Hungry eyes flicked toward the door, desperate men immediately spotting me and finding new prey. If they were still here, they’d already struck out with all of the women inside. Fresh meat was enticing.
I only had a few minutes before I’d be swarmed by them.
From my pocket, I could feel my phone buzzing out of control. This time I knew it wasn’t my mother, but instead Leo, Spencer, and Dom taking turns dialing.
I shot off one text:
looking for a side door.
It was enough to stop the calls, but a flood of texts replaced it.
Be careful
Spencer
I’ll fucking destroy anyone that touches you
Leo
We could kill them together
Spencer
Shoving my phone away, I wormed my way through the crowd. Everyone here was too shitfaced to move for me, too short to be seen. Instead, I seized the few opportunities I saw to push through.
I scanned the edges of the room, desperate for an exit sign. It wasn’t until I found a small hallway with bathrooms that the bright red sign marked the end of my search.
Pushing open the door, I pulled out my phone to send another text.
But before I could, Dom’s hulking arm slammed into the metal door and threw it all the way open.
She plunged past me and inside the bar, growling in my ear as she passed. “Reckless.”
“Jealous.” I quipped back as Leo and Spencer stepped inside.
Letting the door slam behind them, my three captors took in the crowd.
“Nice work, Princess.” Leo’s chest rumbled as she spoke over the booming music.
“Pretty smart stuff.” Spencer winked, her dark eyes nearly black under the dim bar lighting.
Dom clenched her fists at her side as she moved down the hallway toward the dance floor. “We need to move.”
Rolling my eyes, I followed behind Dom as Leo and Spencer formed a triangle on either side of me. This time, moving through the crowd was easy. Dom’s broad shoulders and towering head made her hard to miss.
And it was clear to the other patrons that she wouldn’t be weaving between anyone. Instead, she would push past them so it was better for them to move before she made them.
I felt my chest ease, the anxiety of being alone amongst predators easing as Leo and Spencer protected me from the crowd. Despite being here for a mission, one where we were supposed to be unseen, the crowd parted around us and drew a direct spotlight on us.
Dom beelined us to a metal staircase at the back of the club. Once we got to the railing, she stepped to the side, watching our backs as I headed up the steps.
It was a strangely gentlemanly thing for her to do.
Shaking it off, I decided she’d done it for the sake of the mission. It was clear she had no allegiance to me, no desire to really protect me. No, all she was here to do was follow The Oracle’s orders. Or worse… Gabe’s.
I was just her tagalong.
At the top of the stairs, we found ourselves alone on a metal balcony. Leo and Spencer sidled up next to me as I looked out on the crowd. “I’d go out more often if moving through a crowd was that easy.”
