Page 69 of Rat Race

Iwouldn’t.

Cam’s presence was calling to me like a beacon, reaching through the walls and guiding me closer and closer. I could taste them on the tip of my tongue, the sunlight and warm haylike flavour of a person who’d spent a lifetime outside. Feel the warmth of their skin against mine. My body vibrated with the anticipation of seeing them again, the siren call of their steady calm pulling me closer, closer?—

Until I hit a dead end right on the other side of where Cam should be.

Fuck.

They’re so close. I know they’re just behind this wall.

But just because it was a dead end, it didn’t mean it was deserted.

A familiar man was there, inspecting the wall I needed to break through.

A man worth a million dollars.

The one that killedher. The one that decided to attach himself to the group that attempted to end me.And Cam.

Hiram Wolff.

When he turned around and saw me, his eyes widened in a mix of fear and surprise.

Good, he stil had some sense then.

He raised his filthy hands, which were now empty, to help shield his unmasked face. Worse for wear didn’t even begin to cover it. The man looked positively like he was on his last legs. Same vibes as a raccoon with mange, barely holding on.

But where is the leader? The guy Cam called Elijah? Maybe they had a falling out.

“Look, I’m not trying to—” Hiram started as I began to move towards him.

As if I gave a fuck about this washed up shell of a man while my partner was in there with that two-faced cunt.

I marched past him, shoving him out of the way to look at the wall. His body slammed into the side of the maze, a pained grunt escaping from him as I ran my hands on the smooth surface.

No indent like Ella found. How the fuck am I supposed to get inside?

“Ow, what the fuck?—”

“Shut. Up.”

The venom in my voice must have been enough to let him know I wasn’t messing around. How was I supposed to concentrate with him yapping in my ear?

I only wished it would’ve just been Hiram who decided to bother me, kicking myself for not taking the threat that Elijah was near by more seriously.

“Hey, look who it is.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

Elijah decided to show his face. If I’d had more time, I would’ve gotten revenge on him for Cam. But saving them was more important than killing him.

For now.

“I don’t have time for your half-witted fuckery, limp dick,” I shot back, not even looking at him.

The looming silence was broken by Elijah’s sputtering laughter.

I ignored him, continuously searching for some type of trap that would open the wall. My conviction, even with the overwhelming evidence that I may in fact be mistaken, was fuelled in part by desperation. I knew that ever second thatticked by was another that Ella could’ve—I pushed the idea away, rejecting it entirely.

Cam was going to be fine. I was going to get to them.

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