“The fuck?”

That was my cue. I ripped the locks off the door and flew out into the complete fucking chaos.

I wasn't wrong about it sounded like it was blowing up. There had to have been explosions. Bombs or what-the-fuck-ever because there were fires all around the grounds.

People were everywhere, running, looking shocked and unsure what to do.

I didn't think. I didn't even pretend I had any plans of getting away. I made a b-line right for the house.

Break and Alex were still inside.

I needed to get them then get the hell out of there before anyone got any kind of control of the headless-chicken men and made them drag us back.

I flew across the field, shoving into the shoulder of some random lackey as I rounded on the house, taking off toward the back doors that led into the kitchen.

I had just reached for the handle when the doors were flung open from the inside, sending me off balance and falling backward onto my ass. Hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

Then I was looking up and there was Breaker. And Alex.

“They didn't kill you yet?” he asked, giving me an odd smile and reaching an arm down to haul me back onto my feet.

“How'd you get out?” I asked, following as Break moved toward the corner of the house, looking out.

“Lex has a panic room for this kinda thing,” Alex answered at Breaker's silence.

“Heya sweetheart. You alright?” I asked, grabbing her pinkie with mine.

“Yep. Things went boom before Lex could get really twisted.”

There was a strange edge to her words that made them ring untrue, but it wasn't my place to push.

“Right, let's go,” Breaker said, looking back. “Head for the tree line and follow it to the front fence. My truck is still parked outside the gates,” he said, reaching into his pocket and producing a key.

A second later, Alex's pinkie was pulled from mine as Breaker grabbed her hand and pulled her along beside him, her body blocked from the yard by his. I followed behind, similarly blocking her from behind and really wishing I had taken a moment to find a gun somewhere.

But then we were at the front gates, kicking our legs out faster as eyes started to fall on us.

Breaker beeped the locks on the truck as we rounded to it.

“Get in,” Breaker said, moving around the hood, then stopping, tilting his head at Alex who had frozen on the spot. “Doll, get in the fuckin' truck.”

But Alex wasn't paying attention.

Her gaze was focused just beside the empty security booth where, when I squinted against the darkness, I saw a shadow move.

“Break,” my voice called a warning as the shadowed figure came closer. Whoever they were, they were all in black. Tall. Thin. Wearing a hood that was so big it covered their face.

“Who the fuck...” Breaker started, moving toward the figure.

But somehow, Alex was suddenly right by his side, grabbing his arm. “Stop,” she said, her voice quiet but firm as she stared at the figure.

And then a hand snaked out of one of the long dark sleeves, moving upward, and pushing the hood off her head.

Yes. Her.

And she was a fucking knockout. Not in my way. But regardless. Small. But fierce. Delicate face, long straight black hair, dark brows, big blue eyes, and what looked like tats snaking up the side of her neck.

“The fuck...” Breaker said, something like recognition in his voice though her face was new to me.

“You guys need to move. Now,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling a small remote out.

Alex nodded, pulling Breaker back.

“Now,” she said again, a little more urgently.

“In the truck,” Breaker said, moving backward toward the driver's door.

Alex paused, reaching an arm out like she wanted to grab the woman's hand though they were far apart. “Thank you,” she said with feeling then ran to her side of the car and threw herself into the passenger.

I gave the girl a wink, getting into the minuscule backseat of the truck, watching out the window as the girl slowly moved down the driveway, away from the house. She watched us for a moment as we drove away before moving herself into the center of the street, turning toward the house, and lifting her remote-laden hand.

“How the fuck do you know Janie from Hailstorm?” Breaker asked the exact second the blast made the truck jolt, our ears pop, and Lex's house fucking... explode.

Twenty-one

Alex

In the end, the glass bottle trick did work. I just wasn't prepared for the show of force. I had been half-expecting Bob to come in the middle of the night horny with a handful of date rape drugs. I was prepared for that. I had Breaker's gun sitting beside my hand on the surface of the table with Jstorm's burner phone as well. Right before I drifted off, I found Breaker's burner in my pocket, staring at it for a long, long time, fighting the urge to open it and call him. Then, wiping my arm across my cheeks to rub the tears away, I removed the SIM card and banged at it and the phone itself with the butt of the gun until there was no temptation left.

Then I went to sleep.

Prepared for Creepy Bob.

Not, however, prepared to hear the bottle drop and crack apart with the other bottles just seconds... seconds before three huge men stormed into the room, hauling me out of my chair before my hand could even reach for the gun.

And that was how Lex got his slimy hands on me again.

I was dragged to a car, one hand like a vice around my center, one pressing hard against my mouth, then hauled into the backseat and on the lap of the man who was holding me. A man who was hard doing so. So I didn't struggle.

Then we were driving.

After that, I was being hauled up a driveway into Lex's ridiculous estate. I was dragged through the kitchen, down the stairs, into a finished basement, then into an unfinished portion of the basement. The hand moved from my mouth, but only to be replaced with a gag. The arm moved from my waist to cuff my hands behind my back, the bracelets too tight, biting into my skin.

And then I was left in that bathroom. For the better part of a day.

Only to be un-cuffed and un-gagged and hauled out to see Shooter sitting in the chair looking very much like he had been there a while and I felt the bolt of realization that he had been there all along. If only I had gotten to the door. Gotten his attention...

But it was too late for that.

And Breaker was there.

Alright. So maybe I told myself that I was taking my feelings for him and putting them in a chest deep inside to be opened never. But all it took was one look at him and the chest burst open and all the feelings slipped out raw and wet and painful.

Then his words smarted across my face like a slap.

He was going to leave me there. I was pretty sure I was a little bit in love with the man and he was going to... leave me to the man I hated the most in the whole world. A man who completely destroyed my life in more ways than one.

I shared my body with Breaker. I'd bared my soul.

And he was going to turn his back on me?

But then Joshua walked into the room and shock replaced the betrayal.

Joshua Kaidisen. Glenn knew him way back when they were pre-pubescent boys playing video games and sneaking around the internet looking for dirty pictures. Back when Joshua wasn't the looker he turned out to be. Glenn had showed me pictures once of the two of them. Glenn pudgy as a kid, bespectacled, a shorter version of his adult self. But Joshua had been the quintessential ugly duckling. He was thin to the point of gaunt, all arms and legs, making him resemble a skeleton more than a flesh and blood person. His skin had been ravaged by the kind of acne that garnered the moniker 'pizza face' for years. And from what Glenn said, he had been awkward and bumbling with a slight speech impediment that made him painfully insecure.