The truth hit me like a bird falling from the sky. It took me too long to figure out, and I’d put both our lives at risk, but I loved Corbin. He was brass, cocky, and talked little, but I wanted to watch Brad Pitt movies with him all night. Corbin said more with one word and a glance than most men did in a week. I realized it annoyed me greatly, but none of that mattered. None of it mattered because I was completely and utterly madly in love with Corbin Kensington.
Too bad I didn’t figure it out before getting us both killed.
The tall burly man who first captured me outside of the safe house turned back around, glaring at the two of us. Without warning, his fist flew out, and he decked Corbin in the mouth.
I screamed. It was my only reaction to watching the man I just decided I loved hit so hard his head flew back.
“Would you two shut the hell up already?” the man who hit Corbin growled, letting me know it wasn’t a question but a demand. He turned his attention to me. “You’ve got a nice ass. So don’t listen to Eric Wrigley because I’d hit it.”
His gaze traveled up and down my body as he stared at me as if he was mentally undressing me right there in the woods.
Gross.
Before I thought of a witty comeback, Corbin pulled his hand away from mine, created a fist and leveled the man who attacked him. His punch must have been harder because his attacker hit the ground after Corbin’s punch. It was like he decided to sit randomly in the middle of the woods as his ass hit the leaf-covered ground below him.
It happened so quickly, and in another second, he stood and his accomplice’s gun butted against Corbin’s forehead.
“Please don’t hurt him. He didn’t mean it,” I lied. He definitely meant to hit the guy. “Please don’t.”
The man at our back stepped up, getting right into a tight circle as Corbin stared down the person he’d hit, unconcerned he had a gun rubbing against his head.
“You can’t kill them yet, boss. We need his password,” Thumbs said, speaking calmness into the situation.
The guy lowered the gun, and I took a deep breath. “Thank you,” I said, grabbing on to Corbin’s hand so he couldn’t throw another punch. His reddened face and mean expression said he’d do it again.
“Oh, I’m going to kill him, just not yet. Keep walking.”
Corbin and I hesitantly stepped forward, following the man when he walked toward our final destination, wherever that may be.
At first everything was fine. Well, as fine as it could be when walking to your death. The woods stayed quiet, Corbin didn’t punch anyone, and nobody talked. As long as Corbin never gave up the password for the files or admit he already had them, everything would be fine. Totally fine.
Well, relatively fine, given the current situation. They still had guns, and I bet they’d resort to torture when he didn’t give any information right away.
How fine could you really be when surrounded by men with guns who wanted to kill you?
But they hadn’t killed us yet, so, you know, we were relatively fine.
Wow, had my definition of things really changed over the last week. The next time somebody offered me pineapple on pizza, and I wanted to pretend that the world was ending, I’d remember this time in my life and realize how far from the truth warm fruit landed on the F my life scale.
No, I’d probably still turn away pineapple on pizza, even if we survived. It was warm and gooey. Definitely not the texture you wanted with fruit on your pizza.
Some things in life didn’t change, no matter how dire the situation.
Our relatively fine status lasted for about two and a half minutes before Corbin started talking again. And the topic he wanted to discuss was not one the men carrying guns wanted to hear about.
But I didn’t trust him earlier and look at where that got us, so I’d trust him this time and follow along even if I was pretty sure he was only making our deaths quicker.
“What do you think the Grandmaster is going to say when he hears one of his top men has gone rogue, Hazel?”
I speared Corbin with a glance, telling him to shut up. Nobody wanted to know what a notorious mob boss would do when he found out he had two men running through the woods in Maine behind his back. I only hoped that by the time that happened, I would be somewhere warm and safe. Like a police station. Or Disney World.
If I had to pick, I was definitely taking Disney.
If we survived this, no way could I go back to work at All American Bank. I’d empty my bank account and visit Florida’s beaches and Disney. Screw it. I was going to eat pizza in Cinderella’s castle.
Life goals were important when everything else fell to shit around you. Even if those life goals were weird and obtuse as my brain struggled to comprehend my impending death.
“I’m betting he will not be thrilled,” Corbin continued when I didn’t answer.