Page 17 of Crush's Fall

Staring at him with curiosity in her eyes, she mumbled, “Sorry.”

Lucifer looked toward the front seats. When Benjamin turned around to face the front, Lucifer shifted his gaze back to April again and mouthed,Everything will be fine.

Turning down the brightness on his phone, Lucifer opened the text string with Axle and positioned it so that April could see it, letting her know the Howlers were aware and would be on their way.

Her sigh of relief settled in Lucifer’s chest. She was giving him her trust, and he would do everything in his power to keep her safe.

April

When they turned off the two-lane highway onto a dirt road, April guessed they were about an hour from Warden’s Pass. She watched out the front window, but she didn’t recognize the area, but judging by the direction they had been driving, she guessed they were north of Grand Rapids.

On either side of the dirt road were thick woods. She didn’t see any driveways, houses, or even random outbuildings. Wherever they were going, it was in the middle of nowhere.

Sitting on her butt with her arms wrapped around her knees, April tried to peer through the darkness to see anything useful, anything that would give her an indication of where they were taking her, but there was nothing. Between the dark of night and the tint, she couldn’t see a thing through the windows near her.

Five minutes later, the trees opened up, and a large parking lot and a huge brick warehouse came into view. It was obvious the warehouse was no longer in use by any business or corporation by the lack of any signage or company logo, but she wouldn’t call it run down either. Whoever owned it had kept the building up. The sides of the building were brick but painted a bland gray. The front doors were industrial white metal and had small rectangle windows on the top half of each. On the side of the building, there were three dock doors, but she didn’t see any trucks. As for vehicles, there were a handful of cars and SUVs parked near the front doors, where there were also a couple of large men dressed in black leather jackets.

“Here.”

April jumped and twisted her head around to look at Lucifer. He held out his hoodie to her. She wasn’t sure when he took it off, but he must have. He shook it at her until she took it.

“Put it on,” he quietly told her. “It’s a bit chilly out here at night. It has pockets in case your hands get cold. I’ve heard women have a thing for pockets.” He flashed her a grin and gave her a wink.

April smiled at him as she slipped the hoodie on. She slipped her hands in the pockets and felt something hard, metal, and oblong in the right one. Trying to be discreet, she felt around, trying to decipher what it was as Benjamin, Lucifer, and the other guy climbed out of the vehicle. From what she could tell, it was a folding knife. With that bit of knowledge, her gut unclenched a bit. Lucifer was doing what he could to help her, and Axle would ride in with the Howlers soon.

The hatch swung open, and she twisted around to look. Benjamin was standing there with Lucifer and the hoodie-wearing guy standing behind him. Benjamin still looked angry, but there was a weird affectionate look in his eye, as if he actually cared for her in a twisted way. Whatever it was, it sent a chill down her spine.

“If you just listen, sweetheart, nothing will happen to you. Okay? Just do what I tell you,” Benjamin told her.

April wanted to tell him to shove his endearments up his ass, but she bit back the retort and gave a nod instead. When he held out his non-casted hand to her, she reached out and put her hand in his. She allowed him to help her out of the SUV and didn’t let her hand go as he led her toward the building.

Behind them, the hatch to the SUV was slammed shut, and she heard the sounds of boots hitting the concrete as the other two followed them. When they got to the edge of the parking lot, she stepped on a stretch of gravel and cried out as a sharp rock bit into the heel of her foot.

“Shit.” Benjamin huffed out an exasperated sigh, as if it inconvenienced him that she was unable to walk across gravel on bare feet without hurting herself. “Do I need to carry you?”

It was his fault her feet were bare to begin with. Her kidnapper knocked her out and snatched her up. He didn’t stop and grab her shoes, so she didn’t know what he expected her to do.

“I got her,” Lucifer said and scooped her up in his arms, forcing Benjamin to let go of her hand. When Benjamin’s face turned red and he looked like he was about to go off, Lucifer nodded toward Benjamin’s cast. “Wouldn’t want you to make that worse.”

She briefly wondered why he had the cast, but knowing his penchant for pissing people off, it could be anything.

After shooting Lucifer a glare, Benjamin twisted on his heel and stomped toward the front door. The hoodie-wearing guy followed Benjamin. Lucifer hung back just enough to give them enough distance between them and the other guys in order for him to whisper, “I’m basically undercover for the Howlers and Claws. Just try to stay quiet and avoid attracting attention as much as possible. We’ll get you out of here and back to your man.”

April nodded and took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever was on the other side of those doors. She couldn’t see anything except light shining through those rectangle windows. She had no clue what was in there or exactly how much trouble she was in. All she had to reassure her was Lucifer, a folding knife, and the knowledge that Siren would be there soon. Things may be up in the air between them, but Siren would do whatever he needed to do in order to save her. She was sure of that.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lucifer

Luciferwasinstructedtotake April into the office to the left of the front door and bandage her foot, so she wasn’t bleeding all over the place. When he carried her into the room, he was thankful no one else was in there. It was just a normal-looking office with light gray walls that matched the color of the utilitarian desk and shelving units that were all that occupied the space. He set her on the edge of the desk and rummaged through the shelving units in the room until he found a first aid kit.

She winced when he wiped her foot off with a wet wipe of some sort. He tried to be gentle, but he knew it still stung like a bitch. After covering the cut with a large bandage, he pulled out a large elastic dressing. While he wrapped her foot with it, she opened her mouth to speak, but Lucifer stopped what he was doing and gave a sharp shake of his head, then mouthed the words,Ears everywhere. April instantly shut her mouth, giving him a nod to let him know she understood.

When he was done, he held up the package of pain reliever and looked at April’s face. She was staring straight ahead, and he could tell she was lost in thought.

“April,” Lucifer said.

She jolted and looked at him. “What?”

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