She tilted her head up to meet my eyes. “Always,” she whispered.
“Yeah, baby, always. God, I missed you.”
She stood on her tiptoes. “Then kiss me.”
I groaned then lowered my mouth to hers, my grip on her tightening as I tasted her quivering lips.
“Like to get out of here alive,” Deck shouted from around the corner.
I pulled back, half-smiled, then grabbed her hand and we ran for the stairs.
“Two SUVs approaching,” Deck said, holding the door open. He was wearing a headset to communicate with his men. “Josh counts five in each.”
“Give me a weapon,” London said, her throat scratchy.
I took the stairs two at a time right behind Deck and Vic.
“I can help,” she said.
“We got this,” I argued. “Just stay behind me.”
“Kai.” She jerked back on her hand, but I refused to let go. “Give me a knife… something.”
Deck stopped at the top of the stairs and glanced over his shoulder at us. “Josh counts ten entering the front door. Tyler is coming in the back.” Glass shattered. “He’s taking them out when he has a clear shot.”
There was a stampede of rushed footsteps. Coldness drummed into me as if waves pummeled me. It was a roar of need to destroy, to protect what was mine after weeks and weeks of having to keep my emotions locked down. Of pretending shit was okay when London was missing. Having to deal with Tanner, Georgie telling Deck about me, Georgie freaking out that I’d kill Deck…. Another time in my life, I may have, but I needed him to take out Vault and get London out.
Something had shifted in me. Even when Deck held a gun on me in his penthouse, I wouldn’t have killed him. I did, however, take pleasure in punching him. Landing in the pool sucked, but throwing a few punches was better than a few bullets.
London was the reason for all of this. She was the reason I had to semi-trust Deck. She was the shift inside me.
I looked at London, pale and filthy, and yet she had the same determination in her eyes that I’d witnessed the first day I met her. The day in the woods when both of our lives changed. There had been nothing good about what I’d done, pulling her into my cruel world. But London had survived it. She was still surviving it.
“Kai. Now,” Deck growled.
“Give me a weapon, Kai.”
Vic yanked a gun from beneath his vest, handed it to her, ignored me, and then moved past Deck to the door into the living room.
“You know how to use it?” I asked her.
She looked at me and I wrapped both her hands around the gun. “Cock it here. Aim and pull the trigger.”
I didn’t think it was possible after what she’d been through, but the corners of her mouth curved upwards. “I didn’t think you knew how to handle a gun?”
Unbelievable. The last time I’d seen her, she looked defeated, her eyes dead and blank. But now, she was fighting. And from her attack on me, she’d planned on taking out whoever entered her cell next—Brice. “Baby, I can handle any—”
“Let’s do this,” Deck interrupted.
I nodded as I turned away from her and pulled out a knife. Vic gave an abrupt nod to Deck and me, then turned the door handle and kicked it open with his foot. Three men who had been approaching the door, stopped then aimed.
I grabbed London’s hand and dove left while Vic and Deck went right, shooting at the men. I threw a knife and it hit one guy in the chest. He went down hard. Deck ran back toward us and Vic took off toward the kitchen where Tyler was.
“Vic, incoming,” Deck said in the headset. “Five seconds. Front entrance is compromised. We’re headed your way.”
I couldn’t hear his reply, but Deck shook his head and pointed to the front door. “Josh counts five live. But they’re staying clear of the windows. Josh compromised.”
“Take her,” I said to Deck.
Even though I’d given them the layout, I knew this house blindfolded. I’d made sure I did. I had to take the lead and I didn’t want London near me.
“You good?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Okay, let’s get the fuck out of here. Give me ten seconds.” Without waiting for a response, I dove across the hallway and bullets pierced through the air as Deck returned fire covering me.
I caught a glimpse of a guy with his attention on Deck, firing. I crept around the room, went up behind him and sliced my knife across his throat.
He crumpled to the floor.
I put my back to the wall then peered around the corner into the foyer. There was a guy standing at the front door blocking our escape route.
I heard more gunshots back toward the kitchen where Vic and Tyler were.