I gripped her arm, yanking her up so hard and fast that she slammed into my chest. "Look around you. Do you really want me to abandon you here? Alone with all these armed guards? You're safest with me at this point, Kitten."
Her face paled and an alien ping of guilt hit me. I didn't want that fear. I wanted her snark and fight. That was what made it fun.
Fuck this. It was past time to leave.
I tugged her towards the hall when the sounds of footsteps running by sounded.
Shit.Dropping Becks’ arm, I went to the window and looked out to see what was happening. A black Lexus rolled up and, sure enough, Alek, along with three soldiers, stepped out.
What the fuck was he doing back here so soon? He should be at the hospital with his woman.
"Who is that?" asked Becks, who had come up behind me.
"Daisy's boyfriend," I muttered before grabbing her arm again and pulling her in the opposite direction of the window. "Time to go."
By now, the men out front would be telling Alek that I was on the property. They wouldn't have known that I wasn't allowed to be here.
But Alek would know. And Alek would be out for blood. Becks would only work as a human shield for so long and, since Daisy wasn't actually here, who knew if Alek would care if she got hurt or not. If a bullet went through her to get to me, Daisy would never have to know.
We were now trapped in this fucking hellhole.
Fuck!
I knew the layout of the mansion like the back of my hand and went through all the possible exits. Unfortunately, each of those exits also had guards posted. Each of those guards had comms and were now alerted to shoot me on sight.
I couldn't exit. But I could hide. And I knew the perfect place to hide. It sure as fuck wasn't the best answer but it would work.
"Come on, Kitten. We're going down." Her arm was for sure going to bruise from my punishing grip, but that was the least of my sins from today. She didn't know that right now my grip was keeping her alive.
Sure, I was the one that had put her in danger, but that was in the past at this point.
Once we were in the hallway, we were totally exposed, the open floorplan and bright Miami sun making me feel even more vulnerable. The only thing working to our advantage was that Alek had just arrived. Everyone was focused on the front of the house, and we were going to the back.
I made a quick turn and Becks tripped, falling into my side. Without pausing, I pulled her into me, wrapping an arm around her waist as my other arm opened the door to the basement and pulled her down the stairs.
Basements weren't common in Florida, but this had been specially added. It was a paranoid creation thought up by paranoid minds.
But it was necessary. At the bottom of the stairs was a simple metal door and a keypad. The code was long and complex and burned into my brain. It was twenty digits long, and Alek and I each had our own separate ones.
The lock clicked open and hissed as the airlock released and the two inches of reinforced, bulletproof metal swung open.
Becks immediately started to pull away. "What the hell is this? Some kind of murder room?"
It was kind of the opposite, but I don't think if I told her that she'd believe me. And I don't know how honest I'd be. I strong-armed her into the room, and pulled the door shut behind us, re-entering the much shorter activation code on this side of the door.
And just like that, the lock re-engaged and the airlock hissed back in place.
"What the hell did you just do?" asked Becks, her voice getting softer. She backed away from me as if she had anywhere to go.
I turned to look around. The plan was to do bi-annual maintenance of the panic room, but I hadn't been down here in over a year.
Becks better get used to this place, and me, because we were going to be stuck here together for a while.
I looked her up and down and tried not to smile. She was about to be my main source of entertainment.