Page 6 of A Daddy for Christmas 2: Kitt

Without any more warning than that, he pulled my forehead down to ram his, and I literally saw stars, just like in a cartoon. I reeled back away from him while he pushed me off him, and then he hit the door running hard. Not stopping for his jacket or his shoes, even though it was freezing outside, he streaked down the corridor before I could shake my head clear enough to go after him. I took a moment and then I ran after him and caught him as he jabbed frantically at the elevator buttons. I picked him up around the waist, manhandling him back to my room. He screamed bloody murder, but despite his yelling, I got lucky and not one person so much as stuck their heads out of any of the doors.

When he began to curse me at the top of his lungs, I clapped a hand over his mouth and got him inside, turning around to lock the door firmly behind us. I sensed him behind me and threw up an arm just in time to catch a lamp he’d intended to crash down on my head. He tried to make a break for the bathroom and slam the door in my face, but I shoved it open, grabbed him, and whirled him around to push him face first up against the wall.

Holding him there by the back of the neck, I nudged his feet farther apart. “Feet back and spread ‘em, damn it! Now!”

Shaking hard, Kitt complied, and I hesitated. I should have been putting restraints on him, but I just stood there, sniffing hisskin like an idiot, regretting so hard that we’d gotten off to such a bad start and wishing I could wipe away the last five minutes and start over.

“Please. Just let me go.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Who are you? Oh god, did my brother send you?”

“Yes, Kitt. I already told you that. I’m here to take you back home.”

“You can tell my brother you couldn’t find me. I won’t tell anyone, I promise!” He glanced over his shoulder at me when I didn’t reply, his lips only inches away. He was breathing hard, but his tone was resigned. “Please. Please let me go.”

“You know I can’t do that. I’m a bounty hunter. Your brother paid me to come after you.”

He gasped and looked back at me, his eyes wild. “I can’t go back there. I won’t!”

He glanced at the door, as if trying to decide if he could get out.

“What do you mean, ‘my brother sent you?’ What are you even talking about? And how do you know my name?”

“You’re not listening. Your brother Jazz sent me to pick you up and bring you to him so he can get you into protective custody.”

“But why? What does any of this have to do with him?” he said, his face still shocked and alarmed. I took a breath to calm myself and decided we could still do this the easy way. I tried again.

“Why don’t you sit down so we can talk? I’m going to order myself a drink, but you’ve had enough, so you can have a soda or some juice. Come on. This thing might take some time to explain, but I’ll tell you everything I know. Let me try to do that.”

“Okay,” he said, seeming to finally accept the fact that he was caught. I led him back to the couch with no restraints, since it seemed he was willing to be cooperative.

His long, lush eyelashes fanned down over his eyes as he stared at the floor.

“I’ll order you something to drink, okay?”

He nodded, but the second I turned my back, he suddenly shot to the door, pulling a chair that sat beside it down to the floor. He took off down the hall for the second time, while I had to take a second to move the chair out of the way. I raced after him, but the little shit was fast and lucky. He was already halfway to the elevators, sprinting down the long empty hallway. I was determined to stop him before he got on the elevator and got away. If he did, I’d deal with it, but I needed to catch him.

Kitt glanced behind himself, and the sight of me charging after him down the hall made him put on extra speed, like in a Roadrunner cartoon. The doors opened just as he got there, and he shot inside. I ran up, just in time to see him grinning and giving me the middle finger as the doors closed in front of him.

I flung myself down the service stairs nearby and raced down a few floors, jumping over a few rails to maximize my speed. Elevators could be notoriously slow in big hotels and if luck was with me, and he got stopped at a few floors, I could catch him.

I jabbed frantically at the elevator buttons when I reached the bottom floor, out of breath from all the running. I was getting too old for this shit. A minute later, the door slid open and there he was, looking wide-eyed and shocked. I stepped inside, got him around the waist and manhandled him to the back corner of the elevator. While he tried to yell and kick and curse at the top of his lungs, I clapped a hand over his mouth and held on tight. Some older ladies got on the elevator at the thirdfloor, and he tried his best to appeal to them for help, but I held him tighter and shook my head at them apologetically.

“These kids today…I’m so sorry ladies, but my little brother sneaked out and had a little too much to drink, and our parents wanted me to find him and get him upstairs and into bed.” I sighed. “He gets vulgar when he doesn’t want to go someplace, and I don’t want to expose you ladies to all the cussing.”

One of them smiled. “You’re such a nice boy. You must be a good older brother.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I do try.” He stomped my foot, and I winced and took my hand away long enough to slap his butt.

“Ow, that hurt, damn you!” he yelled, and I clapped my hand back over his mouth.

“Settle down, now. You know Dad’s going to ground you for a month for this.”

I looked over at the ladies and shook my head. “He’s always been such a handful. Our poor parents.” I leaned in a little in a conspiratorial way. “It’s because he’s not quite right in the head.” I tapped my temple. “Poor thing never has been since he fell off the top of that playground slide when he was six years old.”

That garnered me some sympathetic looks and shakes of the head, and they smiled at me again as we reached their floor, and they got off. One of them stopped on the way out the door and looked back. “Your parents are so lucky to have you, dear.”

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