We were moving again then, dashing down the passage until it opened out into a foyer of sorts.
“There!”Her voice was laced with hushed excitement as she pointed to an enormous metal door.“Could that be the way out?”
“Yes.”My focus fixed on the latest barrier as we approached, but tugging at the huge handle, I realized it was locked.“Yes, that definitely could be—”
“Well, well, well.”
Hawkins’ crooning tone interrupted my sentence, his unpleasant expression smug as he stepped out in front of us.Time around us seemed to cease as a line of his goons moved in on either side of him and blocked our escape.
“Look who’s leaving without saying goodbye.”
Chapter Five
Gods and Monsters
Erin
“No!”
I didn’t know if I actually said the word aloud, but its resonance resounded in my head as I stared at the increasing numbers of Hawkins’ men.Not only had the slimy moron found us, but he appeared to have brought a fleet of antagonists with him for the ride, each of them armed with his own cruel version of the weapon still clutched in my hand.
“How many of you want to die today?”
Eli’s voice boomed from my side, and I watched as he edged forward, waving his weapon at our adversaries.
“There’ll be no one dying today.”Hawkins faked a smile.“You two are much more valuable to me alive, especially you, pretty.”His attention traveled to me, my skin crawling at the hungry look in his eyes.
“Stay the hell away from me.”Pointing the gun in his direction, my finger grazed the trigger and sent my pulse galloping.
Until that moment, I’d never been serious about shooting anyone, but standing there, Hawkins was a sorely tempting target.He’d injected so much poison into our lives.A part of me reasoned he deserved the fate, but I couldn’t believe I was the sort of person who’d actually consider shooting him.
Is that who I am?
I didn’t want to be the villain, but I was tired of playing the victim.
“Don’t worry.”He laughed dryly.“I’ve forgiven you for puking all over me, and I’ve thought of some ways you can make it up to me.”
“No chance.”I spat the words at him, defiant despite our waning odds.
There were three times as many of them as there were of us, but in that moment, the probabilities didn’t matter.Whatever transpired, I was determined to never cede to a man as disgusting and cruel as Hawkins.I’d turn the gun on myself before that happened.
“I think the lady gave you her opinion when she vomited all over you.”Conceit oozed from Eli’s voice, his bravado cocky considering how many more of them there were.
“Ah, yes.”Hawkins folded his arms over his chest as he surveyed Eli.“Who’d like to tell me why our guest here is out of his cell?”
“They overpowered us,” one of the assembled men grumbled, rubbing his temple gingerly to reveal a raised, red welt.“This one pretended to play dead while the other one took us by surprise.”
“What the fuck do I pay you for?”Hawkins rolled his eyes.“Never mind.We’ll deal with him, but first, I want the lady transferred to my bedroom.”
“What?”Eli and I barked at the same time, panic colliding with my anger to form a potent response.
“We wereinterruptedlast time…” Hawkins’ condescending tone belied the fact that we were all waving guns at one another.I was struck by the level of arrogance it took to feel such little terror in the face of such a threat that he was happy to continue to torment me.Either he believed he was infallible, or he was the least self-aware person I’d ever met.“But that won’t happen again.This time, I’ll get what I came for.”
“No fucking way!”Eli’s voice was like thunder.
In a split second, Eli moved, pushing me to the ground before he opened fire.I landed awkwardly against the wall, twisting out of the way when the bullets rained down, yet simultaneously compelled to watch the outcome of his impetuous attack.Not that I blamed him.I was equally as repulsed by Hawkins’ vile commentary, but there’d been no prior planning for such an event, and neither of us knew which way things would go.
Either Eli would maim and injure our foes sufficiently so we could flee, or something terrible was about to happen right in front of my eyes.From my current position, there was nowhere I could go to hide from the latter.
