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"Thanks, Shelly. Keep us updated."
"Triple overtime since I have to sleep on the couch in the office," Shelly said and didn't even wait for an answer from her boss before hanging up.
"She thinks something happened to me," K said hollowly. "I'm such a fucking idiot."
"You were worried. You weren't thinking str..."
"It's my fucking job to think straight. Otherwise what the fuck good am I to these women?" he countered and, well, I really had no other words of comfort.
We all fucked up.
We all looked over shit we shouldn't have.
But I understood him being so hard on himself. Maze was one of his girls.
I felt the same kind of regret and anger at myself even though there was nothing I really could have done any differently.
The issue was, she was mine. She was mine and she was scared and alone and I hadn't protected her from that. That shit didn't sit right with me.
The phone rang again sometime around ten that night. "They stopped," Janie said, her voice with an unmistakable over-caffeinated edge to it. "Greenville, North Carolina. 334 East Road. At the Hampton. I'll see what I can do about trying to get the guest room registry so you guys can get a key when you get there."
"Thanks, Janie," I said, the words heavy and I knew she picked up on it.
Both of us visibly relaxed for the rest of the drive, finding ourselves about two hours behind them so either they were speeding or we'd needed to stop for fuel more or who knew what the fuck. All I knew was it was midnight before we pulled into the lot of the Hampton. K parked right beside the Russian's truck and we made out way in to the lobby, guns in our waistbands, not entirely sure what our plan was aside from going in and getting her out.
As promised, Janie or Alex or both of them came through. We had a key and a room number. I owed them fucking huge some day down the road.
We walked out of the elevator and down the hall in unison, nothing around us but the occasional low grumble of a television set behind closed doors.
K was fishing the key out of his pocket as we moved to stop outside the door.
When suddenly it pulled open and Maze came to a halt with a yelp, head jerking upward to look at us.
All of us were stunned silent for a long second before Maze's lips turned up in a strange little smile. "This is kind-of anti-climactic, don't you think?" she asked, dragging a strangled chuckle out of me as K reached out, grabbing her, and hauling her against his chest.
I stood there for a second, itching to get my hands on her as well, but it was only right that he got his real proof of life first. He had invested so much in her, got so much time with her, had even longer to fall for her. Of course, with him, in a strictly platonic sense.
"Where is he?" I heard K ask quietly, near her ear as he still crushed her to his chest.
"On the bed," she answered back as he released her finally and stormed inside, reaching for the gun. She turned to me a little hesitantly, like she wasn't sure where she stood with me.
"Maisy, huh?" I asked, head tilting to the side. "From Vermont?"
"Once upon a time, yeah," she agreed with an unsure little nod.
"I think Maze suits you better," I said but her shoulders didn't relax in the least. "You gonna give me a hug, honey, or what?" I asked, opening my arms. Her shoulders went down then she flew at me, knocking me back a foot as my arms went around her. "Hey, you're alright," I said when she made some sort of whimpering sound into my chest, her arms holding on like her life depended on it.
"I..." she started, but was cut off by K's smooth, rolling laugh.
"Do I want to know?" I asked, smiling into her hair.
Maze snorted, pulling back from me, her hand sliding down my arm until it found mine, curling around it. She squeezed once then turned to pull me into the room to where K was standing at the foot of the bed and Ruslan...
Yeah Ruslan was tied to the fucking thing with what looked like a belt on one wrist and an assortment of shoe strings and bedsheets on the other.
"Fucking seriously?" I laughed as the very-conscious Ruslan glared at me.
"He sleeps like the dead," she informed us and, if I wasn't mistaken, sent Ruslan an apologetic smile.
"I wasn't going to hurt you. I was going to save you, kotyonok," he said, his voice soft and with a conviction that even I didn't question and, well, the fucker stole my woman.
"I know that," she said and I knew I wasn't mistaken, she felt bad for tying the bastard up. Hell, I felt bad for him. That shit looked humiliating. "But I didn't want to be on the run from Vik for the rest of my life, Rus. I didn't want to leave the country. I didn't want to leave..." she stopped suddenly, looking over at me a little self-consciously.
