Page 71 of Bottoms
“Same way we plan on getting out. There are a bunch of bootleg tunnels under the mansion. Tanner found them when he was a kid.” Colten explained before listening to see if the coast was clear.
“And Fynn disabled all their electronics. They have no idea what is going on or where anyone is,” Nik added as Colten gestured it was clear to go again.
Sneaking around the mansion took much longer than I had expected. And with every rushed beat of my heart, I feared we would arrive too late. Colten turned back to us, pressing a finger over his lips. I held my breath and strained to listen. My lungs screamed out, worried they were about to be deprived of oxygen again, and I quickly had to breathe.
Colten moved forward, positioning his feet deliberately to creep silently down the hall. I knew because Fynn had taught me, as well. I caught up to Colten quickly, matching him in the ways of being a shadow. He looked over, and we shared a smile. Under different circumstances, it would be fun to do things like this together. Then he could make me coffee in the morning, just how I liked it.
Nik caught up to us a moment later. His detective version of creeping like a shadow wasn’t as quick or as stealthy. But if we made it out of here, we would have plenty of time to teach him. Colten gestured to the door up ahead, and I refocused. He crept forward, bending down to press his ear against the door. A moment later, he opened it to rush inside. Nik and I followed.
The door closed behind me, but my eyes were glued to Tanner. He stood in the middle of the room. His arm was out and shaking as he held the tip of his gun pointed at his father.
“Put the gun down, son,” Mr. Ryland said in a hard tone. His eyes focused on his son like he hadn’t noticed us enter as he leaned back in his chair. “We both know you won’t pull the trigger.”
“Why?” Tanner sneered, on the edge of finding his dark passenger. His voice was raw with emotion, and I realized his arm was shaking from rage rather than fear.
“Oh, come on, son. She,” Mr. Ryland said, gesturing my way, but Tanner’s head didn’t turn. “She is a one-night delicacy at best. But to hear you are stepping down as CEO and moving to the middle of nowhere to some sort of sex house with your friends. Absolutely not. As soon as Mike reported that back to me, I called Amira to say she could come to get her gem.”
“If that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life, why the fuck do you care? Why would you pick the one piece of happiness I managed to find and take it from me?” Tanner bit back, and I felt these were words he had wanted to say for a long time. But this was taking its toll on him as he battled against his ability to kill his father, and every moment we spent here might be Fynn’s last.
“I can’t believe you’re encouraging your friends to fuck your girlfriend,” Mr. Ryland started, glaring at me like all this was my fault. “Guess you took after your mother more than I realized. I’ve been battling genetics, so really, I cannot be to blame for how po—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. My arm stood straight out, and I watched the smoke swirl up from the barrel of the gun I had taken from Colten’s back. I dropped my arm, looking around at the others. I handed the gun back over to Colten. He looked at me with approval as he tucked it away against his back.
“Sorry, Tanner, he was a terrible person,” I said, turning toward Tanner as he stood as still as a statue in the middle of the room. His gun was now pointed to the floor.
He held a look of relief in his eyes whether he wanted it there or not. He may have killed for me, but Tanner wasn’t a killer. I wasn’t quite sure what he was yet, and I had a feeling he didn’t either. There was a lot more growing he needed to do now that he was free to take his first steps.
“Can we find Fynn and get out of here before the villain gets away because we were too busy talking?” I suggested, motioning for the door. I almost laughed at my joke, leaving the room wondering why I didn’t feel like a horrible person. My mind rolled the question over a few times, coming up with a simple truth.
He was a bad person and would never change.
I didn't know whether I was being guided by my own adapted moral code or had just picked Fynn’s. But it seemed enough to let the thought slip from my mind, landing somewhere in the mansion halls as we started to search for Fynn.
“Do we have any idea where to look?” I asked, as Tanner took up the lead. Colten had fallen back to my side, and Nik remained watchful behind us.
Thinking over our skills, I realized we were a force to be reckoned with, and a tiny bubble of hope sprung to life inside me. I pushed it back down into the abyss with the rest of my emotions.
“Amira would be trying to escape,” Tanner said, picking up his pace.
We hurried after him as he made confident movements through the hallways. Tanner jerked back from a hallway as a bullet was fired from the side, embedding into the wall just ahead of where he would have been. Colten moved up, ducking low to peek around the corner before squeezing the trigger. I heard a body hit the floor.
Colten motioned us forward, but my head turned as I passed the hallway. There was a hole in the middle of the man’s forehead. His eyes were open and wide while the bloodstream leaked from his wound. There was a rifle on the floor beside his hand, and I hurried over to grab it.
Nik stood in the junction waiting for me as I returned.
“You’re a little bit scary right now. Did you know that?” he said.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile. Scary was exactly what I needed to be.
“It’s also kinda hot,” he said, smiling.
“You owe me a proper mind-blowing kiss,” I said, suddenly feeling entirely serious as I looked at his lips. “Why did you keep waiting even after you knew I wouldn’t leave?” I asked out of curiosity.
“I planned on waiting until graduation if you still wanted to leave us behind. But that was before Fynn took you. After we got you back, it was just like,” Nik fumbled, trying to figure out how to explain himself. “It needed to be a thing at that point. And then it was,” he smiled.
“Earth-shattering kiss,” I said, pointing to him before I hurried to take my place next to Colten.
The hallway opened into a room with a grand staircase and expensive marble tile. The door out of the mansion was just through the breezeway. My heart dropped out of my chest when I got past the stairs and glanced back to see Fynn in cuffs kneeling on the landing beside Amira. Five men stood around him, with the barrels of their rifles touching him.
