Page 68 of After the Fall

The room seemed to tilt and I stumbled sideways.

“Wyatt,” Harper screamed and tried to hold me up. Surprisingly, she was able to keep my two-hundred-fifty-pound frame on my feet. “What’s going on?”

“I’m dizzy.” The stairwell was spinning like I was in a carnival funhouse.

“Get him some water,” Harper screamed, but her voice seemed muted.

“He doesn’t need water. He needs some red moss,” Joe shouted.

Harper eased me to the stairs and I fumbled with the inside of my suit to pull out the baggie of red moss. The door above us banged open, and a voice I recognized echoed through the concrete stairwell.

“Boss, are you in here?”

“Tank,” Harper shouted. “He’s here. We need help.”

Tank stumbled into my vision. His face was flushed as red as a wild berry. “It’s the perfume. We need to get out of here.”

The stairwell tilted again and a pair of strong hands lifted me to my feet. “Come on. We’ve got to go,” a voice whispered in my ear.

THIRTY-FIVE

HARPER

Tank shoutedsomething into his earpiece and the four of us rushed down the dark stairwell. As he reached the last step, he began to wobble back and forth. Dad took his hand from Wyatt’s shoulder to steady Tank, and I linked my arm through Wyatt’s. His body fell flush against my silk dress and the fabric clung to us both.

Finally, we reached the steel door marked ‘Emergency’. I pushed into the bar, praying that an alarm wouldn’t go off, and we tumbled into an empty back alley.

Wyatt and Tank gulped in the autumn air, their color slowly returning with each greedy breath.

I tried rubbing Wyatt’s back, but he jerked away. “I’m fine,” he growled, before turning his anger onto Tank. “What the hell, man? How the fuck did security miss this?”

Tank shrugged his shoulders and muttered into his earpiece, before disappearing around the corner.

Goosebumps prickled my bare arms. A large suit jacket was draped over my shoulders, the cheap material itchy against my bare skin. “Thanks, Dad,” I whispered. He nodded, his eyes widewith concern. Whatever had happened to Wyatt and Tank just now didn’t seem to impact him.

Wyatt paced back and forth on the concrete sidewalk, his brow furrowed. His head shot up as Tank reappeared around the corner. “Get me some answers.”

Tank seemed flustered, his usual cockiness gone. “We think there’s something in the perfume that only affects our kind. V’s crew was hit the hardest, but she was able to sneak out of the gala without anyone noticing. Ryder said she passed out in the limo, but she’s coherent now and en route back to the mansion as we speak.”

Wyatt nodded, his face emotionless. “The last thing we need is for the media to catch on.”

“Understood.”

“What’s our plan for getting ba—”

A white Mercedes SUV screeched around the corner, stopping mere feet from us. The driver’s window rolled down. “Hop in,” Savannah shouted.

Connor was buckled into the passenger seat, so I squeezed into the back, wedged in between the two most important men in my life. Wyatt’s hand grazed lightly over my stomach as he reached across my lap to buckle me in. I held my breath as it clicked into place, his hand lingering a moment longer than necessary.

Savannah peered over her shoulder. Her eyes sparkled as we made eye contact. “Nice dress, Davis.”

Wyatt mumbled, his voice even more irritated than usual. “Leave the catching up for later, or get your boyfriend to drive.”

Savannah faced forward, and we exchanged looks in the rearview mirror. I held in a laugh as she stuck out her tongue. Wyatt was right, there was a lot at stake tonight and the mood was tense for good reason. But I also knew how importanttonight was for Savannah’s career. And yet here she was, helping us as always.

Tank shuffled, alone on the pavement. He sighed and looked at the trunk of the SUV. “Guess it’s doggy style tonight.”

Savannah grinned like the Cheshire Cat. “Oh, no. Your ride will be hereanysecond.”

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