Page 5 of Wild Elite

2

Tatum

The bullet whizzed farabove our heads and shot right into the giant window behind us. Glass shattered in a cacophony of smashing and subsequent screaming, and sheer pandemonium broke out.

“You’re hiding them!” the girl with the gun screamed. There was a sharp pop as she fired another bullet, this time into the ceiling. “I know they took my sister!”

Around us, guests were shrieking and running toward the main door of the room, bodies crushing and writhing together like sardines in a can as everyone tried to get out as fast as they could. Katie grabbed my hand and dragged me along with her, heading along the left wall, which was slightly less crowded. Somewhere from our right, we could hear Willa screaming in the crowd, “I don’t know how she got in! Where the fuck is security?”

The girl fired another warning shot at the ceiling. This one hit a chandelier only a few feet from us. Glass and crystal shattered and fell to the ground, narrowly missing a guy’s head. In the aftermath of that, another guy slammed into me as he sped up, and I stumbled back against the dark paneled wall and inadvertently let go of Katie’s hand.

I couldn’t move for a few seconds as several more people rushed past me, blocking my path. I heard Katie screaming somewhere in the crowd. “Tatum! Tatum! Where are you?”

Then her voice drifted away, and she was gone.

With sharp, panicky breaths making my chest ache, I tried to catch up and finally made it out of the room’s main doors, into the entry hall. Some people were spilling out of the hall and onto the driveway through the front door, and others were dashing up the double staircase instead, opting to hide or barricade themselves inside the house as the mysterious girl with the gun made her way around, practically inducing heart attacks as she took slow, methodical steps through the place.

She was somewhere behind me. I could tell from the difference between her leisurely footfall and everyone else’s frantic scurrying. “Yeah, that’s right, fucking run!” she called out to the scattering guests. “You know who I’m here for! Go get those Crown and Dagger bastards and tell them their time is fucking up!”

I thought I spotted the back of Katie’s head in a group of guests who’d chosen to dash down the dark ground floor hall to the right of the staircase. I hastily followed. Seconds later, one of my cheap heels snapped under me, and I twisted my right ankle as I tripped and sprawled on the marble tiles.

Agonizing pain sliced through my foot and shot up my leg. I stuffed a hand in my mouth to stop myself from screaming and drawing attention to myself.

I barely registered what happened next. A pair of powerful arms suddenly yanked me up from the floor by my shoulders, and then I was dragged over to a cupboard tucked underneath the curling staircase. I hadn’t even noticed it was there before.

A deep male voice shushed me as I let out a surprised yelp. A hand came down over my mouth to keep me from making another sound as another tanned hand wrenched open the cupboard and stuffed me in, closing the door with a click. It was pitch black inside, but when the entry hall lights began to creep under the door and my eyes began to adjust slightly, I realized my rescuer had followed me in. I couldn’t see who it was, but I could just make out his silhouette. Tall, broad-shouldered, imposing.

“You okay?” he whispered. He was so close to me that I could feel his hot breath on my face and easily catch the spicy, heady scent of his cologne.

For a moment, I couldn’t reply. My tongue was tied out of sheer terror from the ongoing situation in the mansion, and I felt so dizzy I wondered if I might pass out.

“I’m Elias. You’re safe with me, all right?” the man went on, seemingly realizing I couldn’t respond just yet. “I saw you fall. Are you hurt?”

“I did something to my ankle,” I finally murmured back, tears springing to my eyes. “And my friend… I lost her.”

“What does she look like?” He crouched as he spoke, barely managing to do it given the confines of the cupboard. He touched his hand to my right foot and tentatively ran it over my ankle, pressing down in certain spots. “It’s not broken, by the way.”

“She’s short and skinny with wavy auburn hair. Has a black dress on,” I choked out. As terrified as I was, feeling this man’s warm hands on my ankle sent wild tingles through my system, making my pulse race even faster.

He rose back to his feet, towering over me. “Katie something-rather?”

“Yes. Do you know her?” I whispered.

“I know of her, through Willa. I saw her duck into a room with some others just up the hall before you tripped.”

“Oh.” I sucked in a deep breath and swallowed my tears. Katie was okay and all I had was a twisted ankle. Everything would be fine as long as I stayed hidden.

“So if you were here with Katie, then that would make you….” His suddenly-terse voice trailed off.

My eyes had finally adjusted to the dark cupboard well enough to make out certain details, and my heart skipped a beat as I looked up into the strikingly chiseled face of the man who’d picked me up and dragged me in here. The very same guy who’d been staring at me earlier. “It’s you,” I whispered.

He seemed to be in the middle of realizing the exact same thing. The expression in his eyes had gone from concern to flashing disdain, a dark storm brewing within their depths. “Tatum Marris. I didn’t realize it was you,” he said, all traces of worry removed from his voice.

“Have we met before?” I asked, letting a tinge of anger creep into my voice. Sure, this Elias guy had kindly helped me a moment ago, but he made it sound as if he would’ve left me out on the floor if he’d actually seen my unmasked face and realized it was me lying there in the hall.

“No. Never met,” he said stiffly. I could almost feel the fiery anger radiating off him.

“Then how do you know my name, and what is your problem?” I whispered harshly. “I saw you glaring at me earlier. And you followed me downstairs after I—” I clapped my hand over my mouth, not wanting to finish the sentence. How would I say it, anyway? ‘You followed me after I witnessed your friends in their weird orgy’?

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