“Get out of here,” I told him as soon as we were in the alley, and I slammed the door.
“You’re bleeding.” He pointed to my arms. I’d probably scraped it on some glass as I’d crawled on the floor.
“I’m fine. Just go, quickly.”
He didn’t question me—he ran. Once I couldn’t see him anymore, I moved to the other end. As I reached the mouth of the alley, a black Lincoln Navigator SUV skidded to a stop and the back opened. I recognized one of the men as Gideon’s.
“Get in!”
I looked right in time to see Lorcan and another man race out of the shop. Fuck, if I didn’t go, I was gonna be shot by him or taken. I wasn’t sure Gideon was any better, but I took a gamble and jumped in.
“Here.” One of the guys handed me a wad of gauze. “Sorry, it’s all we got in the first-aid kit.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled and pressed the gauze to the cuts that were bleeding the most.
There were two men in the back with me and another driving. None of them said anything, and neither did I—not evenafter they got onto the highway. They were likely taking me to their boss, but I didn’t feel the threatening vibe from them that I did with Lorcan and his guys.
I couldn’t remember their names, and I probably should have asked, but I was concentrating on stopping the bleeding so I didn’t get it all over the expensive leather. One man was texting, another held the first-aid kit and was shoveling all the gauze he could find at me, and the third was the driver.
About thirty minutes later, we were entering through a set of gates toward a house that appeared to be a work of art. It was enormous, and while it was a deep gray, most of the structure was glass. But I couldn’t see in.
My arms weren’t gushing anymore, thankfully, but I kept the gauze on. I peered out the window and spoke for the first time. “Where are we?”
“This is Gideon Hendrix’s home. He instructed us to bring you here.” It was the man who had been texting that answered.
“I see.”
The door opened, and I stepped out. None of the people on the property appeared threatening toward me—a few even smiled.
“This way.” Someone motioned to the entrance, and I followed…what else was I going to do?
I stepped into a foyer that was grander than any place I’d ever seen before. Tenny would have whistled and laughed if she’d been standing beside me.
I’d expected to see Gideon first thing, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead it was a woman…the one from the house fire.
“It’s you!” Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding.” She grabbed my hand, and I let her drag me to a bathroom where she pointed to the toilet. “Sit,ay dios mio.” She shook her head as she pulled out a large red first-aid kit. “You think you need stitches?”
“No, ma’am, I’ll be fine.”
She froze and blinked at me. “Rita, you call me Rita. You saved my family, none of this ma’am bullshit.”
That answered if Gideon knew who I was for sure. “Okay, Rita.”
“You’re Penn?”
“Yeah, you can call me that.”
“But is it your name?” She was gentle as she removed the gauze. She didn’t need to be, but likely she was trying not to make it bleed more.
“Pennsylvania, but people mostly call me Penn.”
She hummed. I watched as she so carefully cleaned up my arms. When she was done, I smiled up at her.
“Thank you.”
She cupped my cheek with her hand. “No…thank you.”
Movement from over her shoulder caught my attention. In the doorway, looking godly, gorgeous, and dangerous was Gideon Hendrix, and he was staring right at me.
