Alec walked around the property while Florrie and I walked inside. She helped herself to the fridge, grimacing when she found it lacking. “We should order some pizza. This is seriously the worst selection of food I’ve ever seen.”
“You should have seen it when I first got here.”
“Well, we aren’t always home a lot, so it doesn’t make sense to stock a lot of food. It’ll go bad before we can eat what we buy.”
“So, you just eat take out all the time?”
I sat at the island and kicked my shoes off. My foot was still sore from the cut I got in the well. As long as I didn’t stand too much, it was okay, but I had walked around a lot today.
“Mostly. It sucks. I would give my left arm for a home cooked meal, but I don’t have the time to cook.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
She glanced away, blushing as she stared out the window. “Sort of.”
“You sort of have a boyfriend. Okay, so why doesn’t he cook?”
“Uh, he’s got a pretty busy schedule like me.”
“Does he travel like you?”
“Pretty much.”
“Well, I’m sure you’re not always gone at the same time. Why doesn’t he just cook for you when he knows you’ll be home?”
“We’re pretty much always gone at the same time,” she mumbled, still staring out the window. I got up and looked out the window from behind her. Alec was out in the yard doing something with the shed. I looked at Florrie from the side and saw it written all over her face. She was in love with the guy. The question was, was he in love with her?
“So, does anyone else know?”
“Know what?”
“About you and Alec?”
She whipped around, her face morphing into embarrassment and anger. “I never said that there was anything going on with Alec.”
“You didn’t need to. You’ve been staring at him the whole time.”
“Shit.” She glanced back out the window and sighed. “I’m usually better at hiding it.”
“Why would you hide it?”
She slumped over on a bar stool and dropped her chin to her hand. “I’m sure it would be fine, but Cap might take us off the same team. It’s not really a good idea for people to be involved and work together. Especially in our profession. There are too many risks, too many times that a relationship could make a mission complicated.”
“Like, if something was dangerous and one of you freaked out about it?”
“Right, though it would be Alec freaking out, just to be clear. I’m the level-headed one between the two of us. Well, except the one time.”
“What happened?” I asked, fully engrossed in this story. It wasn’t very often that I heard about someone else’s life, and at the moment, I could use the distraction.
“A few years ago, we were trying to rescue a little girl that had been taken as a ransom. It was dangerous because of the location she was being held and what we had to do to get inside. When we were in the room, at some point, they figured out we weren’t who we said we were. Alec was shot at point blank range. I was protecting the little girl, but all I could see was Alec laying on the ground and bleeding out. When I finally got the chance, I went to him, but my head was all over the place. I was….well, I definitely wasn’t acting like myself.”
“You know that’s normal, right? You’re not supposed to be stoic when someone you love gets shot.”
“We weren’t an item back then. I mean, we flirted a lot and I knew he was attracted to me, but we didn’t do anything about it for a while after that. He had rehab and then had to get cleared to go back to work. I would go over almost every night and check on him. A lot of times, I would stay the night just to reassure myself that he was okay.”
“So, what changed?”
“I don’t know, really. One day, we were combustible. We both knew that we had to have each other and then we were in bed, fucking like rabbits. We’ve been together ever since, but we’ve kept it quiet. We don’t want anyone to know about it. Right now, Craig, Alec, and I work well as a team, but that could all be taken away and then everything would change. We would be gone at different times, and we would probably worry more because we weren’t there to have each others backs. And then the bubble would burst.”
“The bubble?”
She gave me a half-hearted smile. “Right now, we’re in a bubble where no one knows about us. Everything is perfect for us, but if people knew about us, there would be this pressure that isn’t there right now. There would be expectations that we’re not worried about at the moment. We know each other so well that we don’t need to talk to anyone but each other about our issues. But men at Reed Security seem to think that they all have to solve each others’ problems.”
“That really sucks. If you love someone, you shouldn’t have to hide it.”
“Like you?”
I looked at her strangely. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on. You and Chance are practically on fire when you’re together.”
“Um, sexually, yes. I don’t think we really have anything else in common. Not that I would really know. We haven’t talked a whole lot about anything. Well, that’s not true. We talked about his wife this morning.”
“Shut. Up. He actually talked to someone about her?”
“Well, I mean, I’m not sure how much he’s said that’s actually considered relevant. We talked about why she left and what that did to him, but-”
“The only person he’s ever talked to about that bitch is Cap and that was just a little bit while Chance was driving him back from Pittsburgh years ago. He doesn’t say anything but minor things about her. Like, I’m never getting married again or I was married once and it failed that time. I won’t be trying again.”
“Yeah, that pretty much sounds like him. He’s very clear at all times that what we have is temporary. It’s like he thinks I’m going to decide we’re more and make him bend to my will.”
“Well, if you’re good enough, you could.”
“But I don’t want to do that. Actually, I’m using him just as much. He’s a distraction for me while I try to find my daughter. We’re basically using each other.”
“Right,” she smiled. “So, the way he was holding you in the conference room and the scorching kiss he gave you was just for sex, for later tonight. And the way he put his forehead against yours wasn’t him trying to find comfort in you or him trying to feel better about what was going on between the two of you. It was strictly sexual.”
“Yes,” I insisted.
“Well, I do know a lot of couples that are fuck buddies and they strictly fuck with their foreheads.”
“Shut up!” I laughed. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
“Sure. Come here, sugar. My forehead needs to feel yours gliding against mine,” she said in a deep voice.
“Whatever. You’re such a bitch.”
We laughed about it for a few minutes and then she snagged my hand and pulled me off the stool.
“Where are we going?”
“I want to show you something, but if you tell anyone I showed you, you’ll be on my hit list.”
“Sure,” I said, rolling my eyes. She stared at me and the blood slowly drained from my face. The woman could be quite frightening when she wanted to be. She dragged me down a hall to a door I had assumed was a closet, but when she opened it, a steel door was on the other side. She started entering a sequence of buttons and did some scans before she was finally able to get the door open. It made a hissing sound, like it had been pressurized, when it opened. There were stairs in front of me and I hesitantly walked down and stepped through the doorway at the base of the stairs. I gasped when I saw the scene before me. There were about a dozen beds, all queen or king sized with pillows on them. The beds weren’t made, but were still wrapped in the plastic covers they came in.
I walked around, feeling the beds and the firmness of the pillows. There was an armoire in the corner of the room and
inside were dozens of sheets and pillowcases. There were also blankets and comforters stacked, though not as many as the sheets. This was freaking crazy. Who had a room like this?
“Okay,” I said, slowly turning around. “This is like some crazy serial killer room, except instead of killing people, they go to sleep on the world’s best mattresses and pillows and never wake up.”
“It’s pretty creepy, isn’t it?”
“Creepy? How about psychotic? Who has a room like this? I mean, there are some scary people in the world, but I’ve never seen the equivalent of a torture chamber in the form of a Mattress Firm. Please, sir! Don’t lock me in the room with the comfy beds! I swear I’ll be good!”
“Laugh all you want, but Chance takes his sleep very seriously.”
“But…if he had all this, why did he sleep on the floor when I was over here that first night?”
She shrugged with a slight grin. “Maybe he just wanted to be close to you.”
“But he could have just slept in the same bed if that was the case.”
“He could have…” she nodded. “I guess you’ll just have to ask him about it.”
“And tell him what? I saw your beds that you have hidden behind a steel door and I want to know what you plan to do with them and why you didn’t sleep on one?”
“I would start with the second question. The beds behind the steel door might be a sore subject for him.”
“Yeah, because it’s not weird enough that he slept on the floor when he had other beds. Let’s throw in a whole dungeon filled with them.” I glanced around and noticed there weren’t any windows and the room seemed to be made entirely of steel. “Wait, is this an actual panic room?”
“Sort of. None of these guys ever play it safe. Everyone has their own panic room with their own necessities. This is Chance’s.”
“What about food and water? What good does sleep do if you’re dead from starvation?”
“I’m guessing he has food and water here, but sleep is also very important. It’s hard to plan out an attack on someone when you’re tired and worn out. This was actually a pretty smart idea. If we were ever attacked again, I bet everyone would want to come here just to get a good night’s sleep.”
“What’s in your panic room?” I asked curiously.
“That is something you’ll never find out,” she said as she sauntered out of the room. I hustled out behind her, not wanting to be caught in the dungeon of beds. I didn’t care what anyone else said, that was quite possibly scarier than if it had been filled with machetes and hacksaws.
✯✯✯✯✯
“Damn, that was some good pizza,” Florrie said as she leaned back in her seat. “Fuck, I’m full. Alright,” she slapped the table as she stood, shoving away from the stool. “We’ve got watch for the night.”
“Wait, you’re staying?”
“You didn’t really think Chance was going to leave you alone here after that stunt in Pittsburgh, did you?”
I flushed bright red, ducking my head in embarrassment. I hadn’t realized how much trouble I would be causing when I went along with Maggie. If I had, I would never have agreed to go without Chance.
“Yeah, I guess he wouldn’t.”
“Anyway, we’ll be keeping watch outside. Lock the door behind us and enable the alarm. If we need you, we’ll knock.”
Alec and Florrie walked out, leaving me alone in a house that wasn’t mine and never would be. It was sad to walk around this place. Chance didn’t really have anything homey around. It was all hard lines and man furniture. It was nothing like the home I used to have with Payton. I walked into his bedroom again and looked at the few pictures he had with men from The Teams, which I only knew because of the shirts they wore.
He looked happy back then and it made me sad that he had left when he really didn’t want to. Although, I never would have met him if he had stayed in the military. He might have died over in some other war torn country and had a funeral where he would have joined thousands of other soldiers in the ground. It was a depressing thought, but probably the way he would have preferred to leave the military.
A thunk coming from the front of the house had me leaving the bedroom. As I got closer to the kitchen, I realized someone was knocking. I rolled my eyes as I thought of Alec and Florrie running some kind of security drill with me. They were really taking this whole thing to the extreme. I swung the door open, ready to give her shit, and immediately froze as I saw Wes’s face. It took all of two seconds for instincts to kick in and I ran, sprinting toward the bedroom where I knew Chance kept a weapon in his nightstand.
My hair was yanked back and I crashed into the wall in the hallway, but then the pressure was gone and I was back up on my feet and racing down the hallway. I just made it to the bedroom when I was tackled into the doorframe and collapsed into the bedroom. I clawed at the carpet to get out from underneath the weight of his body. His hands gripped onto my pants, keeping me from getting very far. My heart was thundering and my hands were shaking, but I couldn’t lose it if I wanted to make it out of here alive.
I swung my leg up as much as I could, barely making contact with his leg. I didn’t give up. I just kept kicking out, swinging and punching, doing anything to get the asshole off me. I finally got a little wiggle room and pulled my leg out just enough to slam my foot back into his face. Blood spurted from his nose, allowing me just seconds to crawl out from under him.
Adrenaline shot through me, forcing my body forward and propelling me onto the bed. I rolled across it and landed next to the nightstand, flinging the drawer open and yanking the gun out. When I looked up, Wes was standing up and charging toward me. I didn’t hesitate. I flicked off the safety and fired several times until he finally stopped and fell to the ground. I sank back against the wall, shaking in terror and unable to do anything more than stare at the man lying in front of me.
To my horror, the man stood up, his grin sending shivers down my spine. He ripped open his shirt, revealing a bullet-proof vest that had caught every single shot I put in him. I raised my gun again and fired, but there were no bullets left. I hadn’t bothered to check how many shots were in the magazine since I started staying here. I never thought I would need it. Now I wished I had. I would have made better use of them.
He stalked toward my cowering frame, each step measured and calculating. There was nowhere for me to run. Two men stepped into the room behind him and blocked any route of escape. He towered over me, pulled a gun from his holster, and pointed it right at my head. As he motioned for me to stand, I had to hold the wall to actually make it up. Leaning against the wall was the only way to stay upright at this point.
“I told you I would be back for you. Did you doubt me, Shyla?”
“You sent me to die,” was all I could say.
“Please, if I wanted you dead, I would have put a bullet in your head.” He spun around and shot one of his men right in the middle of the forehead. His body slumped to the ground in a bloody heap and the other man kicked him over and out of the way. “See?” Wes grinned as he turned around to face me. “I knew those men wouldn’t give up until they found you. It would have been a shame if they weren’t smart enough to find you. Such a waste of a good body.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, so you might as well put a bullet in my head now,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.
“Do you really think you have a choice?” He laughed and then shrugged. “Well, how about this. I’ll make you a deal. You can choose one of two fates. One, you come with me and be mine, in every way that I demand, or two, you stay here, with your brains splattered on the ground.”
“I’ll take number two.”
“Let me tell you the provisions that go along with both. The first, you will tell me everything you can about getting into the Reed Security building.” I was shaking my head before he even finished speaking. There was no way I could give up information on the men that had already done so much to help me. “Don’t say no
yet. There’s something that you want more than anything. Would you like to know?”
I didn’t want to say yes. A man like this couldn’t be trusted. But even when my head was telling me not to trust him, my heart was thundering out of control, telling me that he might be able to give me the one thing that I desperately wanted to find. My daughter. I gave a tight nod.
“See? I knew you’d want to hear me out. If you come with me, I will help you get your daughter back. I know where she is and I can infiltrate them and have her back to you in no time. But my dear, you will never leave my side after that, at least, not until I choose to get rid of you.”
“What’s the second option,” I asked in a shaky voice.
“Ah, the second option. I will either shoot you and let you die instantly, or tie you up in here and barricade the doors and windows while I set the house on fire and give you a chance to get out on your own. It’s not much of a chance, but it would still give you the slightest opportunity to get your daughter back. However, after I eliminate Reed Security, there’ll be no one left to help you.”
“So, my options are to go with you and become your prisoner for the rest of my life, however long you choose it to be, but I will have my daughter back. But I also have to betray the men that have been helping me in order for you to gain access to their building. Or, I can stay here and die by a bullet to the head or try and fight my way out of here while a fire rages on.”
“Yes, that’s correct. But make no mistake, if you choose to come with me, I will never let you or your daughter go. You will stay with me until a time that I get tired of having you around. And if you don’t come with me, you’ll most likely die, but at least you have a shot of getting out of here and getting your daughter back. You could live your life on your own terms and I won’t ever come for you again. So, Shyla, which will it be?”
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