Secrets (20 page)

Rae managed a step, then another. She kept expecting to hear the door slam open, but it didn’t. She took another
tiny step, teetered, then felt herself start to fall. And with her hands tied, unable to block her fall, she hit the ground
with a sickening thud, her forehead slamming against something hard.

The fire alarm started to ring.
Hope no one figures out too fast that the fire is just in the Dumpster,
Anthony
thought.

Almost immediately a few doors on the bottom level of the Motel 6 opened. Anthony scanned the people coming
out, most of them pulling on clothes as they went. No Rae. No Yana.
But they ’re here,
he told himself.

“You stay by their car,” Anthony ordered Jesse. “I’m checking inside.” He couldn’t stand still. He bolted for the
outside staircase, pushing his way against the tide of people all trying to get away from the motel. He took the stairs
three at a time, then burst through the entrance into the second-floor hallway.

Except for the alarm bells, it was silent. No doors slamming. No people yelling. No people anywhere. The whole
floor couldn’t be empty, could it? “Fire!” Anthony shouted. He crisscrossed his way down thehall, pounding on
doors. “Fire! Fire! Fire!” Nothing. No response.

Anthony turned and started back down the hall toward the exit. Then he heard something underneath the fire
alarms, something that stopped him dead. Someone was-not yelling, exactly, but
trying
to yell. He followed the
horrible sound to room 212.

“Rae, are you in there?” The sound grew louder, more frantic. “It’s Anthony. I’m here.” He tried the doorknob.

Locked, of course. Then he took a few steps back, turned his shoulder to the door, and hurled himself at it. He felt
something give, but it would take a bunch more solid hits to break the door down. And who knew what was
happening to Rae in there. “Hold on, okay? Hold on!” he shouted.

He charged to the exit and out to the staircase. “Jesse,” he yelled down to the parking lot. “I found them. Room
212. Get a maid or something. We need the key.”

Jesse’d started running toward the motel office before Anthony finished telling him what to do. Anthony raced
back to room 212 and put both hands on the door. “A couple of seconds more,” he yelled. “I’m right here.”

He pressed his hands harder against the door, wanting to slam them through and snatch Rae out ofthere. “Come
on, come on, come on,” he muttered. As if in answer, he heard footsteps pounding toward him. He snapped his
head toward them. Jesse.

“Master key. Couldn’t find anyone, so I took it.” Jesse thrust it into Anthony’s hand. Anthony missed the lock
completely the first time. Cursing himself, he forced himself to slow down, and he finally got the door open.

The first thing he saw was Rae. His eyes went right to her. She was lying on the floor, bound and blindfolded. “Her
friend should be here, too. Check the bathroom,” he told Jesse.

With two long strides he was next to Rae. He dropped to his knees and pulled the blindfold off. Her blue eyes
looking up at him were the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. “Who did this to you?” he demanded. “Doesn’t
matter,” he answered before she could. “Are you okay?” He gently touched her forehead. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Just get me out of here,” Rae answered.

“Jesse, you got your knife?” Anthony called.

“One second,” Jesse answered. “I’m just getting the last of this girl’s cords. Okay, heads up.” Jesse leaned out of
the bathroom and hurled the pocketknife at Anthony.

Anthony caught it, then flipped it open. With one cut he severed the cord between her hands and herfeet. The
cords around her ankles and wrists were harder. Rae had her bottom lip locked between her teeth, and he could tell
he was hurting her. “Almost done, almost done,” he murmured. And she was free.

He locked his arm around her waist and helped her to her feet. Jesse was already helping Yana out the door.

“They-whoever did this-they were in the room across the hall,” Rae told him.

“The bastards must have run,” Anthony told her. He pulled her closer to him, trying to take as much of her weight
as he could as they rushed from the room. She gave a little mew of pain as they started down the hall.

The sound was like a knife to the gut. Anthony scooped Rae up in his arms. She pressed herself against his chest,
her arms around his neck. He thought he felt blood from her forehead seeping through his shirt. If they were here, if
those guys were still here-Anthony shoved the thought away. He needed to focus on Rae right now. She was all that
mattered. He slowed down when he hit the staircase, not wanting to hurt her any more than she’d already been hurt.

As soon as his feet reached the asphalt of the parking lot, he began to run again. He didn’t stop until he reached his
car.

Slowly, carefully, he lowered Rae to her feet. He kept his arms around her. He couldn’t let her go.

Nothing could have pulled him away from her, and her arms stayed tight around his neck.

“You found me,” she murmured. Her face was so close to his that he could feel her warm breath against his lips.

“What? You thought I wouldn’t?” Anthony asked, the question coming out in a choked whisper.

“You found me,” she repeated. She tightened her arms around his neck, pulling him so close that their noses
touched. His eyes were looking directly into hers, the glistening, vibrant blue filling his vision.

Rae’s eyes dropped down, and Anthony knew she was looking at his lips. They started to burn. It was like she was
touching them, rubbing them with her fingers.

Then his lips were on hers. Hungry. Urgent. Anthony didn’t know how it happened. He didn’t care. God, it was Rae.

He was kissing Rae. She was alive. He slid one hand up her back and deep into her hair. It was softer than he’d
imagined it, even. He was never letting go. Never.

But he wanted to get even closer. Had to. He slid his free hand under her shirt, desperate to feel her skin.
Rae. It’s

Rae,
he thought.
Rae.

He never wanted to let go of the warmth of her body. He never wanted to be separated from the wet,warm
sweetness of her mouth.

“Anthony, come on. We’ve got to get out of here,” he heard Jesse say from far, far away.

He knew Jesse was right. He knew they were still in danger. But he knew something else-he knew if he pulled
away now, it would rip his heart out of his chest. In fact, he wasn’t sure if he could ever pull away again.

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10/11/2009

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