He had barely gained back the little bit of control he had. As Chesnik moved to cross the threshold, Gunner reached out and gripped the other side of the frame, blocking his way. He tightened his fingers, leaving an imprint on the steel. Chesnik looked up at him with alarmed resentment. Gunner made eye contact with the man.
“Release the others in the brig. Keep them safe until I get back. Tell them you’re following my orders,” he said before he dropped his arm and allowed the other man to leave.
Then he shunted the door back in place and broke the opening mechanism.
***
GUNNER STORMED PASTElodie and went into the lavatory. Her eyes trailed after him. She heard the water run for a time, then stop.
A minute later he emerged in the doorway, dripping wet with a gun in his hand. The next moment, he was upon her, towering, seething, a glorious warrior possessed. Her own body tensed, half-naked under his long jacket, ready for the attack.
The barrel of his gun nudged her brow, tilting her head back enough to catch his eyes. Gunner’s face was the one she knew, or had come to know, the pistol tattoos on his cheekbones aimed directly at his mouth.
Elodie’s gaze followed the lines of his face, landing on his mouth, a flattened line that offered no sense of softness. She watched his lips as the gun pressed an imprint into her skin.
“You’re safe.” His lips moved like pressed steel. The words rolled out slowly, with no sense of urgency.
“I’m safe,” she agreed.
The gun slid from her temple to her cheek, leaving behind an invisible trail that would always haunt her. She swallowed, fingers twitching uselessly at her sides, hands tense with desire to reach out to him—her dark god in rent, bullet-ridden skin.So much pain.
“What happened to you?” she managed. Fresh blood trickled from his wounds. It caught in the water trails that trickled down his muscled body.
Everywhere.
“How can you still be standing?” she asked.
“A trap.” Gunner jerked again, eyes flashing—restarting. The pistol against her cheek dug into her skin. “Ballsy released...a viral shockwave to scramble my systems. Elodie, it’s still going off, chipping away at my control.” The words came out pained. “You weren’t in the brig.”
Losing control.She shivered at the thought and tentatively reached up and clasped the back of his hand. It was hard—unyielding—like the rest of him. But the gun slipped from her face to her collarbone.
“Nothing happened to me.”Reassure him.The bodies she’d passed by with her dad came to mind. She didn’t want to see anymore—not so soon. “My dad broke me out.”
Gunner’s eyes remained blank, relentless. “Kallan was after you.”
Her belly sank. Her grip tightened. “Why?”
“He had his suspicions. Same as me. He suspected you were a woman and was convinced enough to at least find out without a doubt. Those doubts have been removed. Permanently and with force. He won’t bother you again. Andyouweren’tin the fucking brig!” Twitch. Shudder. Reset.
Her fear increased by the moment. Elodie glanced around at the bleak, enclosed space, convinced a mob of men clung to the corner shadows when a hand slammed onto the wall next to her.
“Keep. Your. Eyes. On me,” Gunner ordered, looking down at her.
He brought the gun, which he handled with care, up to her lips and ran the muzzle of it back and forth. Wetted, fresh, and heated—kissing death and all its future harboring. Elodie parted her mouth and licked the edge of it, watching for his reaction. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as life slowly returned to his eyes. She kissed the gun again, empowered, and held her ground.
He won’t hurt me.
“If they know I’m a woman,” Elodie breathed into the metal that continued to sway across her mouth, “my time’s up.”
“Is it?” Gunner pressed her closer to the wall. Red hot heat and his soul-capturing eyes ensnared her. His naked chest was a hair’s breadth away. The sudden nearness was hard for her to comprehend. There was nothing between them anymore, no darkness, no bars, no walls, and no cameras. Her breath shortened. A delicious ache twisted between her legs.
He could take everything. Subdue me, own me, pluck my flower and tear off its petals.The barrel pushed past her lips, forcing her mouth open. It slipped in and over her tongue, its taste acrid and smoky. She raised her eyes to his hooded ones. Captivated and starved.And so stressed.
I’ll trust you.She implored without speaking.I do trust you. Let me trust you.Her eyes and nose burned. She was insane for feeling safe and trusting apsychopath.
Gunner dropped his hand from the wall with eerie quietness and cupped her nape, nudging his weapon infinitesimally in and out of her mouth.
Elodie tongued the hard edges, the gunpowder bloom, and the sweat, taking it and pretending it was him, an extension of him. And at that moment, it washim. The hand clutching her nape snaked down to the zipper at the top of the jacket, his fingers playing with its metal piece.
