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An eerie feeling prickled through me, and I strained my ears for the noise from the main room again.
It was so goddamned quiet.
The hair on my neck stood up, and my gut rolled with the need to run. Get the fuck out of here.
I tried to tell everyone to back up, but I had no chance before the wall exploded inward.
The explosion was small, so while it took us off our feet, it didn’t do much else beyond spraying us with a shit-ton of debris. At least, I thought it didn’t.
The floor rumbled, and I shoved Mari into Nate, pushing them to the edges of the room. With her safe, I reached for Greyson, but I was too late. The floor gave way as the fabric of his shirt slipped through my fingers. “No!”
“Greyson!” Mari yelled his name, desperation ringing through my ears even over the sound of gunfire.
The cavalry had arrived. Thank fuck.
We still didn’t know where Cash was, but we’d figure it out. He wasn’t getting out of here alive.
More gunshots fired, and I realized that the “sleeping” men probably hadn’t been sleeping at all.
Definitely a trap, which means the floor situation is too.
“Stay back,” I ordered, happy to see Nate holding Mari back. “I’ll get him.”
I felt her eyes on me as I climbed down the fucking landslide, but as long as she stayed there, I was fine with it. I wasn’t going to let her fall into the pit and be lost herself.
The floor looked to have collapsed about one story down, to the storage part of Gilded’s basement. The debris had made a slope we could use to climb, thanks to part of the floor staying mostly intact. The rubble was from the rest of the floor crumbling. Thankfully, Grey had fallen onto the rubble and not the other way around, so it was easy to see him. Not as easy to get to him and probably a bitch to get him out, but we’d manage.
He was on his back, panting at the ceiling when I finally got to his level. “Up you go, big boy.”
“That’s what she said,” he huffed, rolling to his side so he could get back on his feet. His teeth were gritted, but I didn’t see any glaring injuries.
“You good?”
“Perfect. Get me up there.”
I went first, stopping often to make sure he was still behind me. Our palms were scraped, blood oozing between the small cuts, but we kept pushing. The higher we got, the slower I went, making sure I was there in case his hands slipped. I’d push the guy with a hand on the ass if it meant we got out of the hole sooner.
Gunshots were still ringing out, people screaming, but the hallway was quiet. Maybe because they knew there was no exit over here.
I didn’t breathe as I climbed out of the hole and threw a hand down for him. It took Grey a second to shift his hand so he wouldn’t fall when he let go, but eventually, he tossed himself forward and grabbed me. Greyson’s grip was strong as I hauled him out of the rubble, breathing heavily once we were on mostly solid ground. When he finally stood, it was with one arm wrapped around his ribs. I hoped his body didn’t have any serious damage. We were shit out of luck if so.
Broken ribs, we could handle. Punctured lungs, not so much.
“Quit it, mother hen.”
“Jesus, I’m just making sure you’re not dying.”
“Aw, I knew you loved me.” He pushed my hovering body away from him, giving me a shit-eating grin.
Should’ve left him in the rubble. No good deed goes unpunished. “Mari would’ve been sad without you, that’s all.”
“Sure, sure.” His smile didn’t fall as he dug his spare gun out of its holster. “Let’s get back to our girl.”
Only, when we turned around, we found nothing but dust.
No Mari. No Nate.
Fuck.
