AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I tried to keep it together for his benefit, but tears were constantly running down my cheeks and my hands shook so hard I could barely grab a towel for Zack to sit on, on the cold tile floor. I was glad when I got him to sit between my legs, not trusting myself to hold him when I was shaking so hard.
As he happily played with the second towel I had handed him, putting it over his head and laughing each time he pulled it back off, I tried hard not to let my mind focus on the ‘what-if’s’ running through it, but it proved impossible.
I was terrified the guys would be hurt. This had to be Soloman, right? What if he got past them and into the house? Would he get into this room, to me and worse, to Zack? I looked all around me for a weapon. There was no way in hell I was allowing that monster to get his hands on Zack. I ripped open a drawer on the vanity and reached above me to feel around in it. My hand landed on a pair of scissors and I knew I could make them work if I needed to. Please don’t make me need to, I begged over and over in my head. If Soloman got into the house, it would mean the guys were at least hurt, maybe even worse. That was a fear I wasn’t willing to even comprehend.
“They’ll be okay,” I whispered to myself. “They’re trained for this. They’re coming back.”
But so much time seemed to pass, and no one came to tell me everything was okay. I didn’t have my cell phone so I had no way to know how long it had been. I started to worry what I’d do if they didn’t come back? Could I get to my ce,l to call my brothers and back to the safety of that room? What if Soloman was waiting out there for me?
More than anything I wanted to run right outside and check on the guys. What if they were hurt? What if they were bleeding out and I just sat here and let it happen? Sobs continued to slip from me as I lost my mind with worry, but I pushed them back, not wanting to scare Zack.
Eventually the little guy got bored and fell back against me, falling asleep minutes later. I was so grateful for that as I allowed my sobs of terror for my guys to come out quietly. I gave myself a few minutes to cry, then I pulled myself together, knowing I had to be prepared for the worst. If my guys were hurt and Soloman got past them, he would find a way through this door to me.
I picked Zack up and cradled him in one arm as I laid as many towels as I could in Harr’s tub, then I laid him on top of all of them, and covered him with another to keep him warm, hoping he’d be comfortable enough there to stay asleep for a while.
When I was sure he was settled I got to my feet, but my legs were shaking so hard, adrenaline pumping through me, and I could barely stay upright. I grabbed the wall and made my way over to the closet in the corner, praying Harris kept some kind of weapon in there that would be more effective than the scissors I was clutching.
But before I could even open it to look, I heard beeping coming from outside the door. I was out of time. I gripped the scissors as tightly as I could in my hand and hid at the side of the door, ready to attack hard and fast if Soloman stepped through. I would not let him get his hands on Zack.
KAILAN
Aleks and I could only watch Evie set off up the stairs with Zack in her arms. Both of us wanted to know that she was safely behind that panic room door in Harris’s bathroom – a feature we had installed just in case, when we built the place. Now we were so fucking grateful for Harris’s paranoia, but we didn’t have time to make sure she was safe. We both knew that sound before – an explosion. A really fucking sizeable one, and we had to get to our brothers.
“We see that asshole; we take him out. No warnings,” I growled as I looked to Aleks.
“Agreed,” Aleks nodded, then we were on the front step surveying the damage and looking for the Boss and Nick. The explosion had obviously been focused on the entrance gates, since they were hanging off awkwardly and the ground around them was messed up. The debris from the explosion led from the gates, all the way to the front steps of the house, but there was no sign of anyone near the gates or trying to get on the property. The explosion would have disarmed the security system, I guessed, so checking it seemed a waste of time.
“There!” Aleks yelled, then he was running. I took off after him and saw Nick laid out on his back on the lawn, a good distance from the gates.
“Nick!” Aleks yelled as he dropped to his knees on the ground. I stood over them, keeping my head on a swivel and my finger on the trigger. Where’s the boss?
Nick was bleeding from the back of his head and he had some small cuts from the debris, but he was breathing, his chest moving up and down.
“Stay with him,” I told Aleks. “I need to find Harris.” I looked all around us, then headed in the opposite direction, hoping like hell the Boss had been out of the blast range when that thing went off.
Then I saw him, on the opposite side of the entrance, closer to the house.
“Boss!” I yelled as I ran towards him. He looked unconscious and he was bleeding from his forehead, likely from the blast smashing him against the house. “Boss? Wake up!” I told him as I dropped to my knees and looked him over.
In an instant he was awake and had taken me down to my back, his hand around my throat. Who could blame him? The last time he woke from an explosion he’d been shackled in that Hell.
“Boss, j-just me,” I gasped as I placed a calm hand over his. He looked all around him, then down to me, confusion on his face.
“Rush?” Finally he released me and I sat up spluttering. “What the fuck?”
“Some one blew the gates,” I told him as I grabbed my gun again and stumbled to my feet. The fucker had way too hard a grip. “Are you good?”
“Evie? Fuck! Where is she?” he panicked as he shot to his feet, then wobbled a little. I quickly put my arm around him to steady him.
“In the panic room with Zack. Nick got hit by the impact too. We need to get out of here,” I explained. “Soloman has access to the house now. It’s not safe.”
“Fuck! We have to get to Evie,” he gasped.
“We will, but we need a plan. We can’t just drive around. We need a safe place to go,” I pointed out. “You and Nick need medical attention too.”
“Lyle,” Harris said as he touched his forehead then winced in pain. “I planned to call him to get Evie home anyway. He lives in New York. He’ll help us.”
“Asher Lyle? Have you even spoken to him since we got out?” I asked, surprised. Asher had gone through training with us when we enlisted and we’d worked several missions with his SEAL team when we were overseas. He was a good friend once upon a time, but after all we went through, we hadn’t spoken with anyone from the military since.
