Out of This World

Kellan, bleeding, bruised, just looked at them.

Moe leaned in and whispered, “And then after we have our fun with ya, you’re gonna give me your ability.”

“You think so?” I asked, desperate to get their attention off Kel.

Curly and Moe looked at me and then at each other, with raised brows, that said, Whoa, look at the brave broad.

Too bad I wasn’t feeling so brave.

Another thunk from below had both Curly and Moe jumping. Curly jabbed the gun at us. “Stay put, you hear me? We’ll be right back. Then…” He made the motion of slitting his throat, and my blood went cold.

“We can’t just leave ’em,” Moe said, pointing at me. “She can break out of just about anything, remember?”

“Right. Come on.”

They both stalked toward me, making my stomach run cold. I stepped back. “Um, Kel?”

“Don’t lay a finger on her,” Kel warned them, holding himself very still, with his arms at his sides, looking poised and muscular and dangerous as hell.

“Oh, we won’t lay a finger on her,” Moe promised with a smirk as Curly moved behind me.

Moe smiled, but before I could figure out why, I saw stars and everything faded to black.

I woke up with a hell of a headache to find my hands tied and stretched taut, up over my head.

Kellan was across the room, sitting in a chair near the window, hands behind his back and tied. The cut on his mouth had stopped bleeding, but he had a hell of a shiner going.

The door behind me was just shutting, and I opened my mouth, but Kel shook his head, his eyes filled with warning.

He didn’t want me to speak.

Not easy, but I nodded, and as soon as we were alone, he tore free of his bonds in a very Hulk-like move that was quite impressive actually, and came to me.

I’d never been happier to see anyone in my life. “Kel-”

He put a finger to my lips, then gently tunneled his hands through my hair, looking me over from head to toe to make sure I was okay, feeling for the lump on the back of my head, courtesy of whatever Moe had hit me with.

I winced, and his jaw tightened. He ran his hand up the rope that held my hands over my head, his expression going even more bleak, if that was possible.

It took me only a moment to see why. Curly and Moe thought I had the strength ability, so they’d looped my hands above my head, attaching the rope to the heavy chandelier. If I pulled and broke free, the heavy glass would fall right on me.

Ingenious, really, for a couple of stupid pirates from an alternate universe far, far away…

Kel felt the rope, and didn’t look encouraged.

I knew why. It’d been pulled tight enough to be digging into my skin. There was no give, not an inch, or he could have broken through it. If he tried now, the entire glass fixture above would come down.

On my head.

He looked at me, then put his mouth to my ear. “We can do this. I can break it. But when I say go, I want you to shove backwards. Do it fast, Rach.”

“No, I-”

“Listen to me. It’s going to be loud, and we’re going to bring attention to ourselves. Be ready to run. Can you do that?”

I nodded. Was he kidding? For our lives, I’d dance to the moon. “Where are Curly and Moe?”

“Curly and Moe?” A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Good names.” His hands covered mine, his body pressed against me in a way that put him, not me, in direct danger from the glass shards that would fall from above.

“Kel-”

“Go!”

I shoved back as promised, and hit my butt hard, my eyes glued to the heavy light fixture as it broke free of the beam and headed toward Kellan’s head, ready to stab into him, spearing him into pieces right before my eyes. “Kel!”

Chapter 21

Kel also shoved back hard, and the resounding crash and glass splintering made the floor between us shudder.

Still on my butt, I covered my face with my arms, but before I could even draw a breath, Kel was there, hauling me to my feet, running his hands over my body. “You okay?” he demanded.

I didn’t want to let go of him, ever, but he forced me to back up so he could continue to check me out. I looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling where the heavy light fixture had once hung, and shuddered. “That was close.”

His hands tipped up my chin. “You’re okay.”

“Define okay.”

“You. Just the way you are.”

How was it he always knew what to say? God, the things I felt for him…

“Come on.” He pulled me to the window.

I looked down, and felt myself pale. “This way?”

“Yeah.” Kel ran his fingers over the lock.

“Because that’s four flights and at least forty feet down, you know. I mean, look how hard the ground seems.”

Kel broke through the paint and the lock in one swift motion, and raised the window. “Out.”

I looked at him, needing to get something said before I fell to my grisly death. “Kel? I think I’m falling for you.”

His eyes went wide with shock for one moment, before he pulled it together again.

He didn’t believe me.

“We have got to go,” he said.

“Did you hear what I just said?”

“Yes.” He gave me a smile, profound in its sadness. “Don’t worry. I understand.”

“You…understand.”

“It’s all the craziness, the fear. The Superman heroics. It’s okay…but thank you.”

“Thank you?” This was not quite the reaction I’d expected. “Thank you?”

“Yes, thank you. Sincerely.”

I stared at him. “Sincerely.”

“Yes, sincerely, damn it. Look, I’m aware that you have no idea how much my heart just stuttered to hear your feelings. But we’re going to get out of here, damn it. So no fucking good-byes.”

“No, you don’t understand-”

“We are getting out of here,” he repeated. “I promised you, remember?”

“I do. But I really could fall for you.”

He looked at me, his eyes full of things that took my breath. “Fall for me.”

“Yeah.” Give him the rest. “Kel, I l-” But damn if that elusive word wouldn’t slip off my tongue. “Like you.” Like? What, was I in middle school? I felt like an idiot.

Kel just sighed. “Can we not do this now?”

“Damn it, I want a reaction.”

“Okay. You like me. Great. I like you, too. Only here’s my problem, Rach. When we get out of here, I’ll go back to being just the reliable, stable guy next door. Your best friend’s brother, who you once hooked up with on some crazy weekend in Alaska.”

“Three times.”

“What?”