by Nicole Fox
God, what a relief to see him like that. To see him looking up at me with even a fraction of the same feelings growing in my chest.
“Micah!” he roared. “Micah! You found me! Help me out of these so we can get to my car!”
I left Wilde’s side and ran to him, dropping to my knees, the floor colder than sin on my naked skin. “Ford,” I gasped, reaching behind his back and trying to get at the zip-tie around his wrists. “God, what were you fucking thinking punching him out like that?”
“My pocket,” Ford said. “My pocket knife in my pocket, hurry!”
“Yeah,” Tanner Wilde said, stepping into the walk-in. “What were you thinking, man? I didn’t do anything to you.”
I could hear Ford grinding his teeth beside me as I pulled the knife from his pocket and went to flick it open. “Not my finest moment, I’ll admit. Just get me out of here, and we’ll go, okay? I’m sorry for punching your lights out.”
“Certainly fucking hope not, man,” Wilde said. “Apology fucking accepted. But, eh, what about your friend? The one going up for auction? You’re gonna just ditch her?”
“Not exactly what I want to do,” Ford said as I eased the blade down to his wrists and went to snip the plastic. “But we can still try, I guess.”
“Try what?” Daddy Williams bellowed from behind Tanner Wilde.
My eyes, wide with surprised fear, shot towards him.
He stood there all by himself, his massive girth taking up most of the walk-in door. At least he didn’t have any security with him. But still, in one hand he held a massive kitchen knife, the kind that’s nine inches long and sharper than a razor.
I hadn’t snipped the plastic yet! What was I going to do without Ford? If I went to try and cut the zip-ties, Daddy was certain to see me and make his move.
This was it. The jig was up.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ford
I lay there, my hands still bound behind my back. I reached out with my fingers and brushed them over Micah’s hand to try and get her to drop the folding blade into my grasp.
“Try? N-n-nothing,” Micah said, still on her knees behind me. “I didn’t even know it was Ford in here, Daddy. I was helping Mr. Wilde get some ice on his nose, and we both heard him kicking against the wall, so we came to investigate what the sound was, that’s all. I was just helping him because his arm was hurting him.”
“Is that right?” Daddy sneered. “You just back here out of the goodness of your little heart of gold, huh, girl?”
“Yeah, Daddy, it is,” Tanner said, stepping up. “It is.”
As Daddy shot him a withering look, I began to fumble with the knife, to switch it around in my hand so that I could get the blade onto the plastic.
I still couldn’t believe Micah had come back for me, especially with the way I’d been acting. I’d never been so happy to see someone in my whole life, though. Not just because she was giving me a chance to get out of here, either. Instead, I was just happy to see her beautiful face without a mask on, without her pretending she was attracted to some sleazebag. Even if this all went tits up and I was stuck being a blood sport prize fighter for the rest of my short life, this last look on her face might be enough to sustain me till the end.
“Why don’t you get back to the party, Mr. Wilde?” Daddy growled. Tanner glanced down at the knife in the much bigger man’s hand, then glanced towards Micah.
“Just go, Mr. Wilde,” Micah said. “You don’t wanna be mixed up in this.”
I smiled despite myself. God, if she only would have said the same thing to me all those hours ago, maybe I wouldn’t have been lying on the floor of the walk-in. On the other hand, I never would have met her either, and I never would have fallen so hard for her. What a fucking mixed bag. I worked the edge of the knife up against the plastic and began to cut through.
“You sure, baby?” Tanner asked, taking a step towards her. “Ain’t no way I’m leaving unless you say so.”
Micah, her lips pinched up, nodded. “Just go,” she confirmed.
The Hollywood agent glanced to me questioningly, dried blood still on his face, dripping towel hanging from his hand.
I just nodded. Micah was right. No need for him to decide to be a white knight. I had things handled. Just a little bit more on this zip-tie and I’d be back in the fight.
He sighed a little, then turned and left. He turned back to Micah just before he walked from the kitchen, though. “Hey, Micah, baby. You ever get out of this mess, you look me up out in LA.”
“Sure,” Micah said, her voice more subdued than it should have been with a hotshot LA acting agent offering his contact information. She just looked at the floor, her curls hanging around her face.
With Wilde gone, Daddy’s hand shot out, faster than I’d imagined such a fat man could move, and grabbed her by the wrist. Micah screamed as he pulled her to him and brought up his knife. “Get out of this, huh?” Daddy breathed loud enough for me to hear. “Get out? You think you’re getting out, girl?”
“Williams!” I bellowed from the floor. “You fucking touch her, I’ll gut you myself!”
Micah, twisted up in his grasp, tried to cringe away from him as he brought the giant, gleaming kitchen knife up to her cheek. “Daddy,” she whined. “Don’t . . .”
“Don’t what?” he growled in a cruel mimic of her voice as he wrapped her up more fully in his grasp, his hand going from her wrist to her chest and pulling her back against him. “Don’t cut you? Don’t ruin that pretty face of yours? Is that what I shouldn’t do?”
Finally, the knife finished its job, and the binding around my wrist came free. I clamored to my feet, knife in hand.
Daddy just looked at me, gripping Micah tighter with his giant arm. She looked like a midget in his clutches. “Whatcha gonna do with that pig sticker, son? Think you got what it takes to get me?”
“Deal’s off, Williams,” I growled. “Give me Micah back, and we’ll forget all about the money. No finder’s fee, no extra money. We’ll just go.”
Micah twisted away, her nostrils flaring and her eyes wide, as he brought the knife closer to her cheek. “Ford,” she groaned.
“You hurt her,” I said. “You’re dead. Where’s the profit in that, huh? You ain’t got any security in the room with you. Think I’ll let you walk away?”
“You’d never get out of here, Ford,” Daddy said.
“Why would it matter? I’d have exactly what I want right here, wouldn’t I? You bleeding out on the kitchen floor like a fat, dead pig.”
Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as he seemed to mull over the consequences. “Fine,” he said, lowering the knife to his side and pushing Micah to me.
She ran to my side, encircling my waist with her arms. “But just remember,” Daddy continued with a sneer on his fat lips, “ain’t no one going to pay your debt to Tambor now. You better be gone by sunrise or else he’s going to come for your ass, sure as I would in his place. And even then, he’ll still find you no matter where you go. Tambor don’t like debts hanging out, and we both know it.”
I nodded as Micah squeezed her arms around me more tightly. “Thanks for the advice, asshole. But don’t you have a slave auction to run?”
He glanced down at the knife in his hands and tossed it aside on one of the empty prep tables. “That I do, Ford. That I do.” He turned and left, disappearing back around the corner and pushing out into the hallway.
Micah and I watched as he left, making sure he was gone before embracing and holding each other close. Her heart fluttered against my chest like a small animals, her skin warm, smooth, and wonderful beneath my hands as I held her against my body. I’d never been so happy to see someone, had never held anyone so beautiful so close.
“Ford,” she gasped. “My God, it’s good to see you. I’m so sorry.”
“No,” I winced. “I’m the one that’s sorry. About everything. Things just fell apart when we got in the door, and then when Daddy caught you with my mom’s r
ing—”
“Don’t,” she said, cutting me off. “Don’t apologize for being upset. I should have returned the ring to you the moment we started working together. And I’m sorry I tried to make you jealous like that, with that agent. You’d never have ended up in the walk-in if I hadn’t been trying to get a reaction out of you.”
I stroked her cheek as I looked down into those beautiful dancing eyes of hers. I leaned down, pressed my lips to hers, and kissed her hard.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, ran her fingernails up and down my nape, and groaned into my mouth as my hands ran up and down her half-naked body.
We pulled away. “We’re both sorry,” I said. “Let’s be done with it.”
“Yeah,” she whispered, still playing with the hair at the back of my head, her teasing nails sending chills through me. “The angry sex down in the dungeon was pretty hot, though.”
I grinned. “Yeah. It was, wasn’t it?” But then, I pulled away from her. “We need to get going, Micah. I have a feeling Daddy might change his mind if we stick around for too long.”
“Leave?” she asked, shaking her head. “We can’t leave, Ford. What about the safe, or Kessa? How are you going to get Tambor paid off? And how is my friend going to be safe?” She narrowed her eyes again. “We can’t go yet. We still have things to do here, Ford.”
I nodded slowly. As much as I wanted to cut my losses and just be thankful to have my woman back in my arms, she was right. “Fine,” I said, letting her go from my arms. “But how do we do it?”
She walked over and picked up the kitchen knife. “We split up,” she said as she turned back to me, the knife hanging from her side. “I’ll find Kessa; you find the safe.”
I shook my head. “No fucking way, Micah. That’s way too dangerous.”
“And like what we’ve been doing hasn’t been dangerous? Come on, Ford, it’s our only chance to do both, especially with Daddy’s attention somewhere else. You know I’m right.”
I frowned. Yeah. I knew she was. Didn’t mean I had to like it, though.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Micah
The closer we became, the more Ford and I seemed to have to split apart. Whether it was him taking me home, us getting into the Mansion, or now this, we seemed to have to go our separate ways. But, like the previous two times, we’d come back together. I just knew it. At least, that’s what I hoped.
I gave him directions back to Daddy’s office and instructions on how to get into the safe. I’d held back the information because I figured I’d need it as a leash to keep him at my side, a sort of insurance policy so he wouldn’t go running off in his own. Now though, I knew he’d do whatever it took to get back to my side, just like I’d do the same for him.
He pulled me into his arms, careful to avoid the giant knife in my hand, and kissed me again. His scruffy upper lip scratched a little, but I got him back with my red lipstick.
“Micah,” he said, hesitating over his words for a moment. Here it came, I knew. “I . . . be careful, okay?”
I touched his cheek again as I stared up into his eyes. “You too, Ford. We’ll be fine, okay? I promise. You get the money; I’ll get Kessa. Easy.”
He nodded curtly. “Yeah.” He let me go. “Nothing’s ever that easy.”
I smiled and licked my lips a little. “No. But if it was, would it be worth doing?”
He laughed. “Guess not. Ready?”
We split up from the kitchen. I headed back the way Wilde and I had come in initially, and Ford took a right, back through food prep towards Daddy Williams’ office.
God, this was stupid. Ford was probably right. We probably should have just left and abandoned Kessa to her fate. But I knew, deep down, that I’d never be able to sleep at night if I abandoned her to Daddy Williams. No way, no how. What kind of human being would I be if I did that, if I let my only friend in the world fall by the wayside?
No. This was the right thing to do. No matter how much Ford or I disliked it.
I pushed through the swinging double doors of the kitchen and stepped back into the hallway. I took a left and headed deeper into the building without looking both ways.
“Hey!” hissed a voice behind me, a voice I recognized.
I spun around, knife raised.
“Whoa there, baby!” Wilde said, hands up in front as I whirled on him with the big kitchen blade at the ready. “Save that for someone who needs an iron supplement, kid. I’m just here to help!”
I looked up to the ceiling. “Tanner, what are you doing here?”
“Saw Daddy come back into the party just after I left, and I figured you and that guy might need some help. Besides, I wanted to give you my card.”
I groaned. “Your card? This shit’s serious, Tanner.”
“Don’t I know it? This is way crazier than in the movies. But don’t you think that means you shouldn’t look this gift horse in the mouth, huh?”
I sighed. “Fine,” I admitted. “You’re right.”
“What’s shaking, anyways? What’re we trying to do?”
“My friend Kessa,” I said. “We’re trying to get her out.”
“Kessa? Isn’t she one of the last ones up? Any idea where they’re keeping her?”
I shook my head. “No. No idea. Have you heard anything?”
He thought about it for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “That’s it! I heard some of the girls on the auction block, they’re being kept somewhere where some of the buyers can go sample ’em. That’s what Daddy said when he got back in.”
That’s when it hit me. The dungeon, of course! What better place to sample your prospective sex slave than the only room in the building where you could punish them, too? “I think I know where they’re keeping her,” I said. “There’s a room down in the basement.”
“Do you know how to get there?”
I shivered as a little memory passed through me. “Yes,” I nodded. “But there’s probably going to be guards there. At least on the door.”
He nodded. “Well, let’s see what we can do.”
I nodded, smiled weakly. “Right. Let’s go.”
Together, me and the turns-out-not-so-sleazy Hollywood agent headed through the halls of the mansion till we found the hallway that led to the dungeon. The dungeon was located in one of the nicer parts of the Mansion, with waist-high vases at the corners and paintings hanging from the walls, unlike the areas around the kitchen that were much more institutional looking.
We slunk up to the edge and I poked my head around. There was one of Daddy’s men, staring down at his cell phone, the blue light illuminating his rough, oafish features.
I pulled back from the entrance. “Just one guard,” I whispered.
“Is he big?” Tanner asked nervously.
I nodded. “Big.” I didn’t want to kill the guy with my knife or anything. The last thing I wanted was blood on my hands. I glanced around the hall, looking for something I could use, and my eyes settling on the vase. “Maybe you could distract him?” I asked. “Get him to come past the hallway?”
“Distract him? Why not you?”
“Because they know who I am, and I’m not supposed to be wandering around, that’s why not.”
“Well, what should I say to him?”
“You work with actors,” I hissed. “Figure something out. Now go.”
Sheepishly, like he’d finally realized just what in the hell he’d gotten himself wrapped up in, Tanner Wilde stepped out into the hallway and headed off to the security guard. “Hey, man! Hey? Buddy? You work security here, right?”
I darted over, picked up the heavy-looking vase across the way, and hefted it in my hand. It easily weighed ten pounds or more.
“Yes, sir. I work security here. Can I help you?”
“I just heard a girl up the way, crying in one of the bedrooms, saying she was bleeding real bad, so I looked in. She was alone in one of those rooms, blood everywhere, buddy. You gotta help her out.”
“I�
�ll call it in, sir. Thank you.”
“No,” Tanner said. “You don’t get it. Real bad, blood fucking everywhere, man. Like, she needs help now, not later. You want a dead hooker on your hands?”
“Probably not,” the security guard grudgingly admitted. “Remember which room?”
“Sure thing,” Wilde said. “She’s down this way.”
