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AUbrY

This is all going according to plan.

“Aubry…”

Sneak in via a few old contacts in the kitchen.

“Aubry?”

Get them to take me right to her room and…

“Aubry!”

“What?”

My long gait slows as I face the next turn to the elevator. If that’s clear, then all we have to do is take the ramp into the garage, and we’re home free.

Sadie shifts in my arms. With both hands clinging to the gun, she shouts, “What the hell is going on?”

“That is…” I turn the corner.

Shit! Two black suits stand before the elevator. Could be high rollers or businessmen slumming it after losing their shirt, but just as likely they work for the boss. Hefting Sadie up, I twist in place and run for the stairs. Not ideal as we’re on the twelfth floor, but down is easier than up.

“Ah!” An elderly couple step out of a room just as we go running past.

“Sorry,” I call back.

“Ethel! Don’t look!”

Bursting through the fire door and onto cement, cold burns up my feet.

I pay it almost no attention and hoof it down the stairs.

Sadie starts to bounce in my arms, her voice hopping with every stair.

“I was at home then suddenly a man grabs me. Next thing I know, I’m in a van with people who listen to podcasts about vegetables. ”

“The Bells,” I think aloud. They consider it sophisticated to listen to podcasts and default to anything they think will destroy their enemies. I rather doubt the perfect broccoli gratin casserole will put the fear of god into the Brassicas.

“You know them?” Sadie gasps.

I lock my jaw in on default. My instincts tell me to deny, but what’s the point? She’s already been kidnapped, threatened…or worse.

“What did they do to you?”

“Who?”

“The Bells! Your…! Your kidnappers.”

Our voices echo off the cement while I scrape my hip on the metal banister. I hope no one in the cheap hotel can hear us.

Sadie’s gone quiet. Is she protecting them? How long does Stockholm syndrome take? “No,” she says with a quiver.

“Then why are you covered in blood?”

“Because one of them tried to get me to drink his pee.”

My foot damn near misses the step. “He what?”

“But the other one punched him for drinking it instead.”

This place has gone to shit so fast without me. Not even six months gone and they’re already drinking urine?

A foot slams out, snagging on the wall. I freeze, terrified I might snap her ankle, while Sadie stares up at me. “Now, are you going to tell me—” She lowers her foot, but starts to slide out of my hold. I don’t fight her, but my hands keep clenching.

She could look a lot worse. I know that. There isn’t any sign of bruising on her eyes or cheeks. She didn’t yelp when I picked her up. But the blood across her chest has me seeing red. That didn’t come from nowhere.

Locking both hands on her hips, she stares up at me like I’m about to get the scolding of a lifetime. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Hey!” The fire door kicks open and smashes into the wall. “He’s down here!” a voice calls from high above my head.

“No time!” I shout, grab Sadie’s hand, and yank her down the stairs.

“Fuck, shit, ouch…!” she moans, keeping pace, but struggling.

“What’s the matter? Did they do something to your legs? Your feet? Your—” I curl my toes, telling myself that if anyone hurt her, I would come back and inflict the same pain a thousand fold.

“No. It’s my breasts. Damn it!” She lets go of my hand in order to slap both of hers over her chest. “I’m not wearing a bra.”

We’re being chased by dangerous armed men, but the sight of her tits bouncing freely cuts off all the blood to my brain. “So I noticed,” I mumble.

“Hey!” Sadie taps her finger against the gun that’s digging into her free-swaying tits. The thought of her covering her nipples with just the gun smacks me in the back of the head blanking all thought. “We’re running!” she cries out, then stares down at me.

Right. Shit. They’ll be on us any second. We can’t take the garage exit. They’ll close that down first. “Come on.” I take her arm to pull her along, but Sadie’s stuck in place. “Sadie!”

“Huh?” She dreamily looks up and I realize what she’s been staring at this whole time. Rather than wither in shame, my cock leaps at the attention. Fuck has it missed her.

As have I.

“Oh, shit. The mafia.” Sadie shakes her head and finally takes off with me. I hang back, hoping that if the bullets start flying my body will bear the brunt and shield hers.

“How do you know they’re the mafia?”

“They kidnapped me, duct taped my wrists, blindfolded me, put me in a hotel room, and told me I’m bait for some guy named Talong. I don’t even know a Talong.”

I gulp.

“That’s got to be mafia. I mean if they were actual kidnappers, there’d have been a ransom. And they’d have realized no one would pay it.”

“You’re right. They’re the Nightshade crime family.”

Sadie’s skin breaks out in goosebumps. I rub my hands over her shoulders and spot our exit. “Run down there!” I tell her and hang back by another door.

“Talong!” My real name booms through the stairwell like a grenade. I crane my head back while keeping an eye on her. Sadie’s made it to the ground floor exit while I stay on the second. We have to time this perfectly.

“Now!” I tell her.

Cement explodes around me. Sadie rushes back up the stairs to save me, but I shake my head. “Go!”

Biting her lip, she throws the door open as far as possible and runs through.

“We just want to talk, Talong.” Another bullet flies right by my head. Bit hard to talk with a slug in my brain.

I wrench open the second floor door, then I scramble to the banister.

“Where the hell is he?” Blam!

Fuck! A bullet grazes my arm, splitting my skin. Biting my tongue, I leap down the stairs.

“Keep shooting!”

“What if we hit him?”

Ugh! With a painful thud I land and scramble for the closing door.

“It’ll slow him down.”

“What if we kill him?”

No, no, no! It’s closing too fast. Sucking in my gut, I twist to the side and dive. Metal scrapes over my bare chest, threatening to spring back open and ruin everything. Warm hands grab my arm and yank me the last few inches. The door slams shut.

Panting, I’m tempted to listen to them falling for the ruse, but we have to keep moving.

“Aubry, your arm!” Sadie gasps, trying to mop up my blood with her palm.

“It’s fine,” I grunt. “We have to get out of here.” Taking her hand, I try to run but my legs scream at me.

I couldn’t shake off that fall as much as I wanted to.

With a hobble, I make it down the ground floor hallway.

People linger by doors, or start to come out of their rooms. I reach over and slam their opening doors, or shove them back in.

No one can see us. No one can know we’re here.

“Where is here?” Sadie asks as we come upon the door.

With a deep breath, I fling it open.

A wall of sound and lights hit us with the fury of Dionysus. Sadie’s eyes go wide as she steps from the hotel beige carpet onto the tell-tale red.

“This is a casino? We’re in a casino?”

“Welcome to Vegas,” I say. Whatever happens in Vegas follows you to your grave. Running in a casino is the surest way to get every guard on our asses.

Taking a deep breath, I drape my arm over Sadie’s shoulders and put on a smile. “We have to blend in.”

“Aubry?”

I walk her onto one of the slots floors.

Cabinets lit up with promises of money from raiding Grandma’s cookie jar, or stealing out of the fridge blare around us.

A handful of waitresses in the same grocery apron wander around, drinks at the ready for the serious gamers.

Some are locked in at the slots, others are standing, furiously chain smoking while weighing how much more they cannot afford to lose—then doing it anyway.

“We’re just two tourists on our first time in Vegas.”

“Aubry.”

People glance over, then return to their slots. Then the heads turn again. Jaws drop.

Shit. I forgot Sadie’s in her underwear. Are they fucking leering at her? Not the time. “Blending. Blending. They’ve seen weirder here,” I assure her.

The heads that were turning to follow us start to whisper, then shout. Then people are standing. What the…?

“Aubry!” Sadie cries out. “You’re naked!”

Oh, crap! The waitress went to get security.

“Run.” I spin on my heel and a man grabs my shoulder. Sunglasses. Dark suit.

“I’ve got—”

My fist flies, flattening his throat. The guy gasps for air when I slam into his stomach and send him toppling. But there are others by the bistro. Looks like a meeting getting out. Fuck. I need a distraction. A diversion. A…

Perfect. I grab the gun out of Sadie’s hands. “Hey!” she cries out as I point it at the ceiling.

“Everyone!” I shout over the stares, then fire off a round. “Start running!”

Two more shots and the chaos I need erupts.

People leap from their seats and rush for an exit.

Any exit. And the casino is designed to be a maze.

Some run forward while others go back, each one plowing into the men coming for us.

I glance over and catch a hint of a red suit moving from the dark recesses of the bistro.

“Let’s go!” I take Sadie by the arm and join the crowd. We can’t go out the front door. We need a place to hide. Somewhere they won’t think to look. Somewhere that’s…

My eyes trail across one of the banners for Crudité where a smiling tomato welcomes all. It’s perfect.

“Fuck.”