Page 80 of Reset

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

It turned out their rescuers were two teenage boys. One of whom couldn’t keep his eyes off Sarah’s breasts. Ryan wondered if the kid would still be able to ogle her with two black eyes.

“How far are we from an exit?” Ryan stepped in front of Sarah, blocking the little pervert’s view.

“It is about a day from here,” the boy Ryan didn’t want to punch answered.

This boy was taller than his friend, with a scraggly, stretched look to him that either came from growing too fast, eating too little, or doing drugs. He’d given his name as Le Chat, the cat, which apparently was his graffiti tag. The smaller, pervier one was called La Fosse, the pit. It suited him.

When Ryan had followed Sarah out of the passageway and into the much wider and taller tunnel they now stood in, he’d found the boys writing their names in spray paint across the stone wall. Of course, they’d packed up pretty damn quick when they’d spotted Sarah.

He would have been worried about the looks she was getting, but seeing as both kids barely came to his shoulder, and he could easily grab one in each hand and knock them together without even breaking a sweat, he figured she was safe.

“A day?” Sarah asked as she tried to step out from behind him.

He moved with her to keep her out of The Pit’s sight.

“Oui, Madame,” Le Chat said. “We are very far into the catacombs.” He cast a furtive glance at his friend. “This is as deep as we go in this tunnel. You are lucky we came here today.”

Oh, yeah, these two couldn’t be trusted. Ryan wasn’t sure if it was because they were both about sixteen years old or that they looked like they practically lived in the caves, with their ratty jeans and dirty faces, or the way one of them had eyes that kept straying to his woman. It could also be that sexual frustration was coloring his view of the world. But hey, they were to blame for that too.

“How long have you been down here?” Sarah asked the teens.

Le Chat glanced at his friend before answering. “A couple of days. We have a, how do you say it, burrow? A few hours from here.”

“A hidden place we protect for ourselves,” La Fosse added.

“A den.” Sarah smiled at them, like they were children.

Oh, how naive she was. When Ryan was sixteen, he’d been far from a child. Mainly, he’d been an overgrown walking hormone with only two things on his mind—sex and food.

Actually, not much had changed.

His belly rumbled in agreement.

“Oui, a den. We can rest there.” The Pit was looking at her chest again.

Ryan was done. “La Fosse. Your eyes stray to my woman’s breasts one more time, and I’ll remove them from your head.”

“Ryan!” Sarah’s jaw dropped.

The Pit looked like he might crap himself but nodded furiously. Good. They understood each other.

“What he means,” Sarah said completely unnecessarily because Ryan had been pretty damn clear, “is that we’re very grateful you waited for us and will show us the way out of here. Aren’t we?” She elbowed his side.

“Sure.” Ryan flashed a smile that was all teeth.

“So, which way now?” Sarah asked, stepping closer to him as she did so.

It was obvious that she was putting on a brave face for the teens. Ryan was glad she didn’t try to fool him, too, because they were past stuff like that. Instead, she leaned her shaking body into him and let him support her.

The last tunnel had been tough on her. Hell, all of the tunnels had been. And as soon as they were out of there, he was booking them into the best hotel in Paris, running her a bubble bath—while he showered for about a week—and then he’d make love to his woman.

Possibly after a hearty meal. They needed their energy after all.

Le Chat, the least offensive of the boys, pointed behind him. “We go up,” he said with a smile.

“Lead the way.” Ryan jerked his chin to the tunnel. “Let’s get out of here.”