Page 63 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

“Hey, there is an office back here. I think she may have run in here,” another voice yelled.

Prison Tat turned and stomped back the way he came. I waited half a second before peering around the corner.

Once I saw the coast was clear, I made my way to that massive table and crawled under.

I slid my phone from my pocket and saw I had a missed text.

Rune

Where are you? We just got a call from the Flag office. The prisoners have escaped.

Yeah, no shit.

I am at work, bookstore 7th and Northern. They are here. Help!

The little dots popped up for a moment and disappeared.

I tucked the phone back into my jeans and tried to suppress a sneeze. I really should have dusted back here more.

I pinched my nose closed hard. My sneeze still made a little cough sound.

Two large mud-covered boots stopped in front of the table. I hadn’t even heard him coming back this way.

Holding my breath, I dug my nails into the palms of my hands. I stayed as still as possible, hoping he would move on again. Maybe he would think I made it out the back and ran into the alley?

Then he dropped to one knee with one arm braced against the table.

His face twisted into a cruel smirk that made my stomach drop as I met his black eyes. “Well, hello there, little girl.”

16

I Am So Getting Fired

He reached under to grab me with his large, meaty hand. I didn’t think. I just acted on a poorly honed and not-at-all-practiced instinct.

I kicked out as hard as I could, hitting him directly in his smug face. His nose cracked under my heel. I couldn’t hear the snap, but I felt the bone give way.

He fell back and let out a shout of pain. Blood poured from his nostrils. I scrambled out from under the other side of the table and tried to hide myself among the shelves.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide for very long. The store wasn’t that big, and there were only so many places to hide. I needed to get out of the store.

I had two options—the front door and the back. The back door led to an alleyway that the other stores in the building shared. There was a tiny chance that someone would be outside taking out the trash or getting in a quick smoke break.

It was more likely that the alleyway was deserted. Depending on where the dumpster was, it might actually be a dead end.

No, I had to get out the front door. The bell would chime when I opened the door, so sneaking out without them knowing would be impossible, but at least by then I’d be outside in the front of a very busy intersection with people all over the place.

I just had to get there.

Slipping around another corner and ducking down to make myself as small as possible, I closed my eyes for a moment and listened.

Prison Tat was groaning and getting up, still by the map table. The other one was ransacking the office. He was either oblivious to his partner’s shout of pain, or he was looking for something, tearing through the well-organized chaos that was the back office.

I was so getting fired for this.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart a bit. My focus had to be on getting to safety. I could have a panic attack later when I was back at the compound, safe in Rune’s arms, preferably with a pint of something VERY unhealthy.

I inched along the side of the bookshelves; I kept myself low and out of sight. When I made it to the main hallway, I could still hear Prison Tat groaning towards the back of the building, but I had to walk right past the open door of the office to get to the front exit.

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