Head spinning, she tried to fight the sudden urge to cry. Remembering her mother as a warrior, as a member of this powerful resistance had helped. It had made sense… and Bryant’s words were trying to rip all of that away. “They’re wrong, they have to be confused. Are you sure you asked him about Helen Everett?”
“Yes, baby. I did. Each of the leaders, and even some of the long-term members, but no one remembers—”
“But then how did she know all of that? HOW!” Phee shouted, grabbing his shirt, hands turning to claws in the fabric, and he hugged her tight again as the dark, sharp thing inside her chest twisted once more. A quiet sob caught behind her teeth as she bit down, and Bryant shifted to shield her from the others milling around them.
“I don’t know, baby. Maybe she knew someone in the resistance, maybe they talked to her and she was afraid for you.” Pulling her away from his chest, he leaned down to meet her gaze with turquoise fire, wiping the tears on her cheeks. “That is something we can look into later. After tonight… but I can’t take you with me. I won’t. It’s too dangerous.”
Heat swarmed through the aching hollow beneath her ribs, not caring what he’d discovered. Even if her mother had never had the chance to fight back then, she knew in her heart that Helen Everett would have been in this room tonight. She would have been a warrior just like the ones in her stories, and she would have been proud to see Phee standing with the resistance. Sniffing, she scrubbed at her cheeks, locking away the heartache so she could be as strong as she needed to be. “If you leave me behind, I’ll just follow you as soon as I can slip away. I saw the maps, I know what part of the city your uncle’s house is in.”
“Listen to me,” Bryant growled, that dominant edge breaking through, and in almost any other situation she would have craved it… probably kissed him.
But not here, not now.
Phee stood up tall, the flames inside her growing a little. “I can either come with you, and you’ll know exactly where I am, or I’ll follow behind you with no one to watch out for me.”
Clenching his jaw, Bryant held her away from him by her shoulders. Incredible turquoise eyes boring into hers, he looked so intense, so powerful, and she wished she could lose herself in him like she had the night before — but there was no time for that. No time to seek shelter in each other because the battle was here, and in just a few hours the first shots would be fired.
Desperate to get him to agree, Phee wrapped her hand around his wrist and squeezed. “Bryant, my mother died alone and scared of the world because no one believed her. I should have believed her, I was her daughter, and instead I let everyone convince me she was insane. I was so busy being a good girl, being exactly what my grandparents wanted me to be, what the world wanted me to be, that I abandoned the only person who ever told me I could be something more. And then these bastards killed my grandparents, too. They took everyone from me, and I did nothing. I missed my chance to be there for my mom, for my family… so I can’t just sit back and do nothing, Bryant. Not tonight.” Phee took a shaky breath. “Please, don’t leave me behind.”
His jaw ticked as she begged, and she saw the flicker of emotion on his face before he wiped it away with a growl. “This isn’t a game, Phee. It’s life and death.”
“And my whole family is dead because of the COF, because I sat back and did nothing all these years. Are you really going to deny me the chance to do something now when you just asked everyone else in this room to risk their lives?” Gripping his wrist tight, she let her nails dig in, feeling the fire swell in her chest as she refused to back down. Refused to be side-lined when there was finally a real battle to fight.
“Alright. Fuck. Okay, fine.” Bryant yanked her against his chest, hugging her tight again, as he let out a shuddered breath against her hair. “Can you at least fire a gun?”
8
Phee couldn’t fire a gun, but by the time everyone was leaving for their assignments she at least knew how to unload and reload one. How to take the safety on and off. How to hold it properly, and theoretically how to aim.
She just hadn’t actually fired it yet.
Bryant grabbed her as a group left out the door. “We have to go now for the timetable to work right. Are you sure you want to come with me? I’d still rather you stay here. Safe. Alana already agreed to take you with her if you guys have to run.”
“You’re not changing my mind, Bryant.” Phee leveled her gaze at him with a confidence she wasn’t sure she felt, but on a night like tonight she wanted to be close to his fire. She wanted to be near that righteous power that was flooding through the veins of every member of the resistance that had heard his speech. Everyone had at least one name written on their heart, a name that drove them towards their actions. Hers were Helen, George, and Brinnah — Mom, Pop, and Grams — and she wasn’t going to back down now that she was old enough to make the right choice.
There would be no hiding tonight.
“You are so damn stubborn,” he growled.
“I thought you liked that,” she tried to joke, and he flicked his gaze at her before sighing heavily.
“I don’t think I’ve said that at all,” he answered, a weak smile stretching his lips into a grimace. “But if I can’t change your mind, then come on.” Bryant led her over to a pew where weapons were laid out. He took two guns, with silencers, and several full clips to stash in the pockets on the sides of his pants. Then he picked up a gun for her, checked it, and handed it to her.
Like she’d been taught, Phee checked it again, made sure the safety was on, and then slid it into the back of her pants. She took a clip too, tucking the weight into her back pocket. Then Bryant was helping her with a jacket, a little small across her chest and shoulders.
“I know it’s not a perfect fit, but if we have an accident it will help protect your skin,” he said quietly, leaning forward to press a kiss to her lips, but she pulled him closer, the kiss intensifying as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Half-apology and half-thanks for everything he’d had to do for her already.
“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid,” she whispered against his lips as the kiss broke, but he just chuckled, hugging her tight.
“Everything we’re doing tonight is stupid. Even more so because you decided that you had to come.” Bryant pressed a kiss to the top of her head to ease the chastisement, and then his voice grew a little more serious. “But we’re doing it for the right reasons, and we’ve planned as much as we can.”
“People are going to die tonight,” she whispered, as if everyone around them didn’t already know that. “I… I don’t want to lose you now that I have you. We haven’t even really—”
“Shhh,” he hushed her softly, leaning back to brush a strand of hair over her ear before he cupped her cheek so she had to meet his gaze. “No one is ever guaranteed a tomorrow, Phee. At any point in my life my uncle could have figured me out, could have decided I wasn’t useful to him anymore, and had me killed.”
“That’s not helping,” she mumbled, but he grinned. That same cocky smile that had first made her roll her eyes at him.
“My point is that I’ve lived my life exactly one day at a time for so long that while you’re standing here worried about tomorrow, I’m still thinking about waking up with you in my arms this morning.” He ran his thumb over her bottom lip, voice dropping until the world narrowed to just the two of them. “Your skin against mine. Naked, and beautiful, and so very wet…”
“Bryant—”
“I almost lost you yesterday, Phee, and today I have you with me. I’m holding onto that, because I can’t control tomorrow. But if I hold onto today, onto this morning, onto this moment right here, then I can feel strong enough to hope that the same thing will happen tomorrow.” Shifting his thumb, he leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips. “And the next day, and the next…” he whispered against her mouth, and she couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Focus on now,” she echoed the sentiment and he
grinned.
“Exactly.” Turning her out of his arms, he slapped her ass to nudge her towards the door. “Now, it’s our turn to go.”
Her heart raced as they walked outside into the dense fog. Standing next to his bike, she saw that they each had a helmet now, and she wondered when he’d told someone to find another one — or had he always known that she would insist on coming with him? Watching him talk to someone about their plans, and back-up plans, she wasn’t surprised by how commanding he was, because she’d experienced that on their first night together. No, what caught her was the way he listened to the other person, nodding, asking questions, adding his own input without overrunning them. He was so different than the man she’d believed him to be, and every moment she spent with him she seemed to only learn more, to see new sides of him.
It was something she could do for years. Hope to do for years.
When he turned around he grinned, tilting his head as he stepped closer to her. “What’s the smile for, beautiful?”
“Just… thinking about waking up with you,” she lied.
“Ah, are you referring to the erection I had pressed against you, or what I did to wake you up?” That wicked edge to his voice had her grinning, remembering how he’d tossed the sheets back to push her knees apart and taste her. Forcing her to muffle her cries with the pillow.
Blushing, she looked up at him. “Both, actually.”
He groaned and kissed her. The strength in his arms bending her backwards until she was forced to wrap her arms around his neck and hold on as his mouth devoured hers. It was the kind of kiss that she dreamed about, the kind of kiss that quite literally felt like it could sweep her off her feet. It left her dizzy when he brought them upright, both of them panting slightly.
“I just want you to know, in case anything happens tonight, that I was always going to call you. I was always going to ask you out again, even though this whole thing was scheduled to happen, because I knew that no matter what… I’d be happy for those weeks if I got to spend them with you in my bed, in my arms, with that smart mouth of yours.” Bryant ran his thumb across her bottom lip, his smile turning bittersweet, and she caught his hand to press a kiss to his palm.
“Well, I’m glad I taunted you into asking me out, Bryant. I’m ninety-percent sure you’re worth almost getting shot.”
He laughed, a surprising, carefree sound, as he lifted one of the helmets from the bike to hand it to her. “I’m going to spank you for that one, Ophelia.” The way his voice hummed her name sent a chill over her, and he pressed another kiss to her lips before letting her go so he could climb on the bike and steady it.
“Understood,” she answered, grinning like a fool. Phee watched as his helmet went on, and she followed suit. Tugging hers down, doing her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as she straddled the seat and tucked herself close to him. On a motorcycle for only the second time as it roared to life.
“Hold on, baby,” he said, raising his voice so she could hear him, and she hung on tighter as Bryant nudged them forward and the acceleration pinned her stomach to her spine.
The dense fog made driving terrifying. It was why she’d never learned to drive. The buses were scary enough to be in, she couldn’t imagine trying to navigate through the fog, but Bryant didn’t seem nervous at all. His body leaned as he turned and the bike roared across the streets, heading North, towards downtown and his uncle’s house on the Northwest side.
They couldn’t really speak as he drove, but she felt the first booming explosion like a ripple through the air itself. Phee could have sworn the fog actually moved with the shockwave, and moments later the haze glowed in the distance, reddish-gold from a fire. Bryant pushed the bike harder, the engine straining, and the ground disappeared faster beneath them. The lines on the road passing under them only to be sucked back into the fog and the dark.
The streets downtown were busier, the downtowners standing around in shock, watching the fires grow. Screams echoed up the block they were on when another explosion went off, and then chaos ensued. They could hear sirens in the distance, and a fire truck sped past them clipping a car that tried to pull out ahead of it. Suddenly there were too many cars on the road, people trying to get home, to get to safety. Bryant cursed under his breath when he had to stop the bike hard to avoid a car that had pulled out in front of him. She could feel the tension in him as he evaluated the situation. A moment later he revved the engine and hopped a curb, driving down the sidewalk. With the thinner fog downtown, people had more warning to get out of the way as the bike roared across the concrete until they finally made it past the traffic jam.
Then they were heading farther North, out the other side of downtown where Phee had never gone. Large houses, shifting into even bigger houses on larger lots, and then massive estates ringed in dark fences. The fog was almost non-existent up here, the barest haze bringing an atmospheric halo to lights in the distance. It all reeked of power and privilege, these homes and their inhabitants physically raised above Lakehurst like gods. As they turned up a street, Phee looked back over the city. The golden glow of fires making the fog glow in eerie ways, the shifting patterns of it lit from within.
Bryant wasn’t looking at the city as he sped up, the bike straining as he pushed its limits, and then he suddenly braked hard and the tires squealed in protest. He put the stand down and hauled Phee off the bike, his fingers tight on her arms as he hissed, “Keep the helmet on.” Then he ripped his own helmet off, holding it as he stomped forward, and shouted, “Hey! Hello? Someone open the fucking gate!”
Two men came out of a guard post near a massive iron gate and Bryant rushed towards them, tossing the helmet dramatically. “Holy shit, the city, fuck — Tony, have you seen it? They’re rioting! There are fucking explosions!” Bryant sounded panicked, terrified, a rich boy downtowner once more as he moved closer to them, his hands in his hair.
“Bryant?” one of the men answered, recognizing him as he got closer to them, and both men relaxed.
Between one breath and the next, Bryant had pulled out his gun and shot the one who had spoken to him, the shot nothing more than a loud puff of air. The other man went for his gun, trying to shout, but Bryant was ahead of him. He turned and brought his knee into the man’s stomach and shot him in the head as he fell to the ground.
Gun held ahead of him, Bryant stepped into the guard box, and then the squeaking hinges began to move. Swinging the massive gates apart. When he reappeared, he turned and held his hand out towards her, completely calm on the surface while her heart was pounding. She ran forward, pulling off the helmet to leave it behind as she clasped his hand, eyes glued to the dead men on the ground. “Did you know them?”
“It doesn’t matter. They would have killed us both if they knew what I was here to do.” The answer was stiff, matter-of-fact, and she couldn’t think of the right words to say. There weren’t any right words, so she just held onto his warm hand and forced herself to keep pace with his long stride as they headed towards the massive house.
The driveway wasn’t long enough for her to organize her thoughts because they were at the front door in no time at all, although she was gasping for air when he stopped. Bryant’s chest moved in deep, even breaths, not winded at all as he caught her eyes and held them. “You stay with me inside. Right with me. And if I tell you to run, you run. Back out this door, down the drive, and towards the city. Lose yourself in the chaos, okay?” Bryant squeezed her hand, bright eyes demanding. “Promise me.”
“Okay, I promise.” Phee said the words, but inside she didn’t think she’d actually be able to leave Bryant behind. For some reason, the reality of dying on this night with all the other resistance members crawling across the city, finally showing their teeth — it just felt right.
“Take this.” He let go of her hand, dragging her out of her reveries as he dug out a small flip phone. “It’s only got three numbers in it. If anything goes wrong, just keep calling them until someone answers. Tell t
hem what happened, and where you are, and they’ll get to you.”
She took it from him, gripping it hard as her heart pounded. “We’re both leaving this house, Bryant. Stop acting like I’m leaving by myself.”
He smiled a little. “Look how fierce you are, Phee… and you called me the warrior.” Leaning forward, Bryant pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’m just preparing you, that’s all. Take your gun out, safety off, but keep it pointed at the floor until you want to shoot. Ready?”
Phee tucked the phone into her empty pocket, followed his directions, and nodded. The weight of the gun in her hands an odd, foreign feeling. Still, there was no turning back now. “I’m ready, let’s go.”
He nodded and unlocked the front door, slipping the key in his pocket before he eased it open, pushing the door with his back so his gun stayed up. Sweeping his eyes across the foyer, he stayed still for a moment and then tilted his head for her to follow him. They immediately moved to the stairs, walking up slowly. When they were near the top, a man turned onto the landing and gasped. Bryant swiveled instantly, shooting him in the head before lunging forward to try and stifle the man’s drop to the floor. It kind of worked, but a grown man becoming dead weight in an instant was loud. Phee could tell Bryant was worried someone had heard them, and he stilled and listened as she tried to hold her breath.
Suddenly, the sound of air moving in her lungs was too loud, the pulse pounding in her ears booming like a timpani. Ruining her stealth, or rather his stealth since she was doing nothing more than fumbling behind him.
It felt like they stood there forever, and her mind drifted into fantasy on reflex. The pale light of a far-off lamp turned his jaw into a sharp edge, casting his other features in relief as if he were glowing. A fire-wreathed warrior king, his crown made of burnished gold that glowed in the heat of the flames. How had she ever imagined him as anything else? He was fierce, and brave, and passionate — and he was nodding at her to follow him.
Corrupt Desires Page 9
