“Why did you bring spray paint?” I whisper-hissed, my heart still thundering in my chest. I fucking hated jump scares. It made my blood pressure soar.
“It was in my bag. You didn’t give me a lot of time to sort through my shit,” she defended, her eyes as big and startled as mine. We both needed to calm down.
Exhaling, I shot Kenna a glower and bent to pick up the spray can. My fingers brushed the tip of the metal bottle when I was suddenly jerked back. A hand wrapped around my waist, another clamping over my mouth. Hot air rushed over the nape of my neck as the voice of my living nightmare murmured near my ear.
“Hello, Splash. What an unexpected surprise. You just became my insurance policy.”
Everything in me became hyperaware. A bolt of fear lanced through me, and my joints all locked up. I went rigid, unable to move, to scream. The few moments of frozen fear would haunt me later. My first reaction should have been to thrust my elbow or my head back, anything to dislodge the grip he had on me. That hesitation cost me.
Kenna let out a muffled shriek as her gaze landed on Sterling. She recovered quicker than I did, shock transforming into anger. “Let her go,” she snarled as she reached into her bag and pulled out pepper spray.
He disregarded Kenna like she was a pesky fly buzzing around his head. Sterling reinforced his hold against me, caging me tighter to the point that I squeaked. “I don’t have plans to hurt you unless you give me a reason to. All I want is a trade. You for my sister.” He might have ignored my cousin, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of her. The bastard kept his face cleverly hidden behind mine so Kenna couldn’t spray him without also hitting me.
“I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth,” he said. “If either of you screams, though, I’ll be forced to hurt you.” The hand cautiously lifted from my lips, and I contemplated biting him, but something sharp poked into my side.
I was afraid I knew what it was. Deathly afraid.
A knife.
I captured Kenna’s gaze and gave just the smallest shake of my head, advising her not to do anything. Not yet. She wasn’t thrilled, but perhaps she saw my face pale, or the shaking horror that trembled in my eyes.
It was difficult to keep still. My breathing became heavier due to the threat poking me in my side, and I feared if I didn’t calm down, I would accidentally cut myself.
That would be just my luck.
Distract. Distract. Distract.It was the only thing I could think of. Buy time until the Elite were alerted. Or worse, I let Sterling take me and put my trust in that Micah would make sure I left here unharmed.
“Sadie is your sister?” I asked, doing my best to keep my shaky voice steady and failing.
“Don’t fucking say her name,” he seethed, sounding deranged.
Whoa, touchy much?I didn’t see why he was so damn defensive about a name, but I packed that info away for later. I had a button to push, and when the time came, I would use it.
He took a breath, the tip of the blade shifting with the movement. When he regained his composure, he ordered, “Move. You first,” he instructed Kenna.
She flipped him off as she passed by, heading toward the sketchy warehouse. I took the fact that he wasn’t worried about what she had in her bag as a godsend.
With his knee, Sterling nudged me forward. My legs obeyed, sloppily trying to trudge over the uneven ground.
I closed my eyes briefly, the severity of the situation sinking in.Holy shit. I just put a supersized wrench in the guys’ tactical plan.Talk about a fucking plot twist, but I should have seen this coming, and I had no one to blame but myself… and Sterling. He was partially to blame seeing as I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t used me.
It was fine. All I had to do was find a way to turn this around in my favor—in the Elite’s favor.
Would Micah be fuming?
Yes.
But after what he put me through, fuck it. He could deal with it. All the secrets and lies… yeah, those were on him. Prick. I had about a dozen other colorful adjectives for Micah, but underneath my fear and anger lingered hurt. And love.
I couldn’t stop myself from loving him. No amount of anger or heartache could white out the way I felt about him.
I tried for years.
It was time I accepted that Micah had my heart. Whether or not he ever stopped breaking mine, he was my one true love.
Kenna entered the warehouse through the same door we saw the boys disappear into. For a split second, I could see her considering her options. She bit the corner of her lip, holding the door, but ultimately she didn’t want to leave me alone, even though she could have slammed the door in Sterling’s face and taken off, yelling for the guys.
I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or disappointed in her decision.