Page 84 of Broken Love

She scoffs. “What kind of name is that?”

His lips fall. “Give Sparky your gun.”

“Sparky?”

I hold out my hand. “Just do it.”

She exhales hard and drops it into my open palm as Archer clicks a handcuff onto her wrist. He attaches the other cuff to himself, latching the two of them together.

“Oh,” she says, rolling her eyes into the back of her skull. “You’re that Archer Allen…”

He tilts his head. “You’ve heard of me, love?”

“Don’t get cocky,” she quips. “Your record is far from impressive.”

“It’s about to get a whole lot better.”

Her lips curl. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

She lashes out, striking his jaw with a hard punch while simultaneously kicking my shin, bringing me down to my knees. Another quick jut of her heel knocks the gun from my grasp. She twirls around Archer, gaining enough momentum to strike him with a hard backhand.

Archer drops his shotgun to block the blow, grabbing her fist in his palm just inches away from his face. Lilah punches with her free hand but he snatches that as well. He draws her closer, so close her face is only an inch from his.

“Now, that’s enough, love—”

Lilah head-butts him. She wiggles free enough to boost off the wall and punch Archer in the face. He tumbles to his knees and Lilah uses the moment to reach into her pocket.

I spot the bobby pin in her hand. “Archer, the cuffs!”

She moves with trained, expert precision and slips her hand free of the picked cuff before I can even reach the gun.

I lunge forward to stop her, but she swings around, connecting her hard elbow against my nose. A haze of white light strikes my vision, blinding me while Lilah trips me down to the floor.

A hard metal ring tightens around my wrist.

I try to tug away but Archer and I are bound together in cuffs.

Archer sits up with wide eyes. Lilah looks back over her shoulder and flashes him a wink before bolting down the stairs.

“My god…” he whispers. “She’s amazing.”

I try to slip my wrist free in a blind panic. “Keys, Archer!”

He blinks out of trance and fishes into his pockets. I leap to my feet and grab the two guns off the floor as we go. We race for the stairs together while Archer tries to unlock us. My heart pounds in my chest, aching from failure as I try not to imagine what they’re doing to Caleb right now.

We reach the bottom and the. cuff slides free of my wrist.

“Boxcar—”

Caleb’s voice brings me to a standstill. She’s still on the couch. Her chest rises, steady but nervous. Elijah points his gun forward at us and Lilah stands behind Caleb with a long pocketknife against her throat.

I pass Archer’s shotgun back to him, along with Lilah’s handgun. “Don’t you dare hurt her,” I warn.

“Not bad, Sparky,” Lilah says, “but your plan was a little sloppy.”

“Where is Fox really?” Elijah asks.

“He’s not here right now,” I answer.

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