Hideaway (Devil's Night 2)

“I need you to handle the front desk for an hour. The first shifter is caught in traffic.”

I made to zip up the jacket, but all of a sudden it was ripped off me from behind, and I jerked around, seeing a smiling Alex snatching it back and shoving me in the chest, out the door.

What the fuck?

She slammed the locker room door closed, and I rushed back, jiggling the knob, but she was planted against it, not letting me in.

I opened my mouth to yell but just fisted my hands, growling low.

Damn her.

“Everything slows to a goddamn halt, like people have never seen rain before,” Kai went on, still walking down the hallway. “Just scan cards, hand out towels if they ask, and answer the phones. It shouldn’t be too long.”

I tucked one side of my hair behind my ear and followed him reluctantly, fidgeting my hands and trying to cover my stomach with my arms and then my cleavage.

“I’ll show you how to use the intercom to page me if you need me,” he instructed.

I stopped at the desk as he reached over it, grabbing a set of keys and a walkie talkie.

But then something dropped in the middle of the lobby, and Kai and I both looked over, seeing Michael standing frozen with his fucking eyebrows up at his hairline. He was staring at me.

I shifted my eyes around, grinding my teeth together. Yeah, laugh it up, asshole.

Kai held out his hands, annoyed as he looked at Michael and Rika standing still in the middle of the lobby with a Gatorade spilling out on the floor.

“What’s the matter with you?” he burst out.

And then he followed their gaze, finally turning around and looking at me.

His eyebrows nose-dived, his back straightened, and he looked at me like I just kicked a puppy.

His gaze dropped to my bare feet, slowly scaling up Alex’s tight workout pants, my bare stomach, the sports bra, and my hair hanging long and free.

My fists clenched at my side.

Kai’s eyes finally met mine, and my stomach dropped. I knew that look. It was the same one he had in his eyes on that Devil’s Night, right before he chased me.

He cocked an eyebrow and turned his head toward his friends. “What are you looking at?” he growled to Michael. “Locker room’s that way.”

Michael had a grin he was trying to hold back, and Rika scowled at him.

“Breathe, asshole,” she said, and then she stomped off down the hallway.

He followed her, a choked laugh in his voice. “Babe, I was just a little shocked. It’s a huge change!”

“Shut up.”

“Rika, come on…”

And their argument disappeared down the hall.

I stood there, my head level but my gaze on the floor as I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I’ll change as soon as my clothes are dry,” I told him, looking up. “Where can I get one of those polos the other desk clerks wear?”

He didn’t answer for a moment, his gaze hesitantly glancing down and back up again.

Hooding his eyes, he walked around me, toward the hallway. “We’re all out.”

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