Page 47 of A Captive Situation

I cursed under my breath.

Someone else was coming down.

Grabbing a towel from my bag, I quickly tied it around his mouth.

Penn called out, “Crispin? Dude. You locked the door when you’re down here? What the fuck, man? Where are you? You getting your dick sucked or something? If so, uh ... why didn’t you invite me? I’ve gotlike eighty texts from that blonde you bagged last night. She’s begging for some attention.” He was coming down the stairs as he talked.

I scanned the room. A tarp was rolled up on the side.

“Yo!” he called out again. A door banged open down the hall. A second later, another door banged open. He was going from room to room.

I knelt by the tarp and began to unwrap it. More doors were hit open. He was getting closer.

I used the tarp to cover Crispin on the chair. It wasn’t a great trap, but my cousins were not geniuses. It would work for what I had in mind.

I moved behind the door.

“What thefuck, man? Where are you?” He was outside this room.

I waited, holding up my gun once more.

A ringing filled the room, and I cursed under my breath. Of course he was going to call him.

“You in there? Huh?”

The ringing came from under the tarp.

He opened the door, letting it swing open. He stepped in, the hallway’s light hitting over Crispin before Penn’s shadow blocked him. “Dude ...?” He came forward another step, then stopped. He breathed deep. “Crisp? That you?”

The phone stopped ringing.

Penn was frozen, just inside the door. He wasn’t in far enough for me, and as his gaze was riveted on the tarp, his thumb moved on his phone. He pressed a button.

Crispin’s phone started ringing again.

Fuck’s sake.

One more step, dickhead.

He sighed, taking that last step. He took more, going all the way to Crispin and reaching for the tarp. “Is that—” He pulled it off. His phone clattered to the ground. He gaped at the sight of his brother all tied up and pretty where I’d left him. “What the fuck?”

I moved behind him, putting my gun to the back of his head. “On your knees.”

He tensed a half second before his head whirled around.

Nope. Shit. That wasn’t the move I wanted.

He snarled, a vicious look twisting on his face.

He went to lunge at me, but I ducked out of the way, coming up swiftly behind him. I delivered one hard kick to the back of his knee. He grunted as his leg folded underneath him. He went to the ground, but he wasn’t going to stay. He was enraged and Penn was like a bull, only seeing red. Or my murder.

As he moved to grab me, I pivoted, raising my hand up. Just as he reached for me, I brought down the back of my gun, using all of my body weight behind my hit. It held enough of a punch to make him see double.

I swore. This cousin wasn’t going down.

Sweat rolled down my back, and I cursed again because I didn’t have more in my tank for a knockout hit. Eyeing him warily, there was another way, but I didn’t want this asshole to bite me or stab me. I also needed to put down my gun for it. Saying a little prayer to my previous wrestling gods that helped me make all-state, I made a move, rolling both of us. It knocked him over, but I went with him, coming out with one of his hands twisted around and my legs wrapped tight around his neck.

He couldn’t bite me. And as I began squeezing his neck, he began thrashing around. His legs kicked. I grunted from the force it was taking to keep him in the hold. His free hand tried hitting at me, but it was only landing on my thigh. He began flailing behind him, looking for a weapon.

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