Chapter 35
When the lock on her door clanked open and the door swung ajar, Kate hurried into a sitting position. She wrapped her arms around her knees and eyed the door cautiously. Alex and Travis stepped inside.
“Gotta pee, princess?” Travis sneered. Kate said nothing. She only kept her eyes fixed on the men, careful to watch their hands and try to predict their next moves.
“Up,” Alex ordered, striding past Travis and approaching Kate. His hand wrapped around her ankle, and his fingertips gripped her leg as he unlocked the shackles.
The two men directed Kate across the warehouse to the locker room where rows of showers and bathroom stalls stood empty.
“Have at it, doll baby.” Travis pointed to the stalls, and Kate walked with her head down toward the first one.
Alex faced Travis with his arms crossed as Kate closed herself in the stall. A thud from the other side told her that Travis had leaned against the stall door.
“You know, Luke is so pressed on that crazy shit, saying Margot knows if the cargo has been contaminated,” Travis mocked. “How the hell would she know? Margot scares the shit out of Luke.”
A shiver ran up Kate’s spine. She should have known the no-touching rule was a farce.
“Hmm,” Alex sounded as if he were bored with Travis or not listening at all. Kate swallowed a breath, realizing that her hands trembled as she wiped and pulled her pants around her waist.
“You weren’t in the van on the ride over, but I already called dibs on this one,” Travis said. Kate’s throat tightened. Everything about Travis was wrong.
“Dibs,” Alex said thoughtfully, as though considering the word for the first time.
“Yeah, ask Derrick. He’ll vouch for me,” Travis said.
“No.” Alex’s response was quick, his voice lower than Kate had heard before, and the voice modifier made him sound nearly robotic.
Though Kate had finished moments ago, she stood behind the stall door, frozen in place and listening intently to the outcome of her fate.
“This one is mine,” Alex barked.
“Alex, you know how it fucking works. Besides, I’ve put in a lot more miserable time here than you have. Seniority rules, you know?”
“Then I guess I’ll have to slit your fucking throat.
” Alex’s tone was coated in venom. The light in the room seemed to darken as a dizziness clouded Kate’s vision.
She was not a man’s property. Being claimed by the person who had possibly snuffed out the man she loved felt like drawing the short straw in some sick game the universe was constantly playing with her.
“Hey, relax, man. If you want her that bad, I guess there’s plenty of others to go around,” Travis relented in a high-pitched voice that reeked of fear. “You done in there, sweet cheeks?”
Travis pulled on the stall door, the lock catching and preventing an entrance.
“Open this fucking door!” Travis pulled again. Finally, Kate slid the lock out of place. The door flung open, and Travis reached a hand inside, entangling with a lock of Kate’s hair. Gripping it with force, he pulled her out, and Kate’s skull ignited with pain.
Alex caught Travis’s hand in the air and squeezed until he let go of her.
“Mine,” Alex grunted, then wrapped a hand around the back of Kate’s neck, guiding her out of the locker room.
“Sure, whatever, man. Have fun, I guess,” Travis called after him.
Alex kept a firm grip on Kate’s nape until they were back in her cell. When he let go, Kate spun around and glared at him with a fiery, piercing stare.
“I told you not to fucking touch me!” Kate raged. She was playing with fire. This man could crush her with one hand. Yet, his grip sent an anger through her that she could not control.
“How are you supposed to have your way with me if we don’t touch?” Alex asked, taking on a lighter tone than his previous, one-word demands.
Kate’s brows furrowed, and her anger steeped.
“I’m not going to do anything with you!” Kate spat. She took a few steps toward Alex and shoved him with both hands. His feet remained rooted in place.
“Sorry, I’m still getting used to this bad guy role.” Alex placed his fingers beneath his helmet and slid it over his head. Kate gasped as he set the helmet on the floor.
“Nick! How did—”
“Shh,” Nick put a finger to his lips, which were curled into a grin. Kate’s hands covered her mouth, and she nearly collapsed at the sight of him. “They think I’m one of their guys, and I definitely don’t want them to find out we know each other.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Kate’s eyes danced around from Nick to the cell and beyond the room to the warehouse.
“I’m going to get you the fuck out of here, obviously,” Nick answered, approaching Kate toward the back wall.
“And what did you do with the real Alex?” Kate asked.
“I, umm, relocated him. To a very nice ditch down the road somewhere.”
Kate’s eyes widened just as Travis’s laugh traveled down the hall, bouncing around the metal walls and into the room.
“Maybe we should be a little closer, just in case he comes down here. We don’t want him to forget who I belong to.” Kate smirked up at Nick, her eyes glinting with playfulness.
“Closer,” Nick repeated. “Like this?” Nick backed Kate against the wall, placing one of his hands above her head and pressing his chest into hers.
Cupping her chin, he tilted Kate’s head up to face him.
A gasp passed across her lips, letting her smile fall away. Kate’s eyes widened at his proximity.
Nick’s features faltered, and he began to pull away.
“Shit, sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
Kate grasped at the center of Nick’s shirt and pulled him back to her. “Exactly like that.” She pressed her lips to his and slid a hand up his chest and around the back of his neck. Nick settled against her once more, leaning into their kiss.
Flames engulfed their bodies in a ravenous heat, and the doomed chaos around them fell away.
The concrete crumbled, and the metal rusted and cracked.
The shackles disintegrated, and the sounds of the warehouse—vile men and abused captives—quieted until there was nothing.
Nothing except Nick holding Kate and kissing her as though she was the one thing he had been striving for all his life.
Footsteps thumping down the corridor broke apart their reunion, and the pieces of the warehouse emerged in place once more. Nick picked the helmet up off the floor and pulled it down over his face. Kate forced her jovial features to appear angry and frightened.
Travis popped around the corner, and Nick pretended to fumble with his belt. Travis’s lips parted into a demented smirk.
“Boss needs us. Uglies broke through part of the fence somewhere,” Travis said.
“I guess we’ll have to pick back up another time.” Nick directed his words to Kate, then turned to leave.
“In your dreams, asshole!” Kate shouted at Nick’s back.
“Whatever, bitch,” Nick retorted. Travis turned the corner, and just before Nick walked out the door, he turned to Kate, lifted the visor on his helmet, and winked at her.
Nick soaked up Kate’s vibrant smile just before closing her in and locking her away.
Finding the helmet had been a godsend. Concealing his face was vital.
The guards that had been in the forest would have recognized him.
Because his and Kate’s safety depended on it, obscuring everything about himself was requisite.
His hair, his eyes, his voice. If one small thing stuck out to the guards, he was done for.
If Kate had picked up on anything about him and they caught the slightest gleam in her eyes, death would follow.
The helmet was matte black with built-in night vision.
The comms system was dead but provided the voice distortion.
A mandible guard crossed over his mouth, and a ballistics visor dropped down to hide his eyes.
With so many things integrated, the helmet was surprisingly lighter than Nick had expected.
If he were an overlord commanding an army in space, he imagined the soldiers would wear something similar.
“I think that frisky little cunt likes you, dude.” Travis cut Nick a grin, and Nick envisioned pummeling his knuckles into those crusty, contemptible lips until the skin broke open and teeth jutted through bloody flesh.
“Shut the fuck up, Travis,” Nick replied, ignoring the ache of his fists to connect.
“Seriously, man. Since you got here, you’ve never shown an interest in the captives. I’ve been trying to pull you to the dark side since day one. Now, all of a sudden, you want to call dibs on the sexiest one here? You threatened to fucking kill me over some damn pussy.”
Nick’s chest tightened as his character came into question.
Apparently, he was not being very Alex-like.
What else had he done that stirred up suspicion?
Nick forced information from Alex about the location of the warehouse but never considered it important enough to gain some insight about the person Nick would have to impersonate.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know the dark side was going to have women like that.” Nick cringed at his own words. To fit into his new role, Nick slipped into the energy around him.
Every person had a price tag. Morals? What were those?
Travis clapped Nick’s shoulder and chuckled, which told Nick he had given a proper dirtbag answer.
Just say what you have to say to stay alive. It doesn’t define you. Nick reminded himself while Travis babbled on about women who had passed through previously. In great, unwanted detail, he placed them into categories based on appearance and then ranked them on performance.
It’s just a game. A horrible, twisted game. My life depends on this. Kate’s life depends on this. I can do this. I can pretend, just for a little while.