Page 100 of Kylo
“Have you ever been hurt since joining the club?”
“Not like this, no. It’s been pretty safe around here, all said and done. It’s always the women who bring the trouble,” I added with a little smile.
“To be fair, Marco is both our problem,” she said.
Then I watched as her face fell, her eyes going huge.
“Babe, what?” I asked.
But she ran past me, yanking open the bedroom door, and barreling down the hallway before I could even grab a pair of pants.
Her feet thundered on the stairs.
“Rue! Wait!” I called, grabbing a shirt and pulling it on as I rushed down the stairs. “Rue!” I yelled as she flew out the front door.
“She took my gun,” Caymen said, already up and trying to rush after her himself.
Then it hit me.
Her grandmother.
That was how Marco kept her under his thumb.
With threats to her loved ones.
I yelled back over my shoulder.
“Get someone to bring in Traeger,” I called, then ran after Rue.
The gravel bit into my bare feet as I followed her shadow as she flew across the street, not even pausing to watch for a car.
She had a head start, but my longer stride should have allowed me to easily gain on her. That wasn’t factoring in her panic, though. Rue weaved down the winding streets of the fifty-plus community, never slowing, not even when security lights flicked on or a startled dog barked from windows.
She had one goal in mind, and nothing could slow her down.
I pushed my body harder as she zeroed in on the well-lit front of the assisted living building, worried that there might be a pin that I would need to get in.
Sure enough, I saw her pause, punch something in, wait, then yank open the door.
I was just quick enough to grab the door before it clicked closed.
The lobby had the lights at half power, but it was still oddly bright for nighttime. There was no one standing at the front desk, so Rue moved right to a screen, clicking around, then signing something.
Only then was she able to move forward, past a small lobby, then toward the elevator bank.
“Hey, wait,” I said, grabbing her arm. Once I had her at the wrist, I pulled the gun free and slid it into my waistband, highly aware of the cameras peering down at us.
If there was anyone sitting and watching those, we were fucked.
If there wasn’t, so long as we didn’t cause a scene, no one would have any reason to check them and find the two of us barefoot with a weapon in the building.
“We will get her safe, but we have to be smart,” I told her, pushing the elevator button with my thumb.
“I can’t stomach the idea of something happening to her.”
“Nothing is going to happen to her.”
“You don’t know that. We’ve already wasted so much time.”
