Oh, hell fuck no. I had mace in my clutch because I never went anywhere without a bottle, and I quickly fumbled it out and lifted it to eye level.
Theo sighed. “Don’t hurt my girlfriend. She’s the idiot with the pepper spray, if you can’t tell.”
I pulled the trigger without warning, because fuck all three of them.
I hit Goon 1 straight in the eyeballs, and turned it on Goon 2 as he lunged, spraying him in the mouth. Both men went down screaming, and a cloud of fiery fumes filled the air. Theo threw his arm over his face and backed away.
“Hold your breath,” I cough-screamed, grabbing Blake and shoving him ahead of me. He broke left at the opening of the alcove, and I tried to follow him, but Theo grabbed me before I could slip by. I turned the mace on him, and he hit me on the wrist hard enough that my entire hand went numb, the sprayer falling to the ground.
Blake froze.
“Run, or I’ll never fucking forgive you!” I said, thrashing in Theo’s arms. I didn’t know what he would do to me, but I was sure it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as what he’d do to Blake if he caught him.
One of the guards came barreling out of the alcove, wiping at his red face, looking like a rampaging bull in search of a target. The second man was right on his heels, coughing and spitting as he tried to clear his mouth.
“Run!” I screeched.
Blake finally fled, the guards stumbling after him. They didn’t stand a chance. Blake had run Division 1 track at his boarding school. I just prayed he could get past whoever was guarding the other end of the tunnel.
Theo shoved me away from him, and I spun, hands up, ready to defend myself. I’d never seen him look so furious. Gone was the man who’d carried me three blocks through the rain. Gone was the man who’d massaged my neck. Trailed kisses down my spine. This was the Theo I’d dealt with in the restaurant. The one who’d threatened to burn my entire life to the ground.
He stepped forward. “If your fucking brother ruins tonight for me...”
I retreated, my back brushing the wall. Panic hit my bloodstream, and I glanced past him, thinking about trying to break free, but he was too big. There was no room. I was trapped with no way out, and no opportunity to subtly warn all the innocent people he’d lured down here.
Which left me with one option.
“Cops!” I yelled, my voice loud enough to echo over the stone. “Run! The cops are com—”
Theo lunged, slapping his palm over my mouth to shut me up. My head bounced off the wall, knocking me loopy for a second, and by the time the world stopped spinning, I realized more people were yelling, and there were whistles cutting through the air. Oh, shit, the cops reallywerehere.
Suddenly, a wall of humanity stampeded into the adjoining tunnel, everyone trying to flee at once.
“Fuck!” Theo roared, hauling me into the chaos ahead of him, one arm around my chest, the other keeping people from careening into me.
We were like rats in a narrow tube, nowhere to go, everyone yelling and flailing and bouncing off each other. I heard a thud, felt Theo jolt forward like someone had slammed into his back. A woman screamed up ahead, and I caught sight of her falling. I tried to grab her when we got close, but Theo beat me to it, yanking her up by the back of her dress and shoving her in front of us to get her moving again.
Suddenly, he broke right, down an even narrower, tunnel with no one in it.
“Help!” I yelled, sure he was about to murder me.
He shook me like a rag doll, so hard my teeth clicked together. “Shut up. This is another way out.”
In that moment, I didn’t give a fuck if I got arrested, not if it meant that he got handcuffed alongside me. I opened my mouth to scream again, but Theo pulled a gunfrom inside his jacket and aimed it right at me.
“Turn and walk,” he said.
I did as I was told, my entire body starting to shake with a mixture of anger and fear. He had a fuckinggunaimed at me. A minute later, we rounded a slight bend, and the tunnel darkened dramatically. I could barely see a few inches in front of my face.
“Put your right hand on the wall,” he said. “There’s a grate up ahead. Find it.”
I reached out, and my palm landed on something slimy. Oh, god, ew. I fought back a gag and kept walking, wondering what was happening behind us. People were really screaming now, and the closed walls of the tunnel made the sound of their running feet echo in a way that made me feel like we were about to be trampled. Whistles cut through the air, along with shouted orders of “Stop!”, “Get back here!”, and “Put your hands up!”
It was fucking anarchy. And it broke my goddamn heart because I knew there were innocent people caught up in it. All my fault. This was all my fault for helping Theo.
My fingers snagged on something, and I paused. The grate? Theo plowed right into my back, and I stumbled forward, tripping over the uneven ground to land on my hands and knees. I hissed, knowing from the burning sensation that I’d scraped the shit out of my skin.
“Get up. It’s here,” Theo said.
