Nothing Without You | Eric Coulter [2]

eleven

    "No guns," Tobias instructed, "They'll draw too much attention."

My brother flattens himself against the wall and the rest of us follow suit as he peers over his shoulder down the empty hallway to make sure that the coast was clear...which, unfortunately, it was not.

"Wait here," Tobias says before emerging from his spot.

"Hey, hold up!" A guard yells, only to be knocked out by Tobias.

Throwing his elbow back into the other guard's jaw, Tobias knocks him out with one hit as well.

Once he'd dealt with them, he gestures for the rest of us to join him.

Tris, Peter and I scurry to join him in the hallway, stopping in front of a lone cell that seems to be more highly secured than all of the others we'd seen so far.

The rest of us take watch as Peter enters the code into the pin pad located on the right side of the door.

My heart pounded in my chest as I watched him key in the numbers and hit the 'enter' button only for it to beep, the words 'access denied' flashing across the small screen.

Peter curses under his breath, "That was the code. They must've changed it."

"Is there another way to get the door open?" I asked, "Could we open it manually?"

"I don't think so," He replies, sounding way too laid-back for my liking.

"There has to be," I snap, "You can't tell me that none of the Erudite has ever thought to implement a backup way or something to get the doors open."

"If there is one, I don't know about it." He shoots back at me with a glare.

"Try again," I insist, pointing a finger at the keypad.

Peter doesn't look too thrilled about being bossed around, but he does as he's told anyway.

Just as he's about to key in the last number to the five-digit code, a voice speaks from behind us.

"Step away from the door." I didn't have to look to see that the intruder probably had his weapon aimed at us.

Slowly, I gazed over my shoulder to see the man Eric had called Spencer standing behind us.

"Here for your little boyfriend, I see." He flashes me a cunning smile that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand.

I looked down to see that the wound on his leg where Eric had shot him was nicely bundled up in pristine white bandages.

"Spencer," I said, tilting my head at him, "You know the code, don't you?"

The guy lets out a laugh that was just as creepy as his smile.

"It's funny you think I'll hand it over to you," He says, "Even if I did... I hate to break it to you, sweetheart. But he's not in there."

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to decide if he was lying, but he looks too smug about the entire thing to be.

"So, where is he?" I asked.

I didn't think the guy was just going to hand over that information, but with a little bit of luck, I was hoping Spencer would slip up eventually.

He doesn't reply and takes another step towards us with that sly grin still stuck on his face with his gun pointed right in my face.

Tobias tries to shield me from him, but I quickly push him out of the way, deciding that I should be able to fight my own battles.

Stopping in front of me, Spencer sucks in a deep breath.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day," He says to me, "How long I've been waiting to be able to get my revenge on Eric." He pauses as if for dramatic effect and I roll my eyes as he continues, "And now, here you are. My perfect revenge."

Before I could react, his hand shoots out to grab me by the elbow as he presses his gun against my temple.

"Just remember," He spat, "At the end of this all you'll only have one person to blame for your ultimate demise: Eric." Spencer then roughly jerks me forward, "Move."

Before I could move past him, a hulking figure appears from the opening of the adjoining hall, throwing him against the wall.

I breathe out a sigh of relief at the sight of Eric, who looked rightfully murderous at the moment as he held Spencer against the wall by his neck.

"I've been nice so far, Spencer," He grits out, "I didn't kill you the first time because you meant something to my sister. But you touch her again and I will fucking skin you alive, do you understand me?"

Spencer chokes and sputters against Eric's hold, nodding frantically as his face reddens from the lack of air.

Eric releases Spencer, dropping him unceremoniously in a heap on the ground before he turns to me, reaching up to cup my cheek.

"Are you okay?" He asks as if he wasn't the one with the huge gash on his forehead that was dripping enough blood to make my heart stutter with worry.

"Me?" I let out a nervous-sounding chuckle, "Are you okay?"

I reach up to wipe the blood that was trickling down his face, but he grips my wrist and presses a kiss against my pulse.

"I'm okay," He answers with a small reassuring smile, "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

I shook my head wincing when his wandering fingers brushes across the swollen bump where Max had hit me with the handle of his gun before.

Eric's jaw clenches and his gaze bores into mine, "Who did it?"

I shook my head, "It doesn't matter anymore."

"It fucking matters," He replies so fiercely it makes my heart squeeze.

"I'm okay," I whisper.

His eyes search mine as if trying to figure out if I meant what I said before he leans into me and kisses me like I was all he needed to survive.

"How did you get out?" I asked as we pulled away.

Eric tucks my hair behind my ear so gently it almost hurts, kissing me on the temple before saying, "I would always find my way to you."