Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Rene had been standing in the back, but he came forward. “Of course. I don’t want trouble with the Agency either. Are you old enough to be in a club? You look like you’re thirteen.”
Drake frowned. “I’m twenty-three. You can’t shock me. I’ve had some kink in my life recently, I assure you. I’m not looking to join. Can you tell me about the building? Some of these older buildings have interesting architectural elements, I hear.”
“Fuck. How good is this kid?” Ezra stood and went to the small table where he’d set the Beretta he’d brought along.
Kim was bringing up the camera that was focused on the wall that hid their door. Rene had explained that there was only one camera in the dungeon, and it was only pointed at the hidden door. It was a small micro camera camouflaged in one of the light fixtures. Kim adjusted the feed so she had a split screen of the lobby and the camera that was there to help protect whoever was hiding behind the walls.
“Don’t tell me.” Drake’s voice came over as a whisper. “I want to see if I can find it.”
He knew. He knew something was here. Ezra felt every muscle in his body flood with adrenaline. “I’m going to be waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.”
“No. You’re going to stay right here. He can’t hear us moving around if we’re still,” Kim said, her voice low. “Sit down, Beck. You have to be patient. You have to trust Tag.”
He didn’t want to be patient. He didn’t want to trust anyone. Over the last year he’d come to depend on the men they’d called the Lost Boys, but they were off on their own now, living their own lives.
Drake came into view after agonizing moments. He walked past the camera and Ezra breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t last long because Drake moved into frame again, his back to the camera. He stayed there for a moment, still as a ghost.
He eased the safety off the gun.
“Don’t, Beck,” Kim whispered. “You can’t kill him. If he opens that door, I’m going in.”
He wasn’t sure he could allow that, but he snapped the safety back on and held his breath as Drake stepped up to the panel that hid the door and put a hand on it.
“Tag said you were good.” Rene’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Kim’s shoulders sagged. “Oh, thank god.”
Drake turned, and as though he knew exactly where the camera was and who was watching, he gave a wink and walked away. “I’ll need to inspect the kitchen, too. I want to be able to say I was thorough. And your office.”
“Of course,” Rene said. “The Velvet Collar is completely open.”
“Tag knows him.” He sank back onto the chair and reached for her hand, tugging on it.
She let herself be pulled onto his lap, and after a brief moment of awkwardness, cuddled against him. “I told you to trust him.”
“No, I told you to trust him.” He loved the feel of her against him. He let himself really breathe for the first time since Levi had entered the building. He wanted to walk downstairs and kill the fucker, but she needed more than that. Eliminating Levi wouldn’t solve all of their problems. “And it’s all good now.”
“He’s still not out of the building,” she said with her head on his shoulder. “I won’t feel safe until then. And safe is a relative term.”
Didn’t he know it? They wouldn’t be safe for a very long time, but at least he knew Levi wouldn’t come storming up the stairs. They had a shot, and after the night before, that shot wasn’t all about surviving.
He’d felt more the night before than in the last decade without her. Maybe it was time to start talking about what happened, to start thinking about forgiveness. Being angry with her had done nothing but cost them years, and god he’d missed this soft feeling. He’d missed giving her the things she needed, being a part of her world. It was easy to fall back into old habits, and sitting with her, just breathing her in, was a habit he remembered so well.
“Damon had to have given Ezra the go-ahead,” Levi was saying. “I suspect some of the London team was there, too.”
“Take that up with Damon,” Tag shot back. “Man, I am running on very little sleep. I’ve got a newborn at home and now I have to figure out what that girl upstairs has been through and how to help her. I do not give a flying fuck about Agency games. As far as I’m concerned, Ezra Fain is on his own.”
“I suppose you’ll let me into Sanctum, then.”
“If that’s what it takes to get the Agency off my back, but you need to understand that there will be no more favors. You feel free to fly in and inspect my private property and then we’ll be done, and I’m not talking about you and me,” Tag explained. “You mean less than nothing to me. I’m talking about your bosses who love to come whining to me that they need help. My door will be closed.”