Chapter 15 #2
“When I asked if you’d been with my brother, you didn’t deny it,” Ryker reminded. “It never occurred to me that he’d lie and convince you what was between us wasn’t real.”
“But it was? Right? It was real?” Rue felt pathetic having to clarify, especially now, after they’d already had sex, but… “I don’t think I can go through that again either. Thinking it was fake and that you never—”
“You’re mine.” He cupped his face. “This is real.” He flashed him a grin that immediately had Rue going on the alert. “But that doesn’t change our arrangement any.”
“Arrangement?” Rue frowned but allowed the Black Hart to help him onto his feet. His eyes trailed over to the window, noticing how when he’d pulled them to the floor, Ryker had effectively put them in a blind spot from whatever was out there.
“I protect your friends, and you do as I say.” Ryker adjusted Rue’s clothing and then his own, smiling with that same devilish charm that was so disarming when Rue remained silent.
“Now that we’ve established a sexual relationship, don’t think you’ll be getting out of it.
” He snorted. “What am I saying. You’re kinkier than I am. ”
He tried not to let that distinction hurt him—not the part about him being kinkier, but the clear label that this thing between them was about sex—turning his head to hide his expression from the Black Hart.
Ryker meant more to him than a cock and a good lay, but maybe Rue didn’t mean the same.
Yet.
Instead of being upset, he decided to focus on the progress.
This was a step forward. They’d cleared the air, untangled the misunderstanding, and instead of dwelling on the disappointment, he should allow himself to be happy over the discovery that it hadn’t all been a lie. That it hadn’t all been in his head.
There was something between them, which meant there was a foundation with which he could build upon.
“Ready?” Ryker held out his hand, and Rue slipped his palm against his.
A part of him worried they’d find Bowie still waiting in the dining hall, but his friend was gone.
Probably left after hearing what they were up to.
Rue’s face heated at the thought, but he didn’t have time to worry about that for long, the sound of an argument reached them before they made it into the foyer where the others were gathered.
“What’s going on?” Ryker asked, glancing between Ellery and Hollis, who were practically standing toe to toe.
“He wants to go back out there!” Hollis stabbed a finger against the center of Ell’s chest, and that must have been the final straw for the Black Hart, because he attacked in a flash of motion hard to follow.
Ellery latched onto that finger and snapped it back, instantly breaking it.
The crunch and the following scream had Rue flinching, but Ryker merely sighed in exasperation.
Hollis retreated as soon as he was released, back slamming into the check-in counter. No one went to help him, most of them having clearly sided with Esti after yesterday’s cowardly display, and he sunk to the floor, clutching his injury close to his chest.
“Uriel,” Ryker motioned toward Hollis, “set that.”
“Don’t touch me!” Hollis yelled, and when Uriel turned to Ryker, Ryk shrugged.
“Fine. Let him suffer. What’s it to us?” The Black Hart turned to the rest. “Anyone else have a problem with the plan?”
“You’re really going to go out there?” Ishleen asked.
“The pool house has a separate system,” he reminded. “There’s a chance we’ll be able to contact help. It’s worth a shot.”
“Those things are smart,” Esti argued. “They’re mimicking us, trying to lure us out. Won’t you just be walking right into their trap?”
“Nah.” Ellery pulled a handheld speaker out of his pocket. “Found this. Our devices don’t have service, but they can still play music. We’ll toss this outside and wait for the monsters to take the bait, then slip out the back. That exit is closer to the pool house.”
“And when it’s time for you to return?” Ishleen frowned.
He pulled out a second speaker, this one a different shape. “Ta da.”
“Where did you get those?”
“Raided the workers rooms.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. To him, stealing probably wasn’t.
The single worker who was still with them didn’t speak up.
“How do you know they’ll fall for it?” Penn seemed doubtful.
“Uriel can see them through the fog. Well,” Ellery corrected himself with a chuckle, “mostly.”
“The three of us will try for the pool house,” Ryker said then. “The rest of you are in charge of sealing the door after us, and using the speaker to clear the path for us on an agreed upon time. We’ll check to see if there’s anything useful out there.”
“Wait.” Rue tightened his fingers around Ryker’s. “The three of you?” He vehemently shook his head. “No. You aren’t going.”
“Sweetheart—”
“No.” The fear was instantaneous and raw. “You don’t get to fuck me after all of this time and then decide to leave me right after!”
The gasps went unnoticed.
“That’s not what I’m doing,” Ryker insisted. “I’m coming back.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Have a little faith.”
“I’ll go,” the worker, Fran, offered. He was only a bit older than they were and in good shape.
Rue took one look at him and nodded. “He’ll go.”
Penn snorted. “Always pretending not to be a Black Hart, yet so willing to send someone else to their possible doom. Nice one, Rue.”
“Want me to break his fingers too?” Ellery suggested, but Ryker was still focused on Rue and acted like he didn’t hear him.
“The three of us work well together,” Ryker said. “We know how to move around each other. It’s safer if it’s us.”
“I don’t care,” Rue admitted. “I only care about you, and it’s safer if you stay here.”
He leaned in, mouth at the side of Rue’s ear and whispered his next words so as not to be overheard. “We can’t trust anyone else here. Leaving you behind and in charge of working the speaker is how we ensure nothing goes wrong.”
“Or you could do that yourself.”
“The longer we stay here, the more dangerous things become. Look at them, Rue. Really look at them. They won’t last. They’re freaking out and halfway to losing their minds already.
Scared people take unnecessary risks. All it takes is one of them doing something stupid to cost the rest of us our lives. ”
There was truth to that, he knew it, and yet…It wasn’t enough to convince Rue that this plan was necessary.
“You don’t all need to go.”
“Help!” Thea, one of the two workers sent to look for the others, practically tumbled down the stairs in her haste to reach them. There was blood smeared across her cheek, and she was sweaty and out of breath. “He’s trying to kill me!”
“Who?” Penn asked, but the answer to that question arrived less than a second later when the other worker, Cyril crashed down after her.
He seemed half out of his mind, ignoring the rest of them as he brandished a knife and made a beeline for Thea, who’d moved behind the check-in counter.
Last night at dinner, he’d been soft spoken and shy, but any traces of that man was gone, replaced with an anger that Rue could practically feel in the air.
Uriel untucked his shirt and pulled out the blaster he’d hidden—the single one the Black Harts seemed to be sharing between them—lifting it, only to stop short when his cousin rested a hand over his arm.
“Don’t waste the bullets,” Ellery said. “I didn’t bring any extra.”
Ryker let go of Rue and then snapped into motion, planting his palms on the counter and hauling himself up and over. He kicked out, using his momentum to push himself, his foot connecting with Cyril’s side.
Cyril crashed into the cabinets, the knife dropping from his hand.
It clattered to the floor and before anyone else could do anything, Thea picked it up and drove the blade straight through her co-worker’s gut.
The Black Hart leapt down and shoved her away, but the damage was already done.
Cyril dropped to the floor, gasping.
“What the hell happened?” Ryker demanded.
“Cosima is dead,” Thea began. “We couldn’t find anyone upstairs, so we went to her office. Her throat was cut. Cyril went to check the side room to make sure that Jesse was still there, but…”
“Let me guess, he was gone?” Ellery quirked a brow.
“Yeah.”
“Great. So there are monsters outside and a killer on the loose.” He motioned to Cyril, who had taken his last breath only a moment ago. “Why’d he attack you?”
“I don’t know,” Thea said. “Everything was fine one moment, and then suddenly it was like he snapped. He just lunged for me out of the blue, so I ran.”
“And the knife?”
“I’m not sure where he got it. I wasn’t aware he was armed.”
“That’s—” The lights flickered, and Ellery stopped talking, staring up at the chandelier with the rest of them. There was a buzzing and then all of the power went out. “Fucking fantastic.”
“What’s going on?” Esti struggled to her feet with Ishleen’s help, frantically glancing around.
“Where are the breakers?” Ellery asked Thea, drawing most of their attention that way.
Just in time to see her leap at Ryker.