Page 108 of Pretty Lethal
“Excellent fucking question,” Kai drawls. “We could barely find our way out of them so I’ve no idea how we’re going to get back in.”
I rub my jaw, only half listening to them as I think. A huge part of me wanted to be blasting the door in alongside Hadley. I wanted to stare my mother right in the eyes as she discovered I wasn’t tied up in the tunnel with her henchman. I wanted her to see her lover’s blood smeared across my skin. To know I’d killed him.
But a larger part refused to let Emilia out of my sight, and I couldn’t drag her into the middle of a gunfight. So as much as I want to look my mother in the eye, see her face when she realizes she lost, and witness her take her last breath, I want to keep Emilia safe more.
And the safest place to do that is in the tunnels. A backup plan in case it’s needed, but without putting her directly in harm's way.
“I think if we enter the tunnels through the entrance in the Kappa Epsilon library, we should be able to find our way back to the hideout,” I suggest. “The few times they took me down there, everyone else disappeared through a different exit than the one they took me through,” I explain. “I can only assume that wherever that exit is, it leads back to their clubhouse in the woods.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Kai agrees, making me roll my eyes, not that he can see me in the darkness. “But we’ll have to hurry if we want to get there and back before Carrie has a chance of escaping.”
Not needing to be told twice, I slide my hand into Emilia’s as we pick up our pace until we’re jogging slowly through the forest, careful not to trip over any roots hidden beneath dead foliage. Once we clear the treeline, we break into a sprint, rushing toward the Kappa Epsilon frat house and up the steps.
“Do you have your key?” Emilia asks breathlessly as we push inside.
“Fuck,” I curse, running my fingers through my hair in aggravation. Of course I don’t carry the damn thing around. Other than when the King’s Elite sent me those cryptic messages to be in the library at midnight, I’ve never needed to step inside it.
Unless I can flirt with Emilia while she’s trying to work or feel her up under the table, I have no interest in being inside a library.
Undeterred, I stride down the corridor toward the library door. When I spot an unaware freshman walking toward me, my lips quirk up. I probably look like death incarnate, which works in my favor as I grab him by the front of his shirt and shove him against the wall. He gapes at me with wide eyes.
“Give me your library key,” I growl.
“You realize I could have just picked the lock,” Kai drawls while the freshman stutters and shakes in my grip. I ignore Kai, glaring murderously at the freshman as his trembling hand reaches into his pocket and he produces the key, hurriedly handing it over.
The second I have what I want, I turn away from him and he scampers down the hall.
“Sorry!” Emilia calls after him, wincing as Kai snorts and I shake my head. Still, my lips lift in a smile. My Angel is just so damn sweet… in every. Single. Way.
“You’re adorable,” Kai murmurs against her temple, swinging his arm over her shoulder and pulling her in against him.
“What?” she asks, her eyes all wide and innocent. “He looked like he was about to pee himself. I felt bad for him.”
Kai and I smirk harder, and the three of us continue along the corridor toward the library door. Inserting the key, we step inside and I move directly over to the hidden doorway.
Feeling for the latch, it only takes a second before I find it, pressing on the hidden button and stepping back as the door swings open.
“That’s pretty cool,” Emilia acknowledges, a hint of awe in her voice as she stares wide-eyed at the darkened doorway. Cold air seeps into the room, raising goosebumps along my arms, and an ominous feeling settles over me as I step through into the darkness, allowing the smell of dampness and earth to wash over me.
“Watch your feet,” I warn. “The stairs are steep and narrow.”
Unlike the last couple of times I was in here, there are no lit torches on the wall, so I pull my phone out of my pocket and turn on the flashlight, holding it out in front of me and keeping the other hand on the wall as we begin our descent. I notice Kai and Emilia doing the same, the three of us taking our time as we lower into the earth.
The air grows colder, making my skin itch as I become aware of the dried blood caked into the lines of my face and buried beneath my nails. Still, I power on, determined not to let my mother slip through our fingers. One way or another, this ends tonight. By the time dawn arrives, I want to be dick-deep in Emilia, filling her womb with my seed and, ideally, planting a baby in her belly—if there isn’t one already growing inside her.
A thrill of anticipation runs through me, and I grin into the darkness at the thought of her belly swollen with my child—with any of our children. I don’t give a shit who the biological father is. All three of us are going to be that baby’s father. And god help anyone who dares mess with our kid on the playground!
“How long after sex do you have to wait to take a pregnancy test?” I ask absently.
“What?” Emilia asks, thrown by my left-field question. “Uhhh, I dunno. Is that really what you’re thinking about right now?”
“Angel, I haven’t been able tostopthinking about it. Perhaps we should stop at the pharmacy on the way home after this.”
“Yeah, sure. Let’s just kill your mom, take out an elitist society, then we can go to the pharmacy like it’s just any other Monday,” Emilia deadpans.
“I’m pretty certain it takes more than a couple of days,” Kai chimes in with his two cents.
“And from what I’ve read, it can take several months after coming off the pill to become pregnant,” Emilia chimes in.
