Cruel Temptation (Underground Kings 1)

I ignored him and inspected the room. There was the hospital bed, some medical equipment, and the chains on the one. “How did he get out?”

“He had to have broken his thumbs and slipped his hands through the cuffs. It would be the only way,” Grayson said, picking up one of the chains, which had Brian’s blood on it. “I’d assume that is exactly what he did. The metal could have cut his wrist, which would have given him enough blood for his message.”

“We have to get to Quinn. She’s in a delicate state right now, guys. I could lose her forever. After everything she and I have been through, I will not lose her like this, not to him. There has to be a way out of here.”

“You designed it, Jaxon. What do you remember?” Owen asked, watching me as I paced.

I thought long and hard, bringing up the blueprints in my mind. “I made sure that I didn’t want anyone to be able to escape. How the fuck did he?” I surveyed the room, but since it was too dark, I couldn’t see everything I needed to. I pointed the flashlight around the walls, and my teeth started to shiver when the room dropped to a dangerous temperature.

My head tilted, and my eyes squinted when I saw something above the bed. Taking a step forward, I realized the error of my design.

There was a vent.

And Brian had taken advantage of it.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Quinn

An arm wrapped around my waist, and I grinned when I felt Jaxon pulling me against him. I was between being asleep and a dream, so right now, while it felt real, I couldn’t tell. His mouth landed on the back of my neck, and he pressed a kiss there.

Those weren’t his lips.

Cold dread weighed my stomach to the bed like an anchor. I couldn’t move. I did my best not to tense. I didn’t feel the same scratch of Jaxon’s beard, just stubble, and the man against me was smaller than Jaxon.

Everywhere.

The man laughed behind me, and I closed my eyes because I knew who it belonged to. There was one man I could remember, and it was Brian.

“I know you’re awake, Quinn,” he said, burying his nose in my hair and inhaling so deep that he moaned, digging his arousal into my ass. “You always smelled so good.”

“Brian,” I said, and if he was here, then where the hell was Jaxon?

“Oh, you remembered. I thought you’d forgotten all about me since you’re being a whore!” he yelled and flipped me over onto my back. He backhanded me, and my head jerked to the left. My lip bled, and it trickled down my throat, a warning that this was far from over.

Brian didn’t know I didn’t have my memory, so that could work for me or against me if I played it right. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have only been faithful to you, Brian. I had no idea you were here.” That wasn’t a lie. I’m sure the old me new, but not this me.

“Is that so?” His hand drifted so my waist and gathered Jaxon’s t-shirt I wore in his hands and reached under my shirt to grab my tit. “Last time I checked, faithful bitches didn’t lay half-naked in another man’s bed.”

I wiggled beneath him and bucked him off me. He fell to the side, and I lifted my casted wrist and slammed it against his face.

“Ah! I’m going to kill you,” he shouted.

I reared my arm up again and slammed my wrist down on his head until he laid there, unmoving. I cried when my wrist throbbed, but I couldn’t let the pain stop me. I rolled off the bed, and since my one of my legs was so heavy because of my cast, I fell straight to the ground. I used the edge of the mattress to help me get up.

I just had to go and fall off a cliff.

I paused. How did I know that? I didn’t remember anything else, but I knew that! I couldn’t celebrate right now. I held onto my leg and dragged it along the floor as I walked toward the door. Lifting the inconvenient leg over the step was challenging, but I made do and stepped out into the hall. I reached for the handle to shut the door, but there wasn’t a handle to be found. “Shit,” I whispered.

As I hurried down the hall, as quick as my leg would allow me. My hands held myself up against the wall, and it allowed me to take some pressure off my leg. I wished like hell I had those pain pills now. My wrist and leg were throbbing. If Brian woke up, he’d be able to hear me walking. I was better off trying to hide.

I slipped into the game room, where the party supplies still decorated the place. There were pinball machines, a basketball machine, a pool table, air hockey, and I needed a weapon. There was a knife near the half-eaten cake. With sweat pouring off my body and my stomach about to lurch what contents I had in it, I swallowed it down and snagged the knife. There was nowhere to hide. Not really. There was another door in the back, and my hip hit the edge of the pool stable, and it took all I had not to groan.

“Where are you, Quinn?” Brian sang from down the hall. “I can smell you.” He banged against the wall with his fist, and on a whimper, I dragged myself to the door and opened it, easing it shut behind me until the lock clicked.

I studied the room. There were semi-empty shelves filled with extra pool balls, basketballs, cleaning supplies, and nets. Above the tallest shelf, there was a vent, but I didn’t think I’d be able to climb up and get inside.

I had to try. I wouldn’t wait for Brian to find me, and he would find me. It was only a matter of time before he opened this door.