I can’t. If Bay took my exit then he’s headed straight for Griff. I can’t just leave him. “Not without Griff.”
“I’m fine, Wick. Promise.” Griff’s voice is hushed. Is he hiding? “Go left. The asshole’s right. You can get out through the lower wing. I’ll meet you by the rear stairwell.”
I pivot left, hugging the wall and struggling not to take off running.
And screaming.
My sneakers thud against the linoleum tile and I pray Bay can’t hear me coming like I heard him.
“Take the stairs down to the bottom floor,” Milo says when I reach the hallway’s end. “Use the fire exit.”
No way. The fire exits are on a different security system. “Are you crazy?” I’m taking the stairs two at a time now, knowing I’m being loud and not able to stop it. “It’ll sound the alarm.”
“Not anymore it won’t and FYI? You need to run.”
I open my mouth to respond when a door on the floor above me scrapes open. Bay. He heard me. He’s coming.
I jerk to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, stare at the fire exit doors. Do I believe Milo?
More footsteps. They’re coming down, pinning me.
Shit. I tighten my messenger bag’s strap, grab the door handles with both hands, and prepare to run like hell.
The doors open with a whoosh, but no alarm, and I take off across the lawn, running hard for a line of trees at the edge of the grass. Have to get into the dark before Bay comes through that door and sees me. If I can get out of the range of the security lights, I can hide. He won’t be able to tell which way I went.
Then, from the corner of my eye, I see something move.
Griff.
He hooks his hand around mine and we run even harder, tumbling into the shadows.
“Are you okay?” Griff pulls me into him.
I nod. “Look.”
The fire exit door opens and Bay lingers under the light, his head slowly turning as he pans the lawns and sidewalks. He can’t see us, but Griff still edges in front of me, one arm tucking me so close I can feel his heartbeat: too fast, too hard.
Exactly like mine.
Bay shuts the door and Griff relaxes. I wrap both arms around him, tugging him against me.
“Well, isn’t that touching?” Milo appears on our left, walking along the tree line and careful to stay just outside of the security lights’ illumination. He adjusts a backpack over one shoulder and stares down at us. “Now tell the truth: How awesome was I? Even for me, I think that was pretty badass.”
Griff lunges for him. “The hell are you doing here?”
“Saving your girlfriend’s ass.” Milo inspects Griff’s grip on his T-shirt like it’s some sort of interesting bug. “No extra charge, by the way.”
Griff shakes him. “You had no right barging in like that—”
“Hey, genius, I designed the earbuds.” Milo’s talking to Griff and staring at me, grinning. “I’ll get in whenever I like. Just never felt like it until I realized you were with her. Ballsy move, Wick. All that breaking and entering. I liked it.”
Cold curls around me. “How could you see what we were doing?”
Even in the dark, I can see Milo’s eyes light up with satisfaction. “Clever girl. Always asking the right questions. I could see what you were doing because your detective friend restarted the security cameras. He was recording everything: you, your little guest, everything.”
25
I hold myself very still. “Carson wasn’t supposed to be recording anything.” The words are coming out sticky, like they refuse to leave my mouth. “That was the deal. If I did this, he said he would make sure the system went down.”
“And yet he didn’t.” Illuminated by the security lights, Milo’s smile turns yellow. “Good thing I did.”
Griff straightens. “You took down the feed?”
“Neat, huh? Don’t you wish you’d thought of it?”
Griff growls, grabbing Milo by the throat.
“Stop it!” I wedge myself between them, willing Griff to look at me. After a moment, he does.
Griff’s hands loosen . . . and he strikes Milo squarely in the chest, flinging him back. Milo staggers, and when he looks up, he laughs.
“Give me a minute. I’m going to get the bike.” Griff stalks into the dark and I have to struggle not to follow. A few seconds pass and I realize Milo’s still watching me.
“So.” Milo shoves both hands into his pockets. “Carson, is it? What’s his deal?”
Have to say something. Need a lie. Need a really good lie.
Only I’m too flattened to think of anything. I look at Milo and feel like I’m draining straight through my feet. “Carson knows about my . . . extracurricular activities. He says he’ll destroy my family and make sure I go to jail if I don’t work for him.”
“Shit . . . he’s the guy you called after we found Corey?”
“Yeah.” I pass one hand over my aching neck, watching him. “You’re taking this pretty well.”
He shrugs. “I understand better than you know. This is survival. We all do things we aren’t proud of.”
“Thanks for cutting the feed.”