𝓣𝓻𝓾𝓵𝔂 𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼

❁ Chapter Sixteen - A Mess

"You okay, PB?" Reeve asked, his large palm almost completely engulfing my shoulder.

A rough inhale drew out my lungs as I took my eyes away from the dead guy. "Yeah, just tired."

The facts that last night I barely slept and not even an hour ago I had my face confused to a punching bag implemented the idea that tiredness was the reason why I so suddenly jumped from thinking of the dead guy to mine and Reeve's... thing? I didn't even know how to call it. What were we? A one night thing? FWBs? Lovers?

God, this regret didn't take long to turn into confusion.

"We should check the rest of the cells," he stated, kneeling to check the dead guys.

I nodded at him, adjusting my white t-shirt under the leather jacket, that still red was from my previous beating. My black, ripped jeans were just as spotted with redness, luckily not as visible as on my white shirt. If I didn't know any better, I would have said someone spilled ketchup on me and enjoyed mushing it all over my clothes.

I picked up the phone I had placed in my pocket, the one that belonged to the guy I stabbed, and tried to see if I could access the security system from their warehouse. There were no cameras in the cells or on the hallway, which seemed stupid in my opinion, but what could I say? It was their warehouse, not mine. Successfully, I managed to register in the system and just like that, using some of my skills, I started messing it up. I managed to freeze most cameras, so I wouldn't raise too many suspicions to the one who supervised, and I shut down all the alarms.

After that, we dragged both men inside the cells and I wiped the blood with their clothes not to leave any signs behind. Then, each with a gun, searched up the cells. We had no luck in finding Timothy, but... we did manage to find someone.

Reeve stood at the door as I walked inside the cell, to look at the guy leaned on the floor. His dark hair was long, beard covering his face along with bruises. He wasn't awake, and I didn't expect him to be either at how frail the poor man looked. He looked and he smelled like he didn't get to see the sunlight or a shower in weeks.

I couldn't figure by the smell if he was dead, which was why I kneeled by his side and tried to find the pulse on his neck. I was staring at my watch to count the beats, when I realized there... wasn't anything wrong with his heart rhythm. It functioned fully normal. Not too slow how I had expected, neither too fast how it would have been in a case of overdose.

When I tried to take my hand from his neck, I noticed the tattoo on the side. My eyes got big at the sight of it. I looked at Reeve, who frowned questioningly at me, glancing away from the hallway.

"He's a-" I was cut off by the feeling of the man's grip over my hand. In less than a moment I found myself under him, his big hands not holding back from strangling me.

His thick brows furrowed as he stared at me. "Who the hell are you?"

Just as I looked into his eyes I managed to realize who he was. Before I could say anything, a gun was placed at his head, making me raise my eyes to Reeve, who held a ruthless expression.

"I'll be nice and tell you to get the fuck off her if you don't want to die."

The man strangling me squeezed harder as he raised his eyes to Reeve. "Shoot!" He challenged.

I huffed, feeling the lack of air in my lungs, as I eyed him angrily. "Vaughn," I choked out, getting his attention.

He frowned, his eyes lowering. "How the hell do you-"

"Sam... fr-friend..." I struggled to say.

His eyes widened at the sound of the words and he immediately pulled away, jumping off of me. "You know Samantha?"