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  “I promised I would never come back here,” she said, lifting her voice a little so we could hear her over the sound of something cracking loudly in the room next door. I caught Breaker’s hand, searching for any comfort I could find, and he squeezed back tightly.

  “What?” Breaker sounded confused. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “This is where they brought me,” she glanced around. “This is where they bring all of us.”

  The smoke was filling the corridor, from the end that we were standing in. With my hands still carefully raised, I took a few steps towards her, away from the choking scent of it.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked quietly, my tone different from Breaker’s. If she was saying what I thought she was saying, then I had to find a way to connect with her. Maybe all three of us could make it out of here alive if I could figure out some way to prove that I was on her side, that the two of us had been in the same boat.

  “They took me here first,” she shot back, the gun tilting down slightly, away from my head. I let out a brief sigh of relief. Some time bought, at the very least. I nodded for her to continue.

  “When they caught me, they brought me here, and they told me they were going to put me up for sale,” her voice was shaking badly, and I was surprised she could even get the words out. Tears were pricking my eyes as she spoke, my body viscerally recalling the fear I’d felt when I had been in her position.

  “But there was a bust,” she went on, apparently going into some kind of trance as she forced herself to look back up at me. “A cop. A cop had infiltrated the place. Garret Greer.”

  I shuddered as soon as I heard his name come out of her mouth. I glanced over my shoulder at Breaker, who was peering around at the door nervously. There was another loud crack from the bar area, and I knew we didn’t have a lot of time left before this whole place caved in for good.

  “He took one of the girls, but he left the rest of us here,” Raven went out, flailing her gone around the place in a violent gesture. “He left us to die.”

  “Raven, he didn’t—“ I began desperately, but she didn’t stop talking, didn’t even slow down.

  “You probably thought a lot of him, right?” she remarked scornfully. “Was he your hero?”

  “I....” I trailed off. He was, but I didn’t want to admit it to her. I didn’t want to give her the pleasure of being right. She raised the gun so it was pointing directly at my head, and spoke again, this time the words spitting from between her lips.

  “Was he?”

  “Yes!” I replied at once, eyeing the smooth barrel that was only a few inches from my head. How the fuck was I going to get us out of here? I had no idea, but I would have to come up with something – and fast.

  “He was my hero,” I continued hurriedly, hoping that if she heard what she wanted she would let us go. “And you killed him, right?”

  “He let me get taken back into that place.” Her face twisted like she was holding back tears. “He left me behind.”

  “Please,” I cut across her desperately. I could hear Breaker coughing only a few feet away, and the thought of him burning to death in this place because I hadn’t been able to come up with something quickly enough made my stomach twist into angry knots. “I know he didn’t leave you. He would have come back if he could.”

  “Then why didn’t he?” she demanded. I could hear the pain in her voice, the hurt, and I knew exactly where it had come from. She had been promised an escape, and instead of getting out, she’d been pulled back in.

  “He tried,” I said. I did a quick calculation in my head and took a step closer to her. She didn’t threaten me more with the gun; that was a really good sign. “The station never made it public. I don’t know exactly what happened, but we were working on finding out. I don’t think he was officially undercover, I think he was still working to get enough information to get the Captain to authorize everything. But he had a source, I know that.”

  I took a long, slow breath, and studied Raven. Her hand was shaking now, her face twisted up with emotion. Breaker was silent next to me, and I just hoped that he’d keep his mouth shut. She was in a delicate place, and I was no experienced hostage negotiator. But maybe, just maybe, I could get us all out of this alive.

  “You met him?” I asked her, doing my damndest to ignore the shaking barrel that was still pointed at my head. She nodded. “He found you here, or on your way here.” I was guessing now, spinning a tale and hoping for the best, but seeing her chin shake, I believed I was on the right track. Without question. “He pulled you out, and you were trying to help him get enough information to take the place down, or at least get the investigation opened. Am I right?”

  She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no.

  “And then he died. He died on his way here, did you know that?”

  She shook her head this time, and my heart leaped in my chest. I was getting closer. I took another step, and she didn’t stop me. Overhead, the fire was crackling into the ceiling, and we were going to have to run for it soon, one way or another.

  “You were Rose,” I said. “You were the informant.”

  “How the fuck did you know that?”

  “He has files. Raven, with those files, and your corroboration – I’m sure I can finally get the Captain to listen. Please. Just, let’s get out of here. Let’s run.”

  It took her a second before she conceded my point, a flash of resolve passing across her face and then disappearing. And then, all at once, she stepped aside and gestured behind her.

  “Go,” she muttered, her hand leading me towards a crack of light that led to the outside of the building. Breaker sprinted to catch up with me, the two of us barreling into each other as we finally made it out of that smoky corridor.

  Chapter 5

  As soon as the light hit me, I was gulping down air as though I had been held underwater for longer than I could bear. It was still marred with the scent of smoke, but I didn’t give a shit. Only minutes before, I had been resigned to dying in that place, and suddenly, I could see the sun again. I placed my hands on my knees and bent over, coughing up whatever junk had ended up in my lungs from breathing in so much smoke. I had watched Angel take on Raven like it was nothing, staring her down and talking her out of using that gun on either of us. I had never seen anything like it in my life.

  I glanced around, and saw that Raven hadn’t followed us outside yet. Angel had spotted it, too, and her brow was furrowed. I could hear sirens in the distance – about time, too. I had called the fire department what felt like an age ago, and had checked for their arrival every time that I had run out with another one of the girls who’d been locked in those cells. They had made a run for it, and no–one had pursued them. Without that I wasn’t sure that any of them knew what to do with themselves.

  “Where is she?” Angel demanded, and I looked back through the door we’d just run through. Was I seriously considering this? It seemed like it.

  “Give me a second,” I muttered, grabbing the gloves from Angel to protect my hands before I made my way back inside. I couldn’t let her burn there. Not after finding out everything she’d been through.

  The heat was stifling, almost painful, and I couldn’t see much through the smoke. It took my eyes a couple of seconds to adjust to the light, but as soon as I did, I spotted Raven, standing there at the end of the corridor, as though she intended to throw the door open and walk about into the flames.

  “Raven!” I yelled. I had no idea what I was doing in here. She’d killed Angel’s father, and Christ, it wasn’t as though we didn’t have a lot of history behind us. But looking at her there, I knew I couldn’t walk away. I had to get her out of here. She deserved a chance to start over again, to see what her life might have been like without all of this. And it looked like I was the one to give it to her.

  I was snapped from my reverie by the sound of Angel’s voice outside, calling my name. It cut through the shadows and the smoke in a
moment, and I sprinted forward, caught Raven around the waist, and dragged her away from the door. I could smell something awful, and glanced down to see that she had already gotten her hand on the metal handle. It had left a deep purple welt of burns along her palm, and the smell emanating from her burned flesh was hideous. But still, she was alive. That was all that mattered. She was alive.

  She seemed to go limp in my arms, and I dragged her backward as fast as I could, towards the exit, back out into the sunlight. It was almost blinding in contrast to the darkness in the corridor, and as soon as I let go of Raven, she collapsed to the ground like a ragdoll. Angel dropped to her knees beside her, and caught her face between her hands.

  “Raven!” She called, shifting her head back and forth to check for signs of like. But a few seconds later, Raven spluttered in her arms and proved once and for all that she wasn’t so easy to get rid of.

  The sirens grew closer and closer, and it became clear to me that we weren’t just dealing with the fire department. Emergency dispatch had sent the fire department, the police, and an ambulance. Which was good; this much smoke wasn’t a good idea for anyone. I was used to sprinting in the opposite direction when I saw a cop car, but Angel’s glare told me that if I moved a muscle she would never forgive me for it. She helped Raven to her feet, one arm around her waist, the other holding Raven’s hand against her shoulder. I hurried over to help, and marveled at Angel. How on Earth she could find it in her heart to be so kind to the woman who had killed her father... I would never stopped being amazed by her.

  It was a flurry of activity from there on in. Raven, Angel, and I got loaded up into an ambulance before anyone else so much as got a look at us, and we were in the hospital a few minutes later, getting checked out for smoke inhalation and other signs of damage. But it didn’t take long for someone to figure out who Angel was, and before I knew it, one of her colleagues turned up to keep us company.

  “Angel!” An excited voice came bouncing down the corridor, one that made Angel sit up dead straight in her hospital bed. I was doing okay, but she’d inhaled more smoke than me, and they’d wanted to keep her in for observation for a little longer yet. I had taken my place at her side when we heard the voice, and we exchanged a nervous look as we waited to see the source of it. A few seconds later, a plump, middle–aged woman stuck her head around the door. Her jaw dropped when she saw who she was looking at.

  “Angel!” The woman repeated, and strode up to her bedside, clasping her hand between her own. “Honey, are you okay?”

  “I will be,” Angel nodded, managing a smile at the woman’s concern. The woman seemed to notice me sitting next to the bed after a moment, and her gaze narrowed as she focused on me.

  “Who’s this?” She asked. “You need me to get rid of him for you?”

  Angel sputtered with laughter, and it felt so good to see her in some state of actual happiness. Ever since we’d encountered each other at that auction, I felt as though I’d been seeing a side of her that was far from her best. And I hadn’t realized how much I’d desperately wanted her to be happy before that moment, because the sound of her laugh was enough to paste a big, goofy smile on my face, too.

  “No, no, it’s cool,” she waved her hand. “If he starts annoying me later, I’ll let you know and you can get rid of him.”

  “Isn’t he...?” The woman remarked, her eyes shifting down my body in suspicion as she tried to place where she’d seen me before. Angel nodded, but waved a hand.

  “Trust me, I have so much explaining to do it’s unreal,” Angel let out a yawn. “But I think I need to catch up on some sleep first.”

  “If you’re sure,” The woman nodded, not taking her eyes from me once. “But...I’d feel better if I knew he couldn’t get to you.”

  “Really, I’m telling you, it’—

  But before Angel could get the rest of the words out of her mouth, the woman had produced a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on me, affixing the second cuff to Angel’s bed. My mouth hung open in surprise, and my brain struggled to find some way to react to what was going on. I hadn’t even done anything wrong this time! I thought I was meant to be the good guy!

  “I’ll come back later and we can get some of this in the reports.” The woman shot me one last look, a look that told me that if I tried anything, I would have her to answer to. “I’ll let you rest.”

  “Thanks,” Angel nodded up at her, clearly trying to keep a straight face. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Will do.” The woman paused in the door and looked down at her, a motherly expression appearing on her face for a moment. “You know, your father would be very proud of you, Angel.”

  “Thanks.” Angel smiled broadly, and it was genuine. She sank back into the pillows, indicating to the woman that she needed some time to herself, and the door soon clicked shut once again. Angel didn’t move for a moment, staring beatifically at the wall opposite her, until I jangled my handcuffs in annoyance.

  “Uh, excuse me?” I waggled my cuffed hand in the air, and she turned to look at me, apparently registering the handcuffs again. She glanced back at my face, and then busted out laughing.

  “Hey, this isn’t funny!” I protested. “I’m was on the cops’ side this time! I don’t deserve any of this shit!”

  I’m sorry, it’s just...” She managed to choke off her laughed for a moment, and worked to catch her breath. “We could have some fun with those. You know, while we’re here.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at her. “You serious?”

  I hadn’t really thought much about us since it had all happened. Everything had moved so swiftly it felt as though I never had a chance to figure out what we were or where we stood. All I knew was that I was so happy she was alive that it made my chest ache a little. Or hey, maybe that was the smoke inhalation and without all the drama we would turn out to hate each other. Hard to say.

  “Are you?” She shot back, and I could tell she was testing the waters too. I mean, what happened now? The two of us were free to do what we wanted – well, maybe. I jiggled my hand against my cuffs again, and wondered how the hell I’d ended up all tied up when I hadn’t done anything wrong. Well, not recently.

  “You know that they’re probably going to arrest me again,” I pointed out. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve been on the straight and narrow since the cops last brought me in.”

  She let out a sigh and glanced out of the window towards the parking lot below. There were cars making their way in and out, and I wondered who they were transporting. New babies back home for the first time, sick family members back to their own beds at last. I wondered where she would go after this.

  “I know,” she nodded. “And I know I’m going to be in trouble, too.”

  “What? Why?”

  “For lying to them about what happened.” She took a long breath, her gaze focused on the far wall. “I’ve got so much explaining to do, Breaker. I don’t think it’ll ever end.”

  I stared at her, this woman I had convinced myself I hated for so long. She had been my first arrest, the first person to catch me after years of wrong–doing. And now, here we were, the two of us, each responsible for saving lives today. I mean, she was a cop, so that came as part of her job description. Me, not so much. And all I could think about was how much I wanted to be more like her. She was brilliant, beautiful, and the bravest person I’d ever met. She’d punched Thaddeus Bane in the face, for fuck’s sake, and turned him into a sniveling baby. There weren’t many people on the planet who could claim to have done that and lived to tell the tale. I didn’t know how much time we had left together, but I wanted to make the most of it while we still could.

  I leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips; instead of being instantly overwhelmed by lust, I found myself happy just to be near her. I reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and she reached out to hold my face to hers. I inhaled deeply, wrapping my free arm around her and pulling her in close. I had no idea when I was goin
g to see her again, and I wanted to commit as much of her to memory as I could manage while I had the chance. Before I knew it, her hand was trailing down between my legs, reaching over the edge of the bed to grasp at my cock. I pulled back, and raised an eyebrow.

  “Here?”

  “Why not?” She flashed me a playful grin. “Isn’t thank–God–we’re–alive–sex a thing around these parts?”

  “I can’t say I’ve ever done that,” I admitted, glancing over my shoulder to make sure the door was locked and clambering on to the bed so that I was on top of her. I ran my hand down her body, and she squirmed against the bed, which creaked dangerously below us. We both giggled, and I felt my heart flip in my chest as I looked down at her. She looked gorgeous, even after everything she’d been through.

  “We’ll probably have to make this quick,” I glanced at the door. “I don’t want anyone disturbing us.”

  “The words every woman wants to hear,” she teased, as I covered her mouth with mine again and kissed her to keep her quiet. She wrapped her arms around my waist, and I used what little leverage I had with my cuffed hand to shuffle down her pants a little and trace my fingertips over her skin. Shit, she was just so...tantalizing. Everything about her seemed to cry out for me to touch it, and who was I to resist?

  She reached down to my pants and shoved them down my hips, wrapping her fingers around the base of my cock and squeezing lightly. I let out a groan at the sight of her small hand around my quickly–growing erection, and slipped my own beneath her shirt. I found her nipples already gratifyingly hard, and pinched and twisted at her sensitive skin until I elicited a satisfying groan from between her lips. I leaned down to kiss her once again, and we continued to grope and grab at each other like a pair of teenagers for a few minutes longer. It felt, in some ways, like we were discovering each other all over again, starting from scratch with a pair of bodies that knew nothing of the tragedy of awfulness we’d seen over the last few days. I just wanted her, and she just wanted me, and I intended to make the most of that in every way I could.