“Security!”
“Let’s go.” Everett grabbed her arm again and dashed down the stairs.
A man followed after them, down the first flight of stairs, and then a second. She was panting by the time they reached the base level and Everett shouldered open the door. She was disoriented when the door deposited them out on the streets. Where were they? They were supposed to be back in the warehouse.
But she didn’t have time to think, she just followed Everett. The guy behind them did not look happy that they had accidentally broken into the blood bank. She didn’t know if Everett knew where he was running to or if he was winding them through the backstreets aimlessly until they lost the guy. But eventually, he yanked her hard into a tiny alcove and covered her mouth with his hand.
The guard rounded the corner and ran right past them. After a few minutes when they were sure that he was gone, Everett released her.
“This way,” he said. He opened a side door and they went up two flights of stairs.
“Where are we? I’m so lost,” she admitted, still panting from exertion.
He opened the first door on the right. “Home sweet home.”
They walked into a small apartment, and he quickly closed the door.
“This is where you live?”
He nodded, color touching his cheeks. “It’s not much, but it’s mine.”
It really wasn’t much. With his impeccable appearance at work and the nice car he drove, she thought he would have lived in a slightly nicer area of town. Reyna didn’t know how far they had run, but it couldn’t have been that far away.
“Do you live here by yourself?”
“Yeah. Just me and Hopper,” he said as a dog promptly hopped out of the bedroom and ran right into Everett. A smile split his face, and he picked up the tiny puffball of a dog and let it lick his face.
“Oh my goodness, how cute!” she cooed.
“Here. He loves everyone.”
Everett handed her the dog, and she plopped down onto his couch. Hopper nuzzled her and forced her to pet him the whole time. After the previous incident, it was actually really relaxing. She couldn’t believe that they had gone to an underground fighting ring, found a black market blood bank, and were chased by some scary-looking security guard.
“When you said we were going somewhere exciting…I didn’t expect all this.”
He sighed and sank down next to her. “Me either. I never would have taken you there if I had thought all of that was going to happen.”
“What do you think they’re doing with that blood?” she asked.
“Selling it?” he guessed. “I think the more important question is—where are they getting it from?”
Reyna shuddered. “Ew. I don’t want to think about that.”
“And you shouldn’t. You should forget everything that just happened. You don’t need to be mixed up with anything like that. You have your own life.”
“What about you?”
He cracked a smile. “I’m too smart to get mixed up with anything. I don’t share my friends’ belief that all vampires are bad, by the sheer virtue of them being vampires.”
“Right. Just like all humans aren’t good, because they’re humans.”
“Right.”
They sat like that on the couch until Reyna’s breathing evened out. She felt like she could pass out right then and there from exhaustion. It all hit her at once.
“I like your place,” she murmured drowsily.
He laughed. “I’m sure it’s nothing compared to where you are.”
“This feels more like home,” she told him. “I grew up in the Warehouse District.”
Everett cringed. “Really? I heard it’s awful out there.”
“It’s awful everywhere. But at least at home I had my brothers. They made it all worthwhile.”
“Where are they now?”
“They’re still there.” Tears sprang to her eyes unbidden and she quickly swiped them off her face. “I miss them a lot. It feels like an eternity since I left.”
“But you’ll get to go home to them soon, right? Isn’t that how the program works? One month and then you switch?”
Reyna closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “That’s how it normally works, but they rolled out a new program. Better pay, better benefits, and you live with the Sponsor permanently.”
“What?” Everett asked in shock. “Can they do that?”
“They’re already doing it. I’ll be with Beckham until…well, I don’t know until when. Indefinitely.”
Everett was stunned into silence, which was the only reason Reyna heard her phone vibrating in her giant purse. She fished it out of the bag and sighed when she saw that Beckham was calling.
“Ugh! It’s Beckham. Sorry.”
“It’s my fault really. We shouldn’t have ditched your guard.”
“I shouldn’t have to have one,” she muttered irritably.
“Take the bedroom,” he offered, pointing behind him.
“Thanks.” She walked into the bedroom and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Reyna!” he said, sounding out of breath. “Where are you? What happened? Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“You lost your guard.”
“I know,” she said softly. “I know it’s against the rules, but there weren’t really a lot of options.”