“Fuck.” The soft word jumped from Lucas, more an expulsion of air than sound.
Lucas withdrew his thumb from Andrei’s lips and hovered for a second, seeming to fight the urge to close those last couple of inches, indecision filling his light eyes. Andrei lowered his chin the tiniest bit, his breathing ragged as he tried to keep from swooping in, praying the other man would kiss him to put them both out of their misery. He just needed a taste and then he would be able to walk away from Lucas Vallois, never give the man another thought.
Lucas’s warm breath danced across Andrei’s lips as he sighed, a sound of capitulation, giving into the swamping need that was drawing them closer.
A loud scraping echoed through the warehouse as the door was forced open. Both men jumped, startled by the intrusion. Andrei recovered first, using his left arm to shove Lucas behind him, deeper into the shadows while he pulled his gun with his right.
“Is there an exit on this level?” Andrei whispered, his eyes trained on the entrance as two men entered carrying heavy, awkward objects.
“No.
Andre wanted to groan. Of course there wasn’t an easy way out of there. They’d have to get past the two intruders in order to escape. Sadly, Andrei couldn’t decide if he was pissed or relieved they’d interrupted what would have been his first kiss with a man. But now was not the time to think about it. He needed to get Lucas out of there safely and then call the cops.
“How many exits?”
“Three. One in the front, back, and on the far side. All on the first floor.”
Andrei nodded, keeping his eyes on the two men as they moved toward the center of the room. If they kept moving toward the back, Andrei planned to grab Lucas and hurry him down the stairs. He could lay down some cover fire so Lucas could make a run for the door. Of course, Andrei was hoping that the two didn’t have any companions waiting outside the building.
Texting and calling for help was also out of the question. The light from their phones would instantly give them away in the darkness of the place. They were trapped.
“So? How are we goin’ do this?” The taller man stopped in the middle of the room with his heavy container. “We could just put a rag in one and light it.”
“This ain’t no Molotov cocktail, you fucking moron!” his companion shouted. “We splash it on everything and leave a puddle on the floor in the middle. I’ve got a wick that’ll stretch to the door. That way we can get out of here before the whole fucking place goes up.”
“What the hell?” Lucas whispered. He took a step, moving as if he planned to march down the stairs to confront the two thugs.
Andrei soundlessly spun around and pressed Lucas against the wall, leaning in so that his face was close to the other man’s. “We’re going to sneak out before they set it on fire.”
“But—”
“No. We’re out. I never should have brought you here. We need to figure out where the others are.” Andrei turned away from Lucas to look past the temporary wooden railing down to the first floor where the two men were opening the containers. He prayed they were smart enough to start at the back of the building and work their way toward the front door.
“Others?”
Andrei frowned and then bent to yank of up his pant leg. He pulled out a snub nose revolver and handed it to Lucas. “There should be one more at most—a driver of the getaway car. Keep your head down and just run for your car. I’ll be behind you.”
The two men continued to talk as the first splash on the concrete floor echoed through the empty warehouse. Noxious fumes from the gasoline filled the air, threatening to gag Andrei. Reaching back, he grabbed a fistful of Lucas’s jacket and pulled him toward the stairs as the men moved steadily deeper into the building. The patter of dripping gasoline hitting the various surfaces while the men loudly talked helped to cover their movement down the grime-covered stairs.
Andrei’s heart pounded and he was cursing himself over and over again for allowing Lucas to even get out of the car. It was just his bad luck that they’d timed their trip with a pair of arsonists.
Lucas had reached the bottom step when their luck took an even bigger turn for the worse. They were less than a hundred feet from the door when one of the intruders looked back and caught sight of them. His shock briefly showed in the dingy moonlight, but he didn’t hesitate long. Dropping his plastic container of gasoline, he drew his weapon and pointed it at Lucas.
Andrei shoved Lucas down and fired at the man. Both he and the other guy dove to the floor, but the thug holding the gun returned fire. Pain ripped across Andrei’s bicep, but he ignored it and kept firing while he focused on getting Lucas to his feet again so he could scramble toward the door while Andrei kept them busy.