Page 3 of Tangled
Dutifully, she dropped her gaze. To his ringless fingers. Something she shouldn’t notice given the tenuous situation, but an observation she tucked away, nonetheless.
Her heart pounded as his pinkie curled up, starting the countdown for when she’d dart across the opening. From there, they’d make their way to the exit together.
His ring finger curled up, and she shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. The distance to his side wasn’t far, less than six feet, but she’d need to be both fast and quiet.
His middle finger curled, and she bunched her muscles.
Then his pointer finger.
When his thumb began to move, so did she.
Her fingers had just brushed Cooper’s when she heard the unmistakable sound of a shot being fired through a silencer.
CHAPTER TWO
Scarlett slid her hand into Cooper’s and, using her body, pushed him back behind theboxes as she closed the gap between them. He froze, no doubt shocked at what had happened, then his hands came to her hips, and he pulled her close as they tucked themselves against the wall.
“We need to call the police,” he said, ducking his head so his lips brushed her ear as he spoke.
She turned her head to respond, her cheek brushing his. “Yes, but we can’t do that if we’re both dead. We need to get out first.” She could feel his heart beating against her hand as it rested on his chest. It matched the rhythm of hers. She’d like to say that the events in the freezer room surprised her, but they didn’t. Her anxiety—and her racing pulse—was solely for him. She needed to get him out.
“Did you hear something?” one of the men in the freezer asked.
A pause followed. Scarlett stopped breathing.
“No, but check it out,” another responded.
Cooper’s body went rigid, his hands locked at her waist. Neither of them so much as fluttered an eyelash.
Heavy footsteps crossed from the metal floor of the freezer to the cement foundation of the room.
Scarlett kept her head turned, her cheek against Cooper’s button-down shirt, and her eyes locked on the box beside her. So long as the man didn’t walk too far into the hallway, he wouldn’t see them hiding in the makeshift alcove.
A shadow swept through the hall as he moved in front of a light source. Three steps closer and they could hear the rustle of his clothes and the nasal sound of his breathing as he leaned out the door.
Scarlett closed her eyes and mentally crossed all her fingers and toes. Her apprehension mingled with Cooper’s, and between the two of them, the heat their bodies threw off had to be over a hundred degrees.
The man shifted, maybe squaring up his stance as he checked out the hall. The swish of fabric as he swiveled his head sounded, to her ears, as loud as a cannon going off.
Finally, after a million years passed, the man moved again, and everything happened in reverse. His footsteps faded, the shadow slid through the hall, then he stepped from the concrete onto the metal as he returned to the freezer. Neither she nor Cooper twitched an inch, although they each took a single slow, deep breath.
“There’s nothing there,” the man said.
“Good, we need to clean this up,” his colleague replied.
“I’ll get the door,” the first said, followed by the best thing Scarlett had heard in ages: the sound of the freezer door squeaking on its rusted tracks as someone pulled it closed. A beat later, it clicked shut. What they intended to do inside, or how they’d clean up, wasn’t her concern. Not at the moment, anyway.
“Exit?” Cooper asked. She glanced up, and he jerked his head to the exterior door fifteen feet away. She almost nodded but stopped herself. If the door were unlocked or could open without triggering an alarm, wouldn’t the men have come in that way rather than walk through the bar?
She shook her head. “I know another way.” Taking his hand in hers, she cautiously stepped from the shelter of their alcove. When no one jumped out and yelled, “Gotcha,” she tugged himtoward the other door in the hall. He hesitated, holding her back, but when she shot him a pleading look, he thinned his lips and nodded.
Gesturing with her head toward the freezer, she silently tasked him with keeping watch. For the third time that night, she set her ear against a closed door and listened. On the other side of the thick wood was a large pantry that connected to the kitchen. Once they were in the general vicinity of the grills and ovens and dishwashers, she’d wager they’d find another exit. She’d been in enough commercial kitchens to know that staff often propped a door open to help cool the heated space. Or to make it easier to slip out for a smoke.
When she heard nothing, she cracked the door open, confirmed the room was empty, then pulled Cooper in behind her. Holding fast to his hand, she tugged him toward the main part of the kitchen, where she spotted what she’d hoped to see. Not three feet from the exit of the pantry was a wide utility door propped open with a chair.
Taking her first normal breath since Cooper had slipped down the hallway, she smiled. They weren’t safe yet, but they were a far sight closer.
“When we get through that door, smile and laugh,” she whispered. Cooper’s brow furrowed as he looked at the door before dropping his gaze back to her. “I don’t know if there are cameras out there,” she said. “If there are, and our murderer goes looking for any witnesses, I’d rather appear as two people enjoying a clandestine tryst in the back parking lot than two people who witnessed a murder.”
