Someone knocked on the door.I lifted my head, saw Jessa. Her concerned face smoothed out into relief. "You're okay."I nodded. My brow furrowed in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be?"She stepped into the room. Turned off the lights. She put something between the door and the jamb to provide her a little light as she made her way over to the bed. "Ryker has a delightful tush, BTW." She snickered. I rolled my eyes. "Keep your eyes to yourself, you perv. He's mine."She smiled. Her gaze turned a little clinical as she walked towards us. "You dissociated for four, almost five, hours. Do you remember anything?" she asked softly as she knelt on the other side of Ryker. She scanned every inch of me she could see. I shook my head. "No. Is that bad?"She smiled. Shook her head. "I'm sure your brain will give it back to you when it thinks you can handle it. How are you feeling?"I did a body scan. Other than the delicious pain of really vigorous sex, I was doing pretty well. "A
Hours later, I disentangled myself from Willow's sleeping form. That was honestly some of the best sleep I'd gotten in at least a decade and it had been on a twin mattress with spunky sheets. I shook my head. Would wonders never cease?I scratched my belly as I padded naked across the floor. Something near the door snagged my attention. A plate with cheese, fruit, and sliced meat was on the floor, just inside the door. A tall pitcher of water sat next to two glasses. "EAT ME!" a small card read. I recognized Jessa's handwriting. Leaning down, I stuffed the glasses under my arm. Picked up the plate. Careful to keep from dropping the food, I picked up the pitcher with my free hand. Gunshots erupted from beyond the door. Everything clattered to the floor as I darted across the room. "Willow! Wake up. We're under attack!"
"Willow! Wake up. We're under attack!"Ryker's shout had me snapping upright in bed before my eyes had completely opened. The sounds of shattering glass, splashing liquid, and gunshots were not really the best wake up call I'd experienced in my life before. He darted over, pulled me from the bed and down to the floor before he flipped the bed up on its side. "Stay here." He pressed a kiss to my head and raced off across the room. "Ryker!" I shouted after him. I blinked, tried to get my brain to wake up so I could focus. Under the adrenaline rush, I was tired and achy. But the sheer power that pushed through my veins had me getting to my feet. I fished behind me on the floor, scooped up my inside out pants. I threw the panties back on the floor. Not today, Satan. I danced into my pants, flung my shirt on. I needed shoes. "Ouch. Dammit," Ryker hissed from his spot at the door. "You better not be thinking of leaving me here, Ryker Penn. I'll haunt you for the rest of your
I held my hands up, waited for the police to see that we were all participating with their orders. No fewer than five SWAT members and fifteen uniformed officers streamed into the bunker. The amount of noise they made was unbelievable. How we hadn't heard them was a miracle. Although, I feel like we'd been pretty well occupied with other news. And we weren't actually in trouble with these people. Or at least not bad trouble. Wright came in behind the uniformed police. "What the hell happened here?" he demanded as he made his way over from the catwalk stairs. He threaded his way through the Kool-Aid man holes we'd made on our first horrible trip through this hellhole. Turo stepped forward. "Would you like a full accounting now, or would you like to get the evidence you came for? We are completely fine in either case. We just ask that we be allowed to lower our arms."Wright waved his hand. We all lowered our hands. "Your guns will be confiscated. Run through the system. If th
A nagging jiggle of my shoulders heralded someone's immediate demise. I batted at them. "'o way."A snicker sounded. She jiggled me again. "We get to leave, Chase. Come on. Up and at'em," Tali said. "Momma and Papa are taking us to lunch at Freddie's."I groaned and blinked my eyes open in the dim lighting. Alone on the tiniest bed, I pushed my hair back as I looked around the room. No Ryker. I pouted at the idea that he wasn't still with me, but pushed it back. Sucked it up. I was a strong, capable woman. I didn't need a man to hold my hand. "He's finishing up with the DA and Nik. I've been sitting in here with you for the last two hours," Tali offered.I wrinkled my nose. "That obvious?"She chuckled softly. "Probably only to me. Bright lights," she warned right before the overhead lights buzzed to blinding life. I winced, slapped a hand over my eyes. "Shit, Tali.""Come on, Chase. I want to get out of this hellhole. I let you sleep as long as I could. But we need to
I was wrong. On so many counts, but so very, very wrong on at least one important fact. The Canadian geese I'd heard weren't even animals. Unless I counted those of the two legged variety. "MS. CHASE! MS. CHASE. OVER HERE!" a woman yelled, a microphone in her hand. A man at her back with a huge camera settled on his shoulder. I think I would have been okay had it only been the one reporter. But I just wasn't that lucky. No. There were at least two dozen of them. I huddled into Ryker's shoulder as he bulldozed his way through the crowd. The police made a small tunnel for us to escape through. But even then the reporters shoved their cameras and microphones in my face. I took an elbow to the temple as one of the rowdy newscasters tried to topple an officer. Ryker's roar of outrage brought everything and everyone to a grinding silent halt. His face was red as he turned on the offending person. He reached out with one hand, caught the man around the neck, and shook him like
Before I even knew what I was doing, I had Willow crammed into the side of the car, the gun knocked to the side, and the intruder up against the far wall. Nico helped me hold the person down as we shouted for Jessa and Willow to run to the apartment. A blurry picture of black hair, beard scruff, dark eyes, and a snarling mouth were all I saw before I slammed my knee into the attacker's balls. He curled down and over my knee as I caught the gun. Wrenching it from his hands, I had it pointed at him before he stopped gagging. "Who the fuck are you?" I demanded as I laid the barrel of the gun against his temple. Nico shook his head. Gestured for me to give him the gun. I wasn't going to get into a pissing match with the man. I handed him the gun. Watched as he backed up out of striking distance. "Answer the question or you die and absolutely no one notices or cares."Nico jerked his chin at me to back up. I shuffled a few steps to the side. Nico nodded. He looked back a
I looked around my home for the last eighteen months. It had been exactly what I needed at the time when I most needed it. Memories washed over me in 4K detail. Over there by the little desk where Tali and Nico helped me draw up the business plan for my bakery.The couch where I huddled with Momma after a week of nightmares. Papa baking his signature molasses cookies in my new oven. We'd spoken of nonsense for hours and hours. Not once had I been made to feel like I was an imposition. A drain on their lives. I looked across the room. The table that carried the echo of my tattoo where we'd had hundreds of late night dinners and board games to help chase away the demons. The games of Mafia and Clue that made us chuckle. The games of Monopoly that brought out the most savage in all of us as we maneuvered for Top Dog. Every part of this home had been touched by the family that had loved me. Accepted me. Made me one of their own. And now it was time to leave. To move on to the ne