I jerked my arm to the side with a hard twist. I heard the snap of bone. Then I felt the release as the man went limp in my arms. That was it.
Pushing up onto my haunches, I saw Lex staring at me. Her breath was coming in short gasps. I waited for the disgust to creep into her expression, but when it didn’t come, I got to my feet. I moved to her carefully. She didn’t back away. I brought her up into my arms. She was shaking like a leaf. “We need to get out here. Now,” I said. “Did you touch anything?” There was a pause, and I wondered if she heard me. “Lex? Did you touch anything?”
“The bathroom. The chair. The cabinet in the bathroom,” she whispered.
The door was still cracked open from my entrance, and I closed it. I did a quick assessment of the room. It was small and dirty. I saw a stained pillow on the bed, and I grabbed it and shook the pillow out. Then I took the pillowcase and began to wipe every surface in the room. I went through the kitchen and found the bathroom. I wiped the toilet, sink, and tub down. I wiped around the edges of the mirror.
When I made my way back into the living room, I saw Lex standing there staring down at the man’s body. She looked up at me, and I saw fresh tears forming in her eyes. I spied my backpack in the corner and the envelope of cash on the floor next to it. I swept it up into the backpack. I looked around the room again and tried to think what I was missing. My eyes landed on Lex’s purse behind her chair. I grabbed that and then remembered the last thing.
Frisking the man’s body, I found Lex’s cellphone in his back pocket. Lex’s purse and the phone went into my backpack as well. I was satisfied that I had thought of everything that could tie me or Lex to the room.
“Aren’t we going to call the police?” Lex asked.
I took her arm. She was holding the torn front of her shirt together. I hissed and quickly slipped off my sweatshirt and wound it around her shoulders.
“No. It’s time for us to go,” I announced.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - ALEXA
He came for me. Shayne had come for me. That was the only thought that ran in a loop through my head. It was the reason I risked removing the tape from my mouth. I didn’t know what to do as I watched them struggle other than kicking the gun further away from Bill’s hand once Shayne got him to the floor.
The crack of Bill’s neck echoed through my mind. It would haunt my dreams. But the moment that I felt an iota of guilt or horror about it, I thought about what Bill had been doing just before the knock on the door. The way he took his knife slowly down the front of my top tearing the buttons and fabric while he pointed the gun at me. Telling me that he was bored, and we were going to play a game.
I shuddered even as Shayne’s arm went around my shoulders. I barely heard a sound or registered our movements as we left the building. Shayne guided me. I thought there was a chance I might fall apart. It took everything I had to keep my emotions from spilling over.
Shayne hailed a taxi and gently settled me inside. I didn’t hear the address, but I realized that it must have been his when we pulled up to the luxury high-rise in downtown Chicago complete with a doorman. Shayne ushered me inside with a nod to the doorman. He moved me into the elevator. He seemed to understand that I wasn’t ready to talk yet. When the elevators doors opened on his floor, I tripped stepping off the lift.
He caught me up in his arms even though I gave a weak protest. I let my face fall into the crook of his neck. He smelled so good. It was a welcome change to the stink of Bill’s breath and skin. Somehow Shayne managed to open the door still with me in his arms and stepped inside. I saw floor to ceiling windows across the large room from us that gave a breathtaking view of downtown. I would have appreciated it if I didn’t feel so cold. My teeth started to chatter.
“It’s okay, Lex. Hang on,” Shayne whispered in my ear. He moved down the hallway and then shifted into the room of to his left. He maneuvered us through a darkened room with barely a sound and through another doorway. He flipped on the light switch, and I saw that we were in a bathroom. He set me down on my feet, but I didn’t release him right away.
His arms closed around me, and I started to cry. All of the tears that I had been holding back let loose, and my chest heaved as the torrent of emotions came out. Shayne held me tightly and whispered against my ear that I was safe. I was okay. Nothing bad would happen to me again. I cried for what seemed like hours. When the sobs finally subsided, I felt the press of his lips against the top of my head.