21. Lexi
Chapter twenty-one
“Lexi!”
“Lexi!”
“LEXI, WAKE UP!!”
My eyes fly open, and the first thing I see is my best friend’s husband standing in a robe. Lee’s terrified expression bores down on me, his hands gripping my shoulders as he shakes me awake.
When I don’t move, he shakes me again. “Lexi! Get up, NOW!”
I struggle to take in the unfamiliar surroundings. I’m in some sort of man cave or hunting cabin. Lifeless, dead animals with black pits for eyes are mounted on every square inch of the place.
“Where the hell am I?” I sit up and face Lee, my eyes still tracing every bit of the room as quickly as I can. My head is spinning. “Where’s Capri? And why are you screaming at me?!”
“I don’t know where she is.” His voice laced with panic as he grabs my arm and pulls me off the leather sofa. My sweat-slicked skin makes a disgustingly unladylike noise as I peel away from the leather. I cringe when I see the moisture buildup on the couch.
How gross.
I look down at my dress and sigh. I should have changed into my silk pajamas and out of this stupid sequined ensemble.
Or at the very least, put some real shoes on.
These three-inch heels won’t be very kind on my feet if I need to walk further than ten steps.
You’d think whoever kidnapped me would have made sure I had proper getaway gear on before placing me in this stupid mancave.
At least I’m not wearing a robe like Lee is. Why is he wearing a robe anyway?
“Where’s my phone?” I ask, searching the couch cushions. “It has to be here somewhere!” Panic crawls up my throat as I frantically continue my search with no luck.
“Lexi…” Lee’s voice turns stern, like he’s trying to coax a stubborn child into eating their vegetables, knowing damn well those peas are only going to end up on the floor. “We have to run. Now!”
I furrow my brows at him in exasperation. “Why? What’s your deal, dude?” Usually, he’s so calm, collected, and utterly unfazed by the chaos of life going on around him. It’s one of the few things I envy about Capri; she’s got a catch of a husband who takes all her neurosis in stride.
If only the rest of us could get that lucky.
I’m startled by a loud bang behind me. I turn to see an axe—a literal axe—poking through the mahogany wooden door just feet away from us.
“That is my deal! Now you’d better get up and start running, or I’ll be forced to explain to my wife that I left her best friend behind to die because she was too full of herself to listen!” Lee shouts the last part, spit flying out of his mouth as the vein in his forehead pulsates viciously.
I’ve never seen this man scared before. It just now dawns on me that I should be scared, too. That fear kicks into overdrive the minute the axe-wielding crazy person strikes the door behind me again.
“Well then!” I yell at Lee. “Lead the way since you seem to know everything!”
He grabs my arm, and we bolt toward the back of the house, or at least I think it’s the back. I’ve obviously never been here before, and I don’t know why I’m here now.
The last thing I remember is answering the knock at my door, Josh strolling into my room with a smirk…and then…smoke?
No. There was another knock on the door right after Josh said he needed to take a shower. Someone threw something into my room that gassed us.
Lee throws open another door at the end of the hall, and we plunge inside. He locks the door behind us as I quickly scan the room for whatever I can use to block the door from the axe-wielding psychopath out there.
Who gassed us earlier? And why the hell is there a person with an axe coming after us now?
“Come help me with this!” I shout, struggling to push a heavy wooden dresser toward the door. It’s a solid piece of furniture, heavy and sturdy, unlike that crap particle wood they sell nowadays.
With his help, we get the door blocked and stand in silence, listening for noises outside of our heavy, panicked breathing. I’m too out of breath to speak, but I desperately want to grill Lee with questions.
Why are we here?
How did we get here?
Where are Josh, Capri, and Teagan?
What was the smoke that filled my room, and did it happen to him, too?
Lee stares at me, and I swear his mind links to mine because he finally whispers, “Do you know what’s happening?”
I shake my head. “Do you?” I whisper back.
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
“Look, I get that you’re confused. I am too. But I’m not going to put up with your crap like your wife does. You don’t need to roll your eyes at me,” I whisper-yell over the deafening silence.
He takes a step closer to me and opens his mouth in retort when we hear a scraping noise coming down the hall. Our eyes widen at the same moment.
“We need to get out of here,” Lee says calmly, even though his whole body quivers. “Now.”
My eyes dart from wall to wall, looking for an escape route that doesn’t involve facing the person trying to murder us with an axe on the other side of the door.
I run to the only other door in the room and throw it open, praying that it isn’t a closet full of dingy plaid flannels and dirt-stained Levi jeans.
I nearly weep with relief when I see it’s a small bathroom.
“Here!” I shout at Lee, pointing toward the small window sitting above a clawfoot tub. “Hoist me up!”
Lee doesn’t hesitate before grabbing me around my waist and lifting me, his arms shaking in protest as I shimmy the window open as far as it’ll let me.
The axe slams against the bedroom door, making us both jump.
“Lexi, you need to get out of here!” Lee shouts while pushing me through the small gap.
The window isn’t large by any means, but it’s wide enough for an adult to squeeze through.
And I do just that. My dress snags and tears as I shuffle through with Lee’s help.
The cabin must be built into the earth because the drop from the window is only about three feet.
I fall to the ground with a loud yelp, wincing when the pine needles covering the damp ground dig into my exposed flesh.
“What about you?” I scream, throwing my hands through the window as Lee backs away, tightening the sash around his robe. “Grab my hand, Lee! You can’t die here! Capri will never recover from this!”
The axe hits the door again, making an even bigger hole.
Lee looks up at me, fear flooding his features. “Lexi, get out of here. You’re not strong enough to pull me up, and we both know it. Find Capri and get her out of this place! Promise me!” he shouts, pleading in a way that breaks something in me.
Hot, wet tears fall from my face as I shake my head at him and throw myself back through the window, my stupid sequins getting caught again and tugging me backward. “I can’t just leave you here to die! We can fight him off together!”
The door smashes to pieces as the Axeman throws himself into it, only to be held up by the large wooden dresser. Lee slams the bathroom door and locks it, but we both know it’s futile. The Axeman will get through this door in no time. And then Lee will be dead.
Just as I’m about to scream at Lee one more time to at least try to escape, someone grabs me around my waist and pulls me out of the window. I fall to the ground painfully, where I’m met with the ugliest pair of damn shoes in the world. I’ve only seen one person wearing these shoes.
“Fancy running into you here, lassie,” he says with his ridiculous accent as he holds a hand out to help me up. I smack the hand away and gape at him in disbelief.
“Lochlan!” I gasp, getting to my feet in a rush of fury. “What the hell is going on here? Is this another one of your stupid games? Because it’s not funny!” I slam my hands against his chest repeatedly.
He shakes his head, pushing me away gently, even though I’ve been anything but gentle with him.
“No, little lass. This isn’t my doing. And I don’t know why I’m here.
The last thing I remember is finishing my scotch right before there was a loud knock on my bedroom door,” he explains, rubbing at his head, his red hair shining brightly.
I vaguely wonder if he’s suffering from the same headache I am.
I assume it’s from whatever sleeping agent they gassed us with when they abducted us.
“But I did find this in my pocket when I woke up.” He hands me an envelope with my name scrawled across the front.
Whatever is waiting inside this handwritten bomb, I don’t want any part of it.
I shove the letter back at him. “I don’t have time for this,” I snap before finally getting a good look at him. His suit is covered in blood, and he has a gash across his forehead that looks fresh. “What happened to you?”
Lochlan pockets the envelope again and looks down at his bloodied attire before pointing toward the window.
“Oh, you know, the usual. I woke up in a strange room with dead animals looking at me from every inch of the wall. I fought off a crazy masked-bloke who seems to have a penchant for axes,” he says with a flourish, waving his hands like some sort of drunken magician before pointing toward the window.
“The same thing that’s going to happen to your friend down there if we don’t get him out.
But I don’t think he’ll make it out as unscathed as I did.
I’m wily and quick on my feet like a fox.
” He winks and does some stupid wannabe kung-fu move before falling on his ass.
He stumbles to his feet just before the axe smashes against the bathroom door with a deafening crack. Lee curses and takes another leaping jump toward the window.
“Then help him!” I scream, not caring that Lochlan could be the one behind all of this, even if he does seem like an annoyingly handsome, but useless, drunk, and not some astute mastermind—or that this could just be another stupid escape room type game like before.
Everyone will be laughing at my overreactions for sport the moment I cross the invisible finish line.
All I can think about is saving Lee, just like he saved me.
I won’t let him sacrifice himself for me.
We may not be close, but he’s my best friend’s husband.
I refuse to be the reason why she loses him.
Plus, it would be very unfortunate for him to die wearing nothing but a robe that’s just a touch too short.
“Lee!” Lochlan yells, thrusting his whole body through the small opening of the window. “Grab my hand if you want to live to see the next hour, mate!”
The axe hits the door behind him again. Lee wastes no time debating.
He gets a running start and throws himself at Lochlan, grabbing his hands with renewed determination.
I throw myself onto Lochlan’s legs, a loud, inhuman grunt escaping my lips so he doesn’t slide through the gap under Lee’s weight.
Together, we pull Lee to safety just as the Axeman bursts through the bathroom door.
He runs toward us and throws the axe at the window. It implants itself into the wall with a sickening crunch. Lochlan helps Lee to his feet, and the three of us take off running into the woods, while being chased by the masked man’s screams of fury.
“YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE!”
“YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE!”
“YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE!”
My brain replays those sinister words over and over again as we run further and further into the unknown.
What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?