Page 117 of Hide Little Traitor

I look over my shoulder to where Ryker is crouched beneath the window and find him staring right at us.

“One hair on her head is harmed, and you’ll find out what it feels like to have your skin peeled off piece by piece,” he warns.

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Damon promises, taking my hand and tugging me up.

He pulls me further into the motel room until we’re standing in the tiny bathroom staring at the smallest window I’ve ever seen.

“There’s no way you’re fitting through that.”

Without bothering to reply, he steps up onto the lid of the toilet and jimmies the lock, but it doesn’t budge. This escape plan is going downhill fast, and we haven’t even considered the people that are probably on the other side of the window.

Shouts from the front of the motel pull my attention back to the room, my heart rate kicking up another notch.

“Cover your ears, Duchess.”

“Why?”

“Just do as you’re told for once,” he snaps, the butt of his gun poised to break the window.

Deciding to pick my battles, I do as he instructed, turning my face away just in case the glass shatters in this direction.

The window breaks with ease, and he takes the towel hanging from the rail and wipes away as much of the glass as he can before turning to me.

“I’m going to go out first just in case someone is out there. When I call out, I want you to climb through, and I’ll pull you out the other side, okay?”

I nod, swallowing heavily around the lump in my throat.

He takes another moment to sweep his gaze over me, as if he’s cataloging me to memory before he feeds his huge body through the tiny window.

How he doesn’t fall out onto his face on the other side, I have no idea, but I’m glad he’ll be there to catch me when I follow his lead.

Gunfire fills the bathroom, but this time it’s coming from behind the motel, and I scramble up onto the toilet to make sure Damon’s okay.

Two bodies lie motionless at one end of the alley that runs along the back of the motel, and I find Damon crouched behind a crate, unloading his clip on another two masked men.

Bringing my trembling hands in front of me, I use the ledge to steady my aim and take a deep breath.

I can do this. I’ve been shooting my whole life. What difference does it make that it’s at someone who is trying to kill us?

I squeeze the trigger three times, taking out one of the guys and earning me an irritated growl from Damon.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay inside until I called out?”

“Yep.” I pull the trigger again, this time hitting the remaining shooter’s arm and causing him to drop his weapon.

“You’re going to get me killed by Ryker if you keep this shit up.”

“One can only hope,” I snap back.

He smirks as he takes one final shot, killing the guy I disarmed. “You and I both know you don’t mean that.”

“Do we?”

Reaching for me, Damon carefully pulls me out the small window and lowers me to the ground but doesn’t release me.

His tattooed fingers wrap around my throat, tilting my face up until I’m staring into icy blue pools that aren’t filled with their usual contempt. “Yeah, Chloe. We do.”

To prove his point, he brushes his lips over mine before dropping the softest kiss to the corner of my mouth.