Page 23 of Collapsed

Just as we exit the doors, Luci slams to a halt. “Holy fuck,” she whispers. I follow her gaze, and sure enough, there is Conrad locked in a knife fight with two men. He is bobbing, weaving, and taking swipes like a trained ninja. I chuckle and watch as Luci watches Conrad in awe. Conrad isn’t just the tech guy, he is just as highly trained as the rest of us.

Conrad gets a good hit with his blade on one man, slicing his throat, and he goes down. His comrade screams in fury as he starts swinging his knife like a crazed man, not even aiming, just swinging blindly.

Conrad kicks his leg out, swiping the guy’s ankles and knocking him to the ground. Conrad is instantly on top of him and disarms him before slamming the handle of his knife into the guy’s forehead, knocking him unconscious.

Clapping sounds come from behind me, and I turn slightly to see Alexie applauding Conrad. Conrad snaps his attention to us, “Nat?” he beams as he stands and runs to her. She meets him halfway, and he picks her up, spinning her in a circle as he kisses her.

“I hate to break up this Life-mark movie scene, but I believe you said there were bombs?” Alexie asks, and Conrad stops, setting Luci down to look at us wide-eyed.

“I did. Let’s get the hell out of here. Fast. Do you have a vehicle? I walked here after my escape from ‘Voldermort’s lair of horrors’.” Luci asks as she looks at all of us.

“Yeah, come on, Little Fox. Let’s get you somewhere safe, and we can all clean up. Then you can tell us how the hell you got to the warehouse tonight and how you escaped Ivan,” Stryker tells her, putting a hand on the small of her back and leading her to where he left our SUV.

Minutes later, we’ve made it to the closest parked vehicle and are climbing in when a deafening boom roars into the quiet night. The blast throws us to the ground, heat licking at our backs. The SUV rocks up on two wheels before crashing back down to all four. I turn, and sure enough, the building we just came from is a blaze in yellow and orange hues. Ivan set the bombs offwith his men still inside. He just sacrificed his own men, his allies, for nothing.

We pull ourselves up and get in the SUV, with Stryker behind the wheel. “Back to the hotel for all of us. We have a little surprise for you when we get there, Little Fox,” he purrs, and I’m guessing he means the little ball of sass we left earlier tonight to come here.

I don’t care about anything else right now, except how fucking glad I am that Luci is back with us and that she is in relatively good health, at least from what we can see. Internally is a whole other story, one I plan to know as soon as we reunite her with Katia back at The Plaza.That reminds me...

“Alexie?” I say.

“Yes, Prince-y,” he replies.

“When we get to the hotel, Luci has two gunshot wounds from her escape. She will need you to look at them and probably sew them back up,” I tell him. The roar of the other men in the car is deafening as Luci glares at me for tattling about her wounds.

Katia

Earlier That Night

They’retakingtoolong.I can’t handle waiting here all by myself. Maybe I should have stayed behind with BJ, at least then, she could've kept me distracted. Checking my phone again, I realize it’s only been an hour, but an hour in this hotel room alone seems much, much longer.

I startle when my phone rings, causing me to drop my phone. Diving to the floor, I start to search for it. The ringing sounds again from under the bed. I drop to my stomach and slide my body forward to grab it.Something went wrong. They’re calling to tell me to run.Looking at the screen, I see it’s BJ.

“Hello,” I answer.

“I was worried you wouldn’t answer,” she responds. “Why do you sound out of breath?”

“Sorry. I dropped my phone, and it fell under the bed. I thought one of the guys was calling to tell me something went wrong,” I explain. “BJ, the waiting is killing me ”

“I hear ya,” she says. “I’m always stuck waiting around for the team, and they are terrible at responding once they start shooting. We should really do training on proper communication,” she quips.

As funny as I would normally find BJ’s humor, right now, I can’t even bring myself to smile. She must notice my lack of response.

“What’s wrong, my newest dear friend?” she asks.

“I don’t know what I’ll do if Nat doesn’t come back,” I admit. Tears start to trail down my cheeks, and I let out a sniffle.

“There, there. No need to get that perfectly proportioned face all blotchy and red for when your lady love arrives,” she comforts me, making me let out a small giggle. “See, there is no need to worry. The team always comes through, and this time will be no different.”

“They didn’t come through when Nat was taken in the first place,” I retort, my voice stern as I speak. I don’t blame them, or at least I don’t want to. They were taken by surprise when they found out how Ivan played them. It was a clever trick and one that gave Ivan the upper hand.That fucker is always three steps ahead.When they come back, I hope they give me the news that Ivan is dead. Preferably from a brutal and miserable torture session.

“No one is going to blame them for what happened more than they do themselves,” she responds. I often forget that she also knew Ivan before this. She thought he was part of their team, and she mourned his loss. I can’t imagine how they felt seeing the friend they mourned for so long. “Let’s talk about something else, shall we?”

“Please. I need some distraction,” I agree.

“Then let me be frank because I’m a nosy nelly,” she continues. “What is the plan for when Nat is back?” I automatically know exactly what she means by this question. My feelings for Nat have grown so strong through the years. Now, we’ve acted on those feelings, and she said she feels the same way. BJ knows what happened and how I feel, but where does that leave everyone else? Nat loves the others as well. My dream was to be with Nat; she and I would take on the world… together. I should have known that would never happen. I saw her and Alexie together and how much they loved each other. No one could come between them, and no one ever will.

Where does that leave how I feel about sharing her? It seems like such a vulgar concept, but I’m lost on a different way to describe it. Ivan used to try to fuck with my head by telling me that she was with multiple men but did it in a way to convince me that she had forgotten about me. I’m ashamed to admit it worked a little. The part about her forgetting me, not the hooking up with multiple men. I did not see that coming and truly thought Ivan was lying to me about it.

---