22
Sophia
The sound of James’s voice pulls me out of the darkness that completely swallowed me.
Tugging me back from… somewhere… with its force.
“Sophia!”
Lights, sounds, and pictures assault my brain in blurry chaos as I open my eyes, nothing making sense.
I suck in a shrill, gasping breath of air only to cough it out. My throat aching as if I gargled a mouthful of razorblades.
“Fuck! Oh fuck!” James shouts in alarm then his beautiful face is in front of me. Contorted with pain.
“Oh baby…” he groans as he carefully pulls me up into his arms, bringing me to my knees. “Oh fuck, baby…”
I lean into his chest, still coughing my head off, as his shaking hands roam over me.
“Andrew!” James roars, and I wince, pain slicing through my head.
Keeping one arm around me, James reaches down between us and yanks a knife from his belt. Then he quickly slices the cuffs off my wrists.
My arms fall to my sides and the sensation of pins and needles shooting up to my shoulders brings more tears to my burning eyes.
“Let me through,” someone snaps with authority.
I recognize Simon’s sharp voice as he protests, “We still need to secure the room…”
“I don’t fucking care. Get out of my way.”
As if he’s unsure what to do, James seems to hesitate before he lowers me back down to the bed, helping me sit on the edge.
Then he squats down in front of me.
“Sophia,” James groans again as his eyes sweep over me, taking stock of my various injuries.
My coughs dying down, I peer into his face. Just happy to see he’s still alive.
Thank god, he’s alive.
Unable to stop myself, I burst into relieved tears. My entire throat aching as sobs bubble out of my mouth.
Noticing the two probes from the taser still embedded in my arm and shoulder, James curses under his breath and grabs the lines attached to them, quickly snapping them off.
“Fuck, what did they do to you, baby…”
A smooth drawl answers for me. “Looks like they knocked her around a bit and tried to strangle her to death.”
“Motherfuckers. I’m going to rip them apart,” James growls as I glance over his shoulder to see the man now standing behind him.
Dressed in a black suit and looking like he should be in a board meeting or gracing the cover of a magazine and not standing in a dingy motel room, I recognize the man instantly.
It’s Lucifer, James’s boss.
The most feared and respected man in Garden City.
White-blonde hair, piercing ice blue eyes, and a bone-structure that was sculpted by the gods themselves, he’s even more beautiful than I expected. More beautiful than any picture I’ve seen of him.
But he’s not as beautiful as James.
Noticing my stare, Lucifer’s eyes meet mine and hold them. For some reason I can’t explain, a shiver travels down my spine and my sobs quiet.
“How many times did they tase you, baby?” James asks.
Hands shaking, he reaches for the two probes still embedded in my skin only to pull back.
“Three,” I croak out.
“Fuck,” James curses softly, trying to steady his hands.
“Here, let me,” Lucifer offers.
James glances up at Lucifer and at first it looks like he isn’t going to accept his offer. But then he looks back to me and something he sees must change his mind.
Nodding his head in an abrupt jerk, James straightens and steps out of the way.
Lucifer moves into James’s spot, and something moves out of the corner of my eye, drawing my attention.
Stumbling out of the bathroom, Trent lifts a gun in his left hand and points it in Lucifer’s direction.
Reacting without thinking, I spring forward, crashing into Lucifer a second before a gunshot rings out.
“You motherfucker!” I hear James roar as Lucifer and I crumble to the ground.
Another gunshot cracks the air quickly followed by Trent screaming in pain.
My head woozy from how fast I moved, it takes a second for the world to stop spinning.
But as soon as it does, and I realize where I am, I wish it would start spinning again.
On top of Lucifer, I stare down at his face in horror.
“Are you hit?” Lucifer asks, eyes wide with something that could be surprise or concern.
When I cough out, “No,” his expression changes.
Becoming so angry… so fucking terrifying, I’m surprised I don’t embarrass myself and pee all over us both.
“You do not…” he starts to grit out between his teeth but stops to take a calming breath.
Grabbing me carefully by the upper arms, he lifts me off him and sets me to the side before getting to his feet.
Reaching back down, he grabs my hand and pulls me up before helping me sit on the edge of the bed again.
Hands wrapping around my shoulders this time, Lucifer’s fingers firmly grip me as he leans in and glares into my eyes. “You do not protect us, we protect you. Do you understand?”
Resisting the urge to gulp, because I know it will hurt like a bitch, I slowly nod my head.
“You are much too valuable, Sophia… If you ever, ever do something like that again…”
Trailing off, Lucifer closes his eyes for a second and takes another deep, calming breath.
“Matthew?!” James calls out, his voice thick with desperation and worry.
Eyes flashing open and glaring into mine, Lucifer calls back, “She’s fine.”
Trent screams a piercing, nearly inhuman scream.
I want to seek out James, to see what he’s doing, but I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from Lucifer.
Squeezing my shoulders, Lucifer finally finishes his warning for me. “You will regret it.”
Releasing me, he straightens away, and I can’t help but feel like a little kid who did something bad and got sent to the principal’s office.
I didn’t do it on purpose… It wasn’t like I was even thinking…
Straightening his suit jacket, Lucifer sits down beside me and grabs the arm with the probe still embedded in it. I glance over at him nervously as he examines the probe and the way it’s sticking out of my flesh.
Dragging Trent over to us, James drops him on the floor and promptly kicks him in the ribs.
“Fucking little bitch,” James snarls as Trent tries to roll away from him.
His face a bloody, snotty mess, Trent blubbers something unintelligible. And I notice that the arm that isn’t in a sling, his left arm, is covered in blood and hangs loosely at his side, bent at a wrong angle.
Almost like it’s broken so badly, the only thing holding it together is skin…
Bile rises in my throat, burning like a motherfucker, then I feel a sharp tug on my arm.
Looking at where the tug came from, I see Lucifer holding up the metal prong between his fingers, inspecting it.
James takes one look at my arm and the small puncture wound created by the prong before he bellows, “Where the fuck is Andrew?”
“Right here!” a dark-haired, muscular man says as he steps over Calvet’s dead body and comes jogging over to us. “I had to run back for my bag.”