Shock.
She was in shock.
When she didn’t move another step, Beckham scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the room. She didn’t even have the words to argue with him. To shout at him and tell him to leave her alone. To tell him how much better her life had been without him in it.
The man who had forced Beckham to leave directed them down a hallway to where another door was located. It wasn’t quite as large as the Vault door, but still looked sturdy.
“I’ll have to lock up behind you.”
“That’s fine. I’ll have my driver pick us up from our location,” Beckham said.
Then he carried Reyna through the door and out into a long open tunnel completely devoid of any- and everything. The club door slammed behind them, sealing itself shut, and casting them into utter darkness.
Chapter 28
Once the door closed behind them, Beckham eased her back onto her unsteady feet. She stumbled a bit and clutched onto the wall to right herself. Even if she had been about to pass out all over again, she wouldn’t have wanted to stay in Beckham’s arms. The wall was cool to her touch and she tried to use the sturdy feel of it to bring her back to herself. Images flashed before her eyes—fangs sinking into flesh, leering eyes, a ripped corset, shuddering walls. She closed her eyes and tried to force away her panic.
She was out of there.
No one could hurt her.
Except the man before her, who from the start had promised to break her.
Reyna peeled her eyes back open and let them adjust to the darkness. Beckham was standing before her but his eyes were cast down the tunnel contemplatively, which was when she noticed that the tunnel wasn’t as dark as anticipated. It was dimly lit from the roof at random intervals.
Beckham pulled his phone out of his pocket. That damn phone. The screen lit up his face, where fear lingered despite the fact that they were out of the club. Reyna didn’t know what Beckham could fear.
“Fuck!” he cursed. “No signal.”
Reyna groaned. Great. Just great. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“Finally, something we can both agree on,” Beckham said stubbornly.
Reyna rolled her eyes and then glared at him. “How dare you even say that shit to me right now,” she spat, her voice cold and hard. “If you hadn’t wanted me to come…if you had really wanted Penelope all along, then this is your fault.”
“I told you not to come. You insisted and boxed me into a corner.”
She shook her head. “No one bullies you. I’m your employee, remember? You tell me what to do.”
“Yeah, and right now I’m telling you to stop talking.”
“No,” she said, straightening. “I’m not finished. This entire thing was bullshit and I’m over it. I cannot believe you drank from Penelope. I mean, how fucking dare you!”
“Reyna,” he said, his voice lethal.
“How could you do it?” she asked, almost desperate. “How could you drink from her? After the rooftop…and everything else. How?”
He ground his teeth and then looked away. “It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s not. You won’t drink from me, but you’ll drink from her? That’s not complicated. That’s bullshit.”
“We need to leave. We’ll talk about this later.”
“No, we’ll talk about it now. And we’ll start with this—I don’t want you to ever touch me again,” she growled. “Not ever. You’re a liar, a cheat, and a coward.”
His eyes were steely as he stood taller and flashed his fangs at her. She tried not to show fear, but when he wanted to appear menacing, he was damn good at it. “I have been called many things before, Little One, but I am no coward.”
Reyna held her ground. “A coward is a man torn between two women and leading them both on. So, I’ll make the decision easy for you. I will not be in the middle anymore. I want to go home.”
“Yeah, we’re about to leave. We’ll talk about this more when we get there. We have to walk until we get a signal.”
“No,” Reyna spat. “I mean I want to go home, to my brothers, to the Warehouse District.”
“What?” Beckham’s head snapped over to her, and he stared long and hard.
“You heard me. I’m done. I want to go home,” she told him more forcefully. “I want to get away from this world, this horrible awful world!”
He clenched his jaw, breathed out harshly, and looked away from her. “We’ll talk about this when you calm down.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.”
“We’ll see.”
“I’ve already made my choice.”
“Right now, I just don’t give a damn, Reyna. We’re locked out of the club in a dark abandoned tunnel after I ruined a very important business relationship for you! So forgive me if I don’t want to hear about you wanting to leave and go back home right now. You’ve proven to be more trouble than you’re worth,” he said, gesturing wildly in his anger, “and I just want to get out of here. We can decide about you later.” His eyes were hard. “So, let’s go.”