportunity to grab some ass and I took it. So what? That doesn’t change anything about the situation.”
Station shook his head. “I thought you were smarter than this, Heald. I really did. I’m surprised you still haven’t figured it out.”
There was a long moment of silence. Dread crept into Heald’s limbs, making him sweat. “What are you talking about?”
Laura turned wide eyes onto Heald. The light shined on her just right, letting him see the gold flecks in her irises. She struggled with several emotions at once. Mostly there was still an all-consuming anger, but underneath that was—pity?
Heald’s mind began to spin as that tunnel vision came back. The darkness of the basement encroached on the bubble of light Station and Laura stood inside of. “The deal was you get the horns, and I get my brother back. That was the deal.”
“Deal’s changed,” Station said. “Well. All right. This was always the deal, I’m only making you aware of all the fine print now.”
“You’re the lookout,” Laura said, her eyes still on Heald, burning their truth into him like a fire brand. His mind was turning so fast he felt dizzy.
“Their bait,” Laura continued. “The one who’s supposed to take the fall.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I really am going to let your brother go.” Station tapped the two rhino horns twice with his knuckles. “But I think a half million dollars will be plenty of motive for the police to wrap this up nicely, don’t you, Heald?”
“To wrap what up nicely? Smuggling rhino horn?” But as soon as the words left his mouth he knew he shouldn’t have spoken. It was exactly what Station wanted—to be in control, to be more powerful, to fully rub in how much Heald didn’t know and wasn’t in control right then.
Heald’s question had given Station exactly what he wanted.
“For murder,” Station said, smiling.
Chapter 12
Everything was happening so fast Laura could barely make sense of it.
First Heald was in on the poaching with Station. He had slept with her as part of some sort of manipulation to get the rhino horns.
The rage at that was still there, though the truth was chipping away at it.
Somehow, Heald’s brother was caught up in all this. Station was going to frame Heald for the whole thing. She didn’t know if that made Heald the good guy or still one of the bad guys, but what she did know was Station had raised his gun and was pointing it right at her.
“They’ll never believe it,” Heald said. “You make it look like I kill her, and what? She shoots me back with what? Because you know if you murder her and keep me alive, I’m talking. I’m spilling everything.”
“Thank you for confirming what I alr
eady knew,” Station said. “That’s generous of you.”
Station lowered the gun, setting it on the table alongside the rhino horns. He hefted a mammoth tusk up from the ground, glanced at Laura, sizing her up, then set the tusk back on the ground and reached for a smaller one.
This time he held up the tusk and said, “This will do.”
Before anyone could move, Station drove the tusk into Heald’s side.
Laura screamed, watching the scene as if in slow motion. Her captor’s grip loosened. Before she could think, she dived into her skirt pocket for those stupid glue sticks she had forgotten to put away, and threw them, one after the other, at Station’s face. Her aim was as strong and true as ever. Legos, art supplies, glue sticks, she could make her target from across an entire classroom.
Two of the glue sticks hit Station one after the other with a hard whap! Right in between the eyes. He yelped from surprise. Another glue stick caught him in his left eye. He shook his head as if stung by a bee.
But it was enough to mess with his aim.
Heald avoided a direct tusk to his gut, but the tusk still pierced his side. Blood splashed. A hand came down on Laura’s shoulder. She twisted and slammed her knee into the guy’s crotch. When he released her, she used her free hand to hook the guy’s nose and then her other hand to gouge at his eye.
Thanks for the self-defense lessons, Grandma.
Another of Station’s men was headed her way. She was no match for two, but all she needed was an opening.
And then she saw her chance.
Diving for the shadows, she entered the anonymity of the stacks. As she ran, a part of her urged her to go back and check on Heald. Somehow, Heald’s brother was mixed up in all of this. Laura wasn’t ready to call Heald one of the good guys, but he wasn’t a bad guy—not like Station.
Instead, her shoes pounded the cold cement floor as the sound of blood rose like a roar across her ears as her adrenaline spiked. A shot rang out, and then another. Men shouted. Shoes pounded the stacks.
Laura had never been more grateful for the basement’s darkness or how the way the aisles towered overhead, creating hiding place after hiding place.
She sprinted deeper into the stacks, her heart racing, panic rising in her chest.
She beat that feeling back. It wasn’t a new feeling, after all. Many times, an emergency at the recess playground had required her top speed. Once it was to provide the Heimlich to a student choking on an apple slice. Another time it was after an eight year old girl had fallen from the monkey bars and broken her arm. Laura had heard the cry of pain and knew, just knew, it was different from the normal sounds children made. She had sprinted over, phone already in hand, dialing 9-1-1. When she reached the girl she carefully assessed the damage, sent the other students off to class to give her space, and comforted the girl until the ambulance arrived.
But this time, Laura didn’t think an ambulance would arrive in time.
Even if she made a second dash out of the basement, they had taken her cell phone. All of Station’s men were between her and the door anyway.
Even Heald.
Especially Heald.
Laura shied away from thinking about him and the role he played in all this. It was too much to consider while she was running for her life. Thank god she was a teacher and had worn flat shoes today. As she passed cardboard boxes and stacks of bones and manuscripts and artifacts, she realized she had automatically headed for the little rebar-enforced office.
She decided it was her best shot. She could lock herself inside. Eventually they would have to leave. Every minute they stayed, security system working or not, it increased the risk of discovery.
They had to know that.
Laura darted around an aisle that had spilled out a box of rat skulls and molted snake skins. She tripped, got up, and then found herself at the office door. Entering the keypad sequence, her breath came out in quick gasps. She fidgeted from foot to foot, waiting for the lock to disengage. Scanning the area, she looked for any sign of motion, but the darkness that had protected her also obscured her vision.
She could hear footsteps, shouting, but couldn’t see anyone yet.
Wait.
There.
Heald was coming out of the stacks, sprinting toward her. No one was with him—yet.
Laura wrenched open the door. Golden light flooded out, revealing the desk, the filing cabinets, the rug Heald had fucked her on. That sick feeling came back into her stomach and she lost feeling in her fingers as she rushed inside.
“Laura! Let me in! They’re trying to kill me!”
They had pulled a gun on him. Station had speared him with a mammoth tusk. Heald had made her feel beautiful and desired, even if it had all turned to ash.
She hesitated.
She shouldn’t have hesitated.
Chapter 13
Heald barreled into her, making them both fly into the room. She fell on her belly onto the ground.
He sprang to his feet and slammed the door closed, holding it shut as the metal bars latched.
There were a series of pings, like bullets were hitting the door.
Heald sprang away from the door as if burned.
Laura had said the door was reinforced, but could he really trust it to hold under a storm of bullets like this?
He checked himself over, searching for bullet holes. But there was nothing except for the laceration the tusk had made along his left side.
“You’re bleeding,” Laura said.
Heald probed the tusk wound, flinching from the pain. Laura’s glue sticks had saved him from a wound that could have been far worse. He kept his back to Laura, unwilling to face that particular pain just yet. He’d rather Station take another crack at him with a mammoth tusk.
“Let me patch it up,” Laura said, sighing. “I know basic first aid and I’d rather you not bleed all over the office.”
Heald gritted his teeth, more from the forthcoming confrontation than from the pain.
He faced her and took in her disheveled state. Her eyes were bloodshot and large. She looked at him like she could see into his soul. Her brown hair fell tangled over her shoulders. Her shirt was unbuttoned, the buttons having popped off somewhere so that he could see the hint of the bra and breasts he had so recently nuzzled. He felt a hint of desire rise in him and beat it back down.
No way could he let her see she still turned him on while in the middle of the mess he had put her in.
Laura lifted the edge of her skirt, revealing slim ankles and shapely calves, and tore at the bottom hem, turning her ankle length skirt into a knee-length one.
“Take off your shirt,” Laura said.
Heald did as she asked. He noticed her eyes stray from his pecks to his abs to his shoulders. He flexed, enjoying her gaze on him.
Laura’s eyes drifted to his wound. “It’s still bleeding.”
“Barely,” Heald said. He didn’t know why he tried to dismiss the wound. Maybe he didn’t want her to worry. Maybe he didn’t want her to see him weak like this.
Laura approached with her skirt bandage, hesitant. It was the first time he had seen her act like that. He felt shame then—he had helped put that hesitant look on her face.
Laura leaned over him. He could smell the hint of honey that had driven him to distraction earlier. She used her delicate hands to wrap the cloth of her skirt around his chest. He forced himself to stay still. Sweat broke out from concentration. His thoughts kept straying, remembering the feel of her skin, the way being with her had taken him outside himself, had freed him for a few precious moments from the darkness he had been living in for as long as he could remember. His cock stiffened and grew in his jeans.
“Are you okay?” Laura asked quietly.
He silently swore to himself. He couldn’t hide his attraction to her, bleeding like this, no matter how hard he tried.
She paused in her bandage wrapping. Her hands hovering over the hard knot of his pants. He gritted his teeth, waiting
for her to chew him out or back away from him. Instead her hands shook slightly and she returned to the wrap job, tying it off in a small knot. She finished and finally stepped back.
He let out a shuddering breath from the agony of holding himself together with her hands and body so close.
Laura turned away, showing him her back, as if disgusted to look at him.
There were shouts at the door and more pings, this time like the bullets were firing at the door’s hardware.
“You sure it will hold?”
Laura shook her head. “No, I’m not.”
Heald got up, groaning at the pain. The moment of stillness had begun to stiffen him up. He headed for the filing cabinet closest to the door and began to tip it over.
“Hey! You can’t do that. You don’t even know what’s inside. You could have damaged priceless—”
“Its weight will give us a little more shielding,” Heald said quietly. “Nothing in this museum is worth your life.”
“I don’t believe you,” Laura said.
“Even if you don’t believe I mean that…It’s still true.”
“And the 10 million dollars worth of rhino horns you were trying to steal? What am I supposed to believe about that?”
“I’m not like them.” Heald faced her, there wasn’t time for this, for him to explain everything well enough. He didn’t know if she could ever understand.
She had fucked him. He had fucked her over. End of story. Move on.
But he couldn’t bear the thought of her believing that’s all it was. He didn’t expect anything but wanted everything—to sleep with her again, to get to know her, to figure out why she was so damn intoxicating. But he had ruined all chances of that long before he had even met her.
“You were never a volunteer here.”
Heald felt his shame grow and opened his mouth to try to explain anyway.
Laura held up a hand. Tears shined in her eyes. “No, that was not a question. I’m not stupid enough for that to even be a question now.”
“They have my brother, Laura. They said if I didn’t steal the horns for them that they were going to kill him.”
