Page 2 of Killian
Bri began to swing her legs out, and I was ready for her. Suddenly a huge crash came from the room, and Bri let out a shrill scream as she started to fall. I wrapped my arms around her quickly and pulled her the rest of the way down. She stumbled on the heel of her sandal as she tried to steady her footing. A large beefy man with a black and gray goatee stuck his head out the window then reached his arm out, trying to get at Bri. His eyes were filled with rage directed at my best friend.
“You little slut! Get back here!” he charged, reaching as far out the window as he could. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he fell out at this point, he was so far out.
What the hell did she do to him to make him so mad?That was a question for another time.
Luckily, she was far enough away that he couldn’t get her, but that didn’t stop his furious face from taking both of us in. I didn’t know who he was friends with here, and we were far from being in the clear—meaning the safety of my Jeep!
Screw that and screw him. Bri and I knew from experience how parties could go bad in the blink of an eye. We’d had our fair share. Add in the sneaking out to go to them and drinking, we’d just about seen it all.
This, though, was new, in that no one had actually gone after one of us. We didn’t like this much.
“Come on!” I gripped her arm and started to pull her in the direction of my Jeep, hearing the man behind us. It appeared he was too big to get out of the window. Bonus for us.
A strong arm came across my stomach, pulling me back and Bri with me since we were attached. A scream left me, and a hand clamped over my mouth while Bri was torn away from my grasp.
Fear gripped me. I shook my head, trying to get a handle on my emotions. One thing I knew—always keep your head about you. Meaning, I couldn’t get wrapped up in fear. I had to be prepared to fight.
“Ellie. Shut it.” The low growl came from deep within the chest of whoever this man was.
Freaked out was taking it lightly. My mind went into hyper drive. Inhaling deeply to steady the fear coursing through my chest, I noticed he smelled of man, and I was trying to decipher the exact description as I tried to fight free. His voice was calm, firm, and deep. His arm around my waist was thick and firm, as was the body behind me that he pulled me against. He was taller than me and easily maneuvered me the way he desired.
Wait, he knew me? On an inhale the smell of bourbon, honey, and leather wrapped around me, but I didn’t let it detour me. I continued fighting and could hear Bri doing the same next to me.
The man who had me was strong, holding me with little effort, and fear like no other crawled through me. Was this the guy from the window’s friend? Was this a setup to get us out here and take us out?
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This man picked me up off the ground, into his arms, and took off running as if he were out for a Sunday jog and not carrying a woman kicking, clawing, and fighting.
“What are you doing?” I screeched as I heard Bri’s voice beside me, another man carrying her. Clawing the guy’s arm to get his hand removed did nothing, and I dug my nails in deep. Kicking did nothing. Hitting did nothing. Shifting my body, same—nothing. He completely ignored every move I made.
When I looked up at the man, ready to scratch his eyeballs out—because that was something I learned watching television, a good scratch or poke to the eyes would have anyone throwing you to the ground—everything inside me froze.
Hell, even my eyelashes stopped blinking briefly as I stared in astonished amazement. I had to be seeing things. Had to. This entire situation had to be a figment of my imagination, and I had a damn good imagination. But still, I’d never been in a scenario like this before.
Killian Graham was holding me in his arms.
The very Killian Graham, mind you, I hadn’t seen in years, but here he was carrying me away from a house where I was attempting to rescue my best friend.
Was he friends with these assholes?
No, he couldn’t be. Could he?
At my apparent shock, he removed his hand. “What are you doing here?” I bit out because you only lived once, and frankly, I wasn’t much for having a filter on my words.
“Saving your ass,” he growled low, and I swore I felt the words race through my body like small cars. Gravelly. That was his voice. A combination of that low rumble, but with a rough edge to it. One you could listen to for hours and never get tired of it.
Killian set me on my feet next to a black Escalade with tinted windows. “Listen,” he said, grabbing my attention. The other man placed Bri on her feet next to me. “Get in, and do not move,” he ordered, and by the look on his face, he truly expected me to obey.
What the hell?
Since when did he think he could command me to do something? No one ordered me to do anything. Bri and I had to get out of here before the beefy man saw us again.
My hands went to my hips, ready to give him some serious attitude, because what the fuck! He moved in closer, his body heat pressing against mine and throwing a bit of the wind out of my sail. “Bad guys, Ellie. We don’t have time for this shit right now. Get. The. Fuck. In.”
The seriousness of his tone had me reining myself in for a moment. It had to be the edge to his voice that did it because there was simply no other reason for me to comply so easily. Yes, it had to be something. I was not a woman who got ordered around and told what to do.
“What are you going to do? My Jeep is—” I started to point off to where my Jeep sat, but he cut me off.
