Page 111 of Blood and Bonbons

Sierra struggled against a man. She was surprisingly agile as she twisted out of his hold and ducked under his swing. Her shirt wasn’t so agile, and buttons went flying.

“We should be helping,” I said.

“How? You want to throw a cupcake at them?”

“Hey!” I glanced back at Vena where she was watching the door.

“Sorry,” she said without looking away. “That was mean. But you’re not a fighter, Everly. This is the safest place for you.”

“But not for you. Is it?”

“This is exactly where I need to be. We stick together.”

I faced the glass wall and saw Thomas hit the guy attacking Sierra over the head with a drink tray. The guy went down, out cold, and Sierra bent down to pick up her own tray.

Her shirt, untucked and askew, rode up her back, showing a tattoo of a fairy. I stared in disbelief. What were the odds?

Sierra was a bitch, but a kidnapper? No way.

I opened my mouth to tell Vena what I’d seen, but a loud bang on the office door wiped away all thoughts of Miles. Pivoting, I saw Vena racing toward me.

“Help me with the desk,” she said.

Kicking off my heels, I put everything I had into pushing Shepard’s solid wood desk toward the door. The latch gave out when we were still a few inches away, and the door hit the desk.

An eye peered through the crack at us.

“You will suffer,” the man yelled.

He wedged his fingers through the door.

“Mistake number one,” Vena said. “Push, Ev.”

I closed my eyes and pushed.

His screams of pain rang in my ears, and I fought not to gag.

“Puppies and kittens,” I said under my breath. “Puppies and kittens.”

“Cute kittens,” Vena said immediately, catching on. “Grey with a stripe of white running under their bellies. Tiny. Maybe two weeks old. Young enough that they still walk like they’re drunk. You still with me, Ev?”

I nodded and continued to keep pressure on the desk.

“Keep talking,” I said. “What do the puppies look like?”

“Little Shepards.”

My eyes popped open, and I shot her a look. “Now?”

“Don’t you like German Shepherds?” she asked innocently but with a mischievous grin. “Let up.”

I immediately did. The guy’s hand disappeared.

“Push.”

We closed the door with the table. No one tried the door again.

“Go check,” she said, keeping her weight against the table.

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