Page 19 of Gilded Shackles
Elle clutches the sheet to her chest, eyes darting between me and the men. "Jeffrey, please. This is insane. I just wanted one night."
"Your mother has the entire NYPD looking for you," he cuts in. "And you're in a hotel room with him."
"Let's go." The third guard gestures with his weapon.
I meet Elle's eyes one more time. She's silently begging me not to do what I'm about to do.
Sorry, sweetheart.
I move for my shirt. Hands visible. Pace slow.
"That's far enough," Jeffrey barks.
I stop. Raise my hands slightly. "Just getting dressed. Like you asked."
He nods, weapon still trained. I take one step forward, reaching for the shirt on the chair.
Then I pivot.
Throat first. My fist catches Jeffrey under the jaw and his head snaps back. The second guard gets my elbow across the bridge of his nose. Bone crunches. I'm already moving toward the third when the first shot splits the air.
Elle screams.
I duck, roll, come up behind the bed. The bullet buries itself in the wall where my chest was half a second ago.
"Stop!" Elle shouts. "Jeffrey, don't! Nik, please!"
I vault over the bed, driving my shoulder into the third guard's stomach. His gun skitters across the floor. Jeffrey yells something. Blood pounding in my ears drowns it out.
I grab the fallen weapon. Chamber a round. Turn.
Something hard connects with the back of my skull.
The room tilts. My knees forget how to lock.
Elle's voice, frantic and far away: "Don't hurt him!"
Another blow.
Amateurs.
Darkness rushes in, cold and absolute.
5
ELLE
Irarely, if ever, get angry. But right now I'm the kind of angry that comes with an arson charge and zero regrets.
I'm sitting in the black SUV between two brick-wall men while Jeffrey rides shotgun and Nik lies sprawled across the third row like evidence at a crime scene, and all I can think is: I hate everyone in this car except innocent, unconscious Nik. And also maybe my entire life.
"Is he breathing?" I snap.
"He's fine," Jeffrey says without turning around.
"From where I'm sitting he looks extremely unconscious, and that feels like the opposite of fine, Jeffrey."
"I said he's fine."
