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I weaved down several aisles toward the back of the floor, and when I reached the door that had DANGER: DO NOT EXIT on it, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was following.
When I was satisfied the coast was clear, I pushed through the door, and cold, damp air smacked me in the face as I steppedout of the illustrious Waldorf Towers and into a world where I actually belonged.
NINE
gavin
I COULD ONLY stare as the door slammed shut, reeling in Daire’s wake. I’d come home from my date feeling good and wanting to clear the air with him, only to somehow make things worse…again. My mind raced, replaying everything he’d said, but it was the image of him half-naked when I walked into his room that wouldn’t go away. It wasn’t that Daire had an incredible body—I already knewthatmuch.
No, it was the multitude of bruises all over his back and torso that joined his many tattoos, including a particularly nasty one the size of a baseball on his ribs.
What the hell had he been doing to get those? And where was he going now?
Curiosity and worry got the best of me, and it took a split second for me to decide I was going after him. I thought he’d been going out for a booty call, but unless he was into getting the shit beaten out of him as foreplay, I didn’t think that was the case anymore. And I couldn’t see Daire willingly letting someone put their hands on him without retaliating.
My heart hammered as I threw open the door, just as the elevator Daire had stepped into closed. I swiped my card for the other elevator, cursing when it didn’t open immediately.
“Come on,” I said, shifting my weight from foot to foot and watching his lift descend. But it didn’t stop on the main floor. It stopped in…the basement?
“What the hell?” My elevator chose that moment to finally arrive, and I hurried inside, not wanting to lose him. Though I couldn’t imagine where he could possibly go from the basement or why that would be his destination at all. I’d only been down there once by accident, and it was nothing to write home about.
If I hadn’t seen those bruises, it would’ve crossed my mind that he’d found a hidden place to hook up in secret, but I didn’t think that was what I’d be walking into. All I knew was he was hiding something, and I was going to find out what it was.
When the doors opened to the basement, I stepped out into the darkness to utter silence that was only interrupted by the sound of something clicking shut. I whipped my head to where the noise had come from—a door that was marked DANGER: DO NOT EXIT.
Now if that didn’t scream Daire, I didn’t know what did. Leave it to him to go places he shouldn’t.
With only a barely lit path to guide me, I made my way to the non-exit, listening for any indication that Daire was still down here.
But the room was empty. I could feel it.
So where the hell was he going?
I hesitated at the door, my blood pumping and my mind racing. He would be so pissed to know that I was following him, but what did I have to lose? What if he was in some kind of trouble and his stubborn ass just wasn’t saying anything about it because he refused to reach out for help?
I had to know. He was the one who thought he’d been doing me a favor with Joey, right? I hadn’t taken it that way, only focusing on the fact that he’d gone against my wishes, but…he’dbeen protecting me in his own way. So I owed it to him to do the same.
Pushing the door open softly, I peeked out to see a small platform and set of stairs, leading down into some kind of…subterranean tunnel?
What the hell?
I tightened my fingers around the handle as warnings flashed inside my head, matching those on the door I was leaning against.
Warning.
Do not exit.
Run.
But the sound of footsteps echoing in the distance caught my attention, and I quickly shoved them aside. Daire was on the move, and I needed to get going if I didn’t want to lose him.
Gathering all the courage I could muster, I slipped through the door and into God knows where. I headed down the concrete stairs to a crumbled platform, and zeroed in on the drop-off to what looked like?—
Wait, was that a railroad track?
I scanned the dilapidated brick archway that curved overhead, the scattered debris on the platform at my feet covered in dirt, then pulled my phone out to shine the light around my immediate area. I was standing in some sort of abandoned railway tunnel.
At least, I hoped it was abandoned.
