Page 24 of His to Possess

I hear her soft release of breath and I squeeze her arm.

“Which way?” I ask, getting her back on track. I didn’t mean to distract her and I know we have to keep moving, despite my dick wishing plans could change. But, that is currently impossible. Right now, we’re standing at the bottom of the staircase on the first floor.

She opens the door a crack and peers out into the lobby. “Let’s go out the back door and—” After a whispered curse, she lets the door close quietly then spins to face me, blue eyes wide. “Back upstairs!”

I don’t ask, just do as she says. We hurry up to the second level and shove through the exit door. The hallway is lined with closed doors that lead to other apartments, but we run past them all. She skids to a halt at the opposite end of the hallway and I raise a brow. Even though I trust her, I’m wondering why we’re standing here at a deadend. There’s one final door and she easily swings it open.

“We’re taking this down,” she says with a nod. “You first.”

“What the hell? Is that a trash chute?” I watch as she opens a small door to reveal a tiny elevator. There’s no way I’m going to fit my big ass body in there.

“It’s a dummy waiter. This is a really old building and they used to use it for?—”

“I can’t fit in there,” I interrupt.

“Yes, you can.” She eyes me then cringes a little. “You’re just going to have to squeeze. Now hurry!”

But, I shake my head. “We can go out the back door like you said.”

“No, we can’t. Two more hunters just came in—Beast and Fury.” She shivers. “We don’t want to mess with them.”

Beast and Fury?Uh, no, they don’t sound quite as easygoing as Vixen. “Yeah, okay,” I immediately concede. Then I drop forward and start to bend my body to fit into the tiny space while Butterfly pushes and shoves, trying to help me fit.

“You’re almost in,” she says and tries to close the door. It won’t shut all the way because my body isn’t that flexible and my damn long legs are in the way. But, that doesn’t stop her from shoving all her weight against the door, forcing it to finally close, nearly pinching me.

As the dummy elevator begins to lower, I feel like a damn human pretzel. It’s an old, rickety contraption and, after the slowest descent known to mankind, it finally halts with a jolt. My head hits the bottom upon impact and I manage to open the door with a slew of curses. This is not my idea of a good time and I hope to God I can pry my body out of here. Otherwise, I’m going to be stuck. But, I need to get the elevator back up to her, so with a few twists and grunts, I drop out and land on the basement floor with a thump. This crazy night is definitely going to leave me with some bruises.

I stand up, dust my shorts off and send the elevator back up to the second floor. While my girl is on her way down—because, yeah, I’m starting to think of her as mine now—I lookaround for an escape. My gaze lands on a grimy set of windows. Unfortunately, they’re covered by big, iron bars.

The rattle of the small elevator door opening snags my attention and I help Butterfly get out. I swear to God, I’m finding out her real name by morning because I can’t keep calling her insect and animal names. It’s getting ridiculous.

She heads straight for the barred window and I follow her. There’s no way we can get out that way, but she climbs up the side of a bookcase, reaches over and turns something. Squinting, I realize the entire set of bars opens from the inside.Ah, in case of a fire,I realize. So, tenants can’t be stuck inside.Makes sense,I think, then grab her around the waist and haul her up.

She shoves the window open and I lift her higher, enjoying her ass in my face just a little too much. But then she pushes off me and slips through the small window and outside. I grab a chair, climb up and grip onto the edge of the window sill. Jumping up, I pull myself through and crawl out.

We’re in a grimy, litter-screwned alley and I’m just standing up when she grabs my arm and pulls. I look over and see a hulking man come around the corner. He’s carrying a knife in each hand and I’m not feeling good about the unfriendly look on his face. To say he looks menacing is the understatement of the year.

“Give it up, Butterfly,” he booms in a deep voice.

“Now way, Fury! You’re going to have to catch us!”

“Why’re you taunting that beast?” I ask.

“That’s not Beast, it’s Fury. Now run!”

She takes off and I stifle a sigh and hurry after her. This is more running than I’ve done in the past year and I’m over it. But,there’s no way I’m walking with that giant of a man hunting us down. We can’t run forever, though.

“Where are we going?” I ask, keeping pace as we duck around a corner, past a dumpster, then run full speed across a street and down another alley. It seems like wherever we turn, someone is after us. I’ve never been so one edge in my life.

“We need to get out of the city,” she declares. “It’s too dangerous.”

She’s right. Eventually, we’re going to end up trapped. There are just too many people after us and the scary thing is we’ve only run into a few of them. And three is quite enough for me. They’re a disconcerting group and I have no doubt they will do whatever it takes to capture and turn us over for the reward money.

How the hell are we supposed to get out of here though? The moment the question fills my head, it’s like a light turns on and I know exactly what we need to do.

“I can get us out!” I tell her. My side is starting to get a stitch, but I ignore it.

“How?” She looks over at me, aqua eyes wide.

---