Page 79 of Bubblegum Pop
Gordon left the rest of the beta guards as he flew out of the room. They threw nervous looks at each other, adjusting their guns, checking various pockets, shuffling from side to side, and doing whatever they could to not pay attention to me.
Something was happening. Something that had them scared.
A small flicker of hope lit inside me, but I kept it tamed. I didn’t want to think my mates had come for me. There was no way for them to know where I was, or any way for them to get to me.
My head shot up as shouts sounded out from somewhere in the building.
Gordon burst back through the door, followed by four more betas, panic marring his already sallow face.
He ran straight towards me, two guards following as the other two joined the first two at the door, adjusting their guns.
“Your knife.” Gordon panted, turning to one of them. “Give me your knife.”
“Sir, Michael said—”
“I don’t give a shit what Michael said. She’s mine. He’s not taking her.”
I looked up at him in shock. I couldn’t work out what they were saying. The words were there, I understood them; it was just trying to process what it meant that I tried to understand. A mix of heat haze and concussion muddled my brain, but it was so slowly clicking into place.
He said Michael… They both did…
Gordon’s hand shook as he snatched the knife from the guard. A sharp serrated edge, a heavy blade, easy enough to rip my throat open. I swallowed carefully as he lifted the knife, pressing it against the soft curve of my neck, right on a pulsing vein.
“Why did you say Michael?” I asked.
“Shut up.”
“No. What the hell is going on?” I growled, fighting against the ties on my wrists. “What’s this got to do with Michael?”
“Shut up!” he shouted, pushing the knife hard enough to break the skin. My blood cooled as it ran down my throat, and I finally saw that as my cue to be quiet.
There was still noise from the corridor beyond the doors, more pops like guns, growing louder, closer every second.
Gordon was sweating, his hand twitching, the knife right on my neck. I leaned back, tilted my chin, looking up at him. He was staring at the door so intensely his eyes popped out of his head. He’d already given the game away. There was something wrong with this. Why was Michael involved at all?
The problem was, I’d never been good at taking cues, even during a show.
“You’re pathetic,” I said to him. “Did you really think the best way to win me over was to kidnap me and bite me? Really?”
“Be. Quiet.”
“Oh, no, Gordon. If you want me so badly, you get all of me. And all of me includes the part that hates alphas who think they have a right to my pussy just because I’m on a stage.”
He slammed his hand over my mouth. “Quiet, you little bitch!”
But he didn’t have a chance to finish.
The beta guards had their guns ready, some edging closer to the doors.
They flung open, and the room descended into chaos as shots fired around us.
I needed to get away from Gordon’s knife.
I sucked in a breath through my nose, praying as I pushed the balls of my feet against the ground and threw myself backwards. The chair tipped, knocking into Gordon’s fat stomach. He had no time to react as Zeus stood at the door, his face determined as he raised his gun and fired.
Gordon screamed as we fell together, his body collapsing beside me. He cried out, scratching at me as the back of the chair pinned his feet to the floor.
A snarl tore through the room before a familiar scent showered us, powerful enough to leave me trembling. Mangos, and passion fruit, and the harsh tang of lemon vodka I’d been luxuriating in last night.