I smile. Time to change the subject. “Did you know my father didn’t even tell me about this panic room?” Yet another secret they kept from me. “If this guy came to the house while Daddy was away on business, I’d have been fucked.”
There’s a dark tone in Noah’s voice. “Knowing what I do about your old man, I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“I found this one day when I was searching for something new to read. I pulled that book off the shelf and this door swung open. I pushed all the buttons and figured it all out.” I kick the steel cabinet behind me. “There are guns in here, but I don’t know how to use them.”
Another lie.
“Who knew your weird obsession with Ancient Rome would save our asses.” Noah’s words strain against the darkness. “Can I use your magical phone to make a call? I was supposed to meet Eli. I was already late, but I thought I’d try to talk to you first. I thought if I could get answers I could tell him… something to cheer him up. Joke’s on me.”
A panicked thought hits me. “Do you think he’d try to come here? What if he was outside when they started shooting—”
Noah shakes his head. Strands of his hair flick against my skin, leaving lines of fire like the welts of a whip. “He’s somewhere safe. There’s a place Eli and I go when we need… peace or some shit. We’ve been using it since… well, since you left. Our families don’t know about it. That’s where he is now.”
I hand him the receiver. “Call him. But I don’t want him anywhere near the house until Antony’s cleared the place.”
Noah takes the phone. He cups his hand over the receiver. “Eli? I’m me… I’m not going to be able to make it back. Yeah, I’m with her right now, but it’s…”
As he relates what happened, I hear Eli swearing on the other end. I lean my back against the cool steel and try to calm my pattering heart. Noah sucks all the air out of this metal cupboard.
He said he came to talk about Eli, and something else. So what’s the other thing?
Noah hangs up the phone. “Eli and Gabriel are coming. They’ll hang back until we give them the okay. Gabriel’s bringing pizza because apparently that’s what you need after you’ve just been shot at. What do we do now?”
I wipe a bead of sweat from my cheek. How did it get so hot in here? “We wait. Antony will call.”
“I don’t suppose your dad put a gaming console in here?” Noah runs his fingers along the walls. “A movie screen, a magnetic chess board, anything?”
“You want to play magnetic chess with me?” My chest feels tight, and I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the confined space.
“You haven’t made any other suggestions,” Noah fires back.
“How about you tell me the other reason you came to talk to me? The real reason?”
Noah leans forward, his nose touching mine. His inky, shadowed scent folds around me. All our rage and hatred fills the space, and there is no room to breathe anything except Noah fucking Marlowe.
“I know your secret, Mackenzie Malloy. I know you killed—”
I don’t let him finish the sentence. I do the only thing I can think of to do. I launch myself at him, pressing my lips to his. I expect him to push me away, but the darkness calls to him too because he rises up to meet me, his mouth slashing against mine with cruel, delicious need.
Noah plants his hands on either side of my face, trapping me against the cool steel as he grinds his cock into me. I grab him roughly, pull him closer, try to climb inside his skin.
Who am I? Last night I lost my virginity to his friend, and now here I am kissing Noah Marlowe like I’m daring him to break me.
Noah tosses off my top and paws at my breast. This isn’t Gabriel’s careful, languid pace. We’re wild, frenzied. Noah twists my nipple so hard it sends a shockwave through my body, straight to my clit. I throw my head back and moan. Thank fuck the gunman stalking the house can’t hear us through the steel walls.
He unzips his jeans and mine. I step out of them and wrap my legs around him, pulling him close, lining him up to plunge inside me. A brief thought