Page 59 of Hunted

“Okay,” she whispers, dropping her head to rest against my back.

We sit in tense silence for a while, hearing some occasional loud noises coming from another part of the house as we wait for someone to find us. I just hope it’s someone on our side.

After a few minutes pass with no sound, I start to grow anxious, wondering why it’s so quiet. Is it over? Are West and Reece unconscious… or dead?

Chapter sixteen

Reece

Istare at the shattered remains of the window, my chest rising and falling as I try to catch my breath. My fists clench tightly at my side, sore and bleeding from throwing punches as I hold the phone to my ear with my other hand.

“Thanks, Arnold,” I say into the phone.

“Am I to assume we’re moving up the timeline?” he wisely asks.

I nod as I reply, “Yeah, we’re leaving. Now.”

“I’ll handle the arrangements. And I’ll bring you a new vehicle, yours may have been compromised.”

I squeeze my eyes tightly shut and sigh. Fuck. He’s right. “Thanks, Arnold.”

We hang up and the crunching of glass underfoot draws my attention to West coming back inside from where he was making sure there was nobody else out there.

He shakes his head, then looks around the rest of the space. “Where are the others?”

“They’re protecting Darla. Let’s go get them.” I start to walk towards the hall as I grumble, “It’s time we go.”

I peek into each bedroom and seeing no sign of them, my pulse starts to quicken. Did they get to them somehow? Were there more that snuck in a different way?

“The coast is clear!” I yell. Holding my breath, I stand in the middle of the hall, listening for any sign of movement and praying I hear a response.

Luckily, I only have to wait a few seconds before I hear King yell, “We’re in here!”

We quickly go into the last bedroom, as King comes out from behind a curtain he must have been hiding behind.

“Where’s Darla and Bower?” I ask, my eyes scanning the room.

King walks up to the closet and pulls the door open, West and I practically pushing him aside to look in.

Bower is sitting on the ground, and a look of relief crosses his face when he sees us, his clenched fists relaxing.

He seems uninjured, and I try to peer around him to where Darla is obviously hiding. “Is she okay?” West and I ask in unison.

She pokes her head out from around Bower’s side, and her eyes go wide at the sight of us. She scans my body, then gasps, jumping to her feet as she runs to me and grabs my hand, looking at my blood-covered knuckles. I probably should have cleaned that up before coming in here. But my need to see her was too strong to wait.

“Oh my God! Are you okay? What happened?!” she asks in alarm. Her head turns to West, and she grabs his right hand, inspecting it, but unlike me, he did more damage with his feet.

“We’re okay, darling. Did you get hurt at all?” I hold her arms as I inspect her body. She shakes her head, and I turn her around, seeing not so much as a scratch.

“You’re not okay, Reece. You’re bleeding. Come on, I can fix this.”

She tries to drag me by my arm from the room, but I stand firm. “Wait. We need to talk first. All of us.” I scan the others as Bower exits the closet, my eyes scanning him and King for any signs of injury. But luckily, I seem to be the most hurt out of all of us.

“Those were mercenaries. They obviously know where we are. We need to go. Arnold is bringing us a new vehicle; we leave within the hour.”

“I’ll pack,” King says with a nod.

“Me too,” Bower offers.