Page 35 of Fervent

“It’s me, baby.”

“Rafe!” The blanket pooled around her, and she catapulted into my arms.

“We’re getting out of here,” I said, words muffled in her hair. “But I need you to act like I’m Cleft. Can you do that?”

She nodded, her hands roaming my cheeks, her gaze wondering over my face, lowering to my chest, as if checking to make sure I was in one piece. “I thought he was gonna kill you.” She buried her head in the crook of my shoulder and inhaled. “God…I thought you were dead. It’s been days.”

I shared a look with Jax. Had it really been that long? Man, had I been out of it.

“Timing, man. It’s now or never.” He lifted his shirt, revealing the gun jammed in his waistband. “You have no idea what I had to do to get this thing. Old man took my damn weapon.”

But one gun wouldn’t do shit against a bunch of guys with guns and access to human shields. Alex shifted in my arms, and her chain grated my ears.

“Tell me you have a key for that?”

“Sure do.” He bent and released the lock with a quick turn of a key. “But you’re gonna have to crawl,” he told her. “Keep your eyes on the floor, like a slave would, and we might make it out of here.”

With not a tinge of hesitation, Alex dropped to her hands and knees and lowered her head.

“Let’s do this.” He wedged the door a crack, peeked into the hall, then opened it all the way. I followed, Alex behind me on all fours, and we hadn’t taken more than a few steps when a man exited a room.

“What’re you guys up to?” he asked.

Jax slowed, and I turned to Alex, yanking on her chain with a growl. “Sit,” I ordered in a low voice, hoping to fuck the guy didn’t realize I wasn’t Cleft. Curling my toes inside the hem of the jeans, I kept my attention on her dark head and hoped it was enough to shield me from the guy’s scrutiny.

“Boss is on his way in,” Jax explained. “He wants her in the office.”

“What about the boyfriend? Should we grab him?”

I watched from the corner of my eye and recognized the puny kid I’d taken down during our first escape attempt.

“Nope. I think she has a private date with the boss and his spanking horse.”

“Lucky for him, huh?”

“Yep. Mason’s out cold. He won’t be a problem.” Jax turned to me. “Ain’t that right, Cleft?”

“Uh-huh.”

The kid laughed. “Boss is making the two of you work together? Man, he must really be punishing you.” He slapped Jax on the back before ambling down the hall.

Jax let out a breath. So did I.

“Fuck, that was close,” he muttered.

We made frustratingly slow progress down the hall, as Alex could only move so fast on her hands and knees without drawing attention to ourselves. We passed by two more men, though they didn’t stop to talk. Keeping my head low, I hoped it was enough to hide my face in shadow. Once we reached the door to the office, Jax glanced down the hall. A door opened and shut somewhere.

“If we don’t make it out of here—”

“We will,” I interrupted his quiet words.

“But if we don’t, I just wanna say I’m sorry, man.”

I peered over my shoulder. “Just open the damn door. You can kiss my ass all you want later.”

He let out a shaky breath and rapped on the door.

Was someone else in on this? Was this a fucking trap? But I didn’t have time to process shit. Jax pulled the gun out and raised it. The damn thing shook in his hands, but the firm set of his mouth said he meant business.

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