but to crawl across the floor as I start on the next girl.
It takes us far too long to free each of the girls, and after ten minutes, Grayson has carried each of them up the stairs.
They sit on the bed with a broken demeanor, but we’re not out of trouble just yet. Realizing that getting each of them out of here is going to be harder than we originally thought, Grayson presses a few buttons on his phone and holds it up to his ear as he stands in the open doorway, peering down the hall. “What’s going on?” he snaps into the phone.
There’s a slight pause before he looks back at me. “Alright. We need help down here, and another fucking car.” His gaze sweeps over the naked, shivering girls. “Make it quick.”
He shoves his phone into the pocket of his jeans as he watches me. “Cruz has what he needs. He’s coming to help.” I nod and watch as Grayson peers back out the door. “You good here? I’m going to grab that box of jewelry and meet you back here. We’ll go out the fucking window if we have to.”
I nod again, my heart kicking up a notch as he slips out of the door, leaving me alone to protect the girls, but he’ll only be gone a few seconds. Wanting to give them even a fraction of privacy, I start digging through the old-fashioned dresser and pulling out random clothes. None of it looks even a little bit good but it’ll help cover them up. “Here,” I say, dropping the clothes in front of them. “It’s nothing great, but it’ll do until we can get you out of here.”
The girls don’t say a word, but the way they dive for the clothes tells me just how grateful they are.
Hearing a noise down the hallway, my hand tightens on the gun as my body shakes with adrenaline. This is too much.
I put myself between the door and the girls and hold up the gun, my finger hovering over the trigger.
The noise gets louder.
Footstep after footstep.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” I murmur to myself like a chant on constant replay.
A shadow crosses in front of the open door, and within the blink of an eye, a large, bald man covered in tattoos fills the door frame, his wide eyes focused right on me. “Not today, princess,” he spits as the girls shrink and panic with fear.
He barrels into the room, and just as my finger goes to squeeze the trigger, a loud BANG comes from down the hallway. The man crumples to the ground as a bullet pierces through the side of his head, splattering blood all over the wall.
The girls scream in horror, and fuck, I’m right there with them.
“Ugh,” Grayson says, appearing out of nowhere and pushing his body aside in disgust. “Come on,” he says, looking at me and the four clothed girls behind me as he walks into the room and shoves the drawer of jewelry into my hands. “We have to go.”
The girls wobble on their feet and Grayson slips his arms around two of them while I try to help the other two as best I can. Cruz comes careening down the hallway and his eyes go wide, only just realizing what the hell we needed help with. “Fuck,” he grunts, instantly picking up the girl on my right and lightening my load as I take note of his bloodied knuckles, scrapes, and cuts over his face.
“Where are King and Carver?” Grayson demands, looking back at Cruz.
“King’s out front stealing a car and Carver’s still searching out Sam. The little bitch went into hiding at the first sight of trouble. The rest of the guards are down, but someone would have called in backup by now.”
Grayson nods, barreling through to the front foyer of the house. “I still want these girls out of this fucking house as soon as possible.”
“I’m fucking with you.”
After what feels like forever, we get the girls out into the fresh air just as King brings a blacked-out SUV to a screeching stop before us. The driver’s door flies open, and King races around, peeling open every door he passes and helping to get them all loaded in.
I stand with King and Cruz as Grayson runs down the drive to get the Escalade. My hands ball into fists, keeping my eyes on the front door. “Where is he?” I demand, refusing to move.
“He’ll come,” King