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Chucking my phone on the bed, I metaphorically suit up as I exit my room. The house is quiet as I descend the stairs, and I hope the guys have gone to bed.
I hurry to the kitchen and the door to the cellar when it becomes obvious there is no one else up. A chill ripples across my skin as I reach the bottom of the cellar stairs.
I unlock Axel’s door and step inside unsure of what I’ll find. Thankfully, I find him laid out on a small camping bed that wasn’t here before.
He looks as though he’s asleep, but I know better. I take a few steps toward him and watch the small increase in his breathing. I bet it’s killing him to remain still and keep up the pretence when he has no idea who is here.
“You can stop with the pretending to sleep, Axel. I’m not fooled.” His eyes flicker behind closed lids at my voice while he takes a minute to decide whether to give up or not.
His face is clean, and he has some clothes on too. I guess this room is no longer a death sentence waiting to happen and more a necessity to keep him alive. I have no doubt that Axel is on Rogers’ hit list. The thought has my earlier thread of concern for Eva doubling. Shit!
“How long have you been here, Axel?” I ask.
“Too fucking long. What do you want,Roxy?”
“I’m not the enemy, Axel. How long?”
“I don’t fucking know. Maybe four days. Getting your arse beat is not conductive to time keeping or memory.”
I consider the timeline along with what Axel told us about how he ended up at the door of Rogue the morning after the shooting. He believes his initial beating came at the hand of Rogers’ men, but he doesn’t understand why given he’d done everything Rogers asked of him. Something else must be at play here.
I turn away as my concern for Eva’s safety tugs at me.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I ignore him, even when I hear him shuffling from the bed and padding after me. “Roxy, what the fuck’s going on?” His hand my arm, pulls me back to face him.
“Hands off, Axel,” I tell him with a scowl, pulling my arm back from him. “I need to check something. I’ll be back later.” I begin walking away again.
“Roxy,” he calls to me, and something in the tone of his voice has me pausing and turning to him. “I don’t give a fuck what happens to me, but please don’t let them hurt her.” I give a nod and leave, closing and locking the door behind me.
Back upstairs, I hurry to dress, grabbing my phone and sneaking back downstairs. I don’t have my car, but I never returned Zak’s keys after stealing his car back at the strip club.
Climbing in, I consider whether I should have woken one of them, but I quickly dismiss the idea when an image of what happens when I’m with them flashes through my mind. It seems spending time either alone or together with them doesn’t make an ounce of difference, my body betrays me anyway.
The streets are quiet at this time of night, and I make it to Eva’s Camden home in no time. I switch the engine off and watch and wait for five minutes before climbing from my car. The house appears quiet. But appearances can be deceiving. A lesson I’ve learnt a time or two over the years, and one I now heed.
I may know who she is, but chances are, she won’t know me. As I climb the long stone steps to her front door, I consider exactly what I’m going to say. Regardless, knocking on her door at this ridiculous hour is never going to go down well.
Reaching the door, I press the bell for her apartment, hearing the ding dong echo inside, and wait. I’m just about to ring again when I hear a noise just beyond the door. The click of a catch being unlocked sounds a second before the door opens. The door chain prevents the door opening any further, and I’m thankful she’s sensible enough to have it in place.
Two hazel eyes shadowed by darkness peer out at me. “Can I help you?” she asks warily, but I see recognition in her eyes.
“Eva?” She nods. “I’m sorry to trouble you at this late hour, but I wondered if we could talk.” It’s lame, but a small shuffle from behind the door has me on alert.
I see a wince before she speaks again, and I’m almost certain she’s not alone. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” Her eyes widen on the word help like she’s trying to tell me something. She starts to close the door, and I know if I don’t do something to stop her my opportunity to get her out will be lost.
Aware that this is a dangerous game but confident it will work, I say, “I know where he is.” The words hang in the air for a moment as her eyes narrow coldly. What I can see of her face tells me she’s not happy I’m giving Axel up, but it’s the only way to get inside.
She closes the door, leaving me to think I misjudged whoever is behind the door with her, but then I hear the rattle of the chain as she slides it off, and the door opens again, wider this time, permitting me access.
I’m not even going to pretend I don’t know this was a stupid idea. I have no weapon, and no one knows I’m here.Real smart, Rox.
As I step over the threshold, I consider shoving the door back into the arsehole behind it, but I’m guessing he has a gun or knife pointed at Eva. I step further inside, and Eva moves to the side allowing me in. A glint of silver in the faint light gives me my answer and knowing that once I’m inside and the door is closed it’s going to be incredibly hard to get out again, I take my chances.
On my next step, I stumble, and Eva’s hand shoots out to catch me, bringing us closer together. Gripping her arm, I whisper, “Run.” At the same time, I pull my arm back, yanking Eva forward toward the exit as I give the door a hard shove and hear a grunt as it smacks into the guy behind it.
“Move. Get in the car,” I tell her, pushing all my weight on the door to hold him in place, hopefully long enough for Eva to reach the car. She doesn’t argue and races down the stone steps to the path.
“You stupid bitch! You’re going to pay for this,” he growls out between clenched teeth as he begins to push back. He swipes out with the hand holding the knife, catching me on the arm, and I hiss as it slices through my flesh. With no time to worry about it, I look back to Eva and see her climbing into the passenger side of the car as my feet begin to slide on the hall floor. As he puts his whole weight on the door, I twist my body round so my back is to the door before jumping away and leaping down the steps two at a time.
