“Y-yes, I…” The woman trembling in front of me looked far from okay.Her face blanched as she stammered a response.“I just can’t believe you shot him like that.”
Her focus darted to the mess the moron’s brains had left on the floor before she was forced to turn away.
“I told you not to look.”It wasn’t much of a defense.“But then you never can do as you’re told, can you?”
“No.”Tears brimmed in her eyes as she glanced at me.
“It’s all right.”I realized I was the antonym of reassurance, standing there holding a gun and likely covered in blood, but despite my calculated focus on getting the hell out of there, I couldn’t just ignore her distress.“We’llbeall right, little girl.I’ll get you out of this.”
We’d been through so much already, more than many couples might have ever experienced in a lifetime, and through it all, I’d learned we needed to talk about how we were feeling.Even in the darkest of moments, expressions of concern for the other counted, and without decent communication, the feelings teeming between us had no chance of blooming.
“I know.”She nodded, though I could still see the upset shining in her eyes.
Nothing I’d put her through at the cabin had compared to the current shitshow we faced, and staring into her soulful orbs, I wondered whether she’d ever be able to move past it.I hoped to anything holy that she could.Short of losing her, I knew allowing scum like Hawkins to pulverize the thing we’d started would be the worst outcome of all.
“Please, can we get out of here, s-sir?”
Employing my title at that of all times ratcheted the urge to hold her, and unthinkingly, I wandered around the hulking frame of my latest victim and took her hand.Frightened green eyes met mine as her gaze searched my expression.
“Yes,” I squeezed her fingers.“But you should take this… just in case.”
I ducked to grab the weapon nearest to my feet.The gun, presumably dropped by one of Hawkins’ goons, was still loaded as I pushed it into her digits.
“We don’t know when one of those idiots will wake up.”I gazed down at the listless mob, hoping we could flee before we found out.
“Okay.”She swallowed, grasping at the gun.
Erin—the woman who’d loathed the weapons—was clinging to one as if it was a life raft on a tempestuous ocean.Things had truly shifted since Hawkins and his men had gatecrashed the cabin.
“We just need to find a key to get that door open.”
My attention flitted to the enormous metal door trapping us into Hawkins’ bunker, landing on the panel that appeared to control the lock.Unlike most doors that required an actual ‘key,’ there was some sort of card system that appeared to release the locking mechanism, the blinking red light conveying what I’d already ascertained.It was locked.
“Hawkins probably has one.”She glanced toward him.“Is he d-dead?”
It was difficult to tell if her voice sounded hopeful or desolate.
“No.”I hated to disappoint her, and staring at his vile body, I questioned my logic in not ending them all.The last thing we needed was one of them ‘coming back to life’ in the doorway.“Just unconscious.”
Even injured, I’d managed to move through Hawkins and his lackies like a hot knife through butter.
“Let me check his pockets.It seems like we’re looking for a keycard.”
I paced toward the motionless prick.Crouching before him, I started with the pocket nearest, digging my hand far too close to his thigh for my liking in an attempt to expedite our escape.
“Be careful.”Her voice was laced with tension as she approached.“He could wake up.”
“Yeah.”Finding nothing in the pocket, I rolled him onto his face to investigate the other side.
“There could be a keycard in his office.”She sighed.“If I’d thought, I could have looked while I was still there.”
“It’s okay.”My heart rate sped up when my fingertips skimmed over the edge of something plastic and rectangular.“This could be it.”
Tugging the object from his pocket, I held it aloft, my lips tugging as I turned the plastic card over.“Looks hopeful.”
“Please, God.”Her gaze rose to the ceiling in a silent prayer.
“Come here.”Beckoning her toward me, I placed the gun down as her fingers slid between mine.“This will work.”It has to.“And we’ll be on our way.”
