Carnal

Chapter Seventeen - Trustworthy

I looked at Zak, who was now struggling to catch his breath.

"Now," Cain continued. "You tell me why he has it strapped to his ankle and then explain to me why I'm not supposed to take this as threatening."

I took a deep breath as I looked down at the knife in my hands.

"He would never hurt me," I said with certainty, unsure of what else I could say.

"Let's hope not," Cain said, "because I'll kill anyone who does hurt you."

The sincerity in which he spoke those words made a chill run down my spine.

After a few long moments of realizing there was nothing I could say to Cain to make him change his mind, I sighed.

"Fine," I said, turning my attention to Zak. "But I'm not leaving his side. I sleep where he sleeps until this is all cleared up. Anything that happens to him, happens to me."

I saw Cain's face harden at the thought and I fought the urge to smile.

Two can play the stubborn game, my friend.

He said nothing as he turned around and grabbed Zak by the arm and yanked him upright to stand on his feet.

When Zak's knees buckled under, Cain caught him with a strong grip, supporting Zak under his arms.

Zak's limp body closely resembled a rag doll and was undoubtedly outmatched in strength by the mountain of muscle that towered next to him.

Cain all but carried him down the hallway as Zak's feet drug the ground behind him, Cain no doubt being gentler now that I had expressed my wish for equal treatment.

He pulled Zak into a stairwell and began to descend down into the basement with me hot on his trail.

We eventually made it to what looked like a steel vault door.

I eyed Zak's glazed over expression as Cain put his hand up to the panel next to the door to be scanned.

A red laser passed over his hand before the entire panel lit up green.

A whirring of sound of mechanics rang out from behind the door before the sound of air pressure releasing. The heavy vault door opened enough for Cain to pull it open completely.

He stepped into the steel hallway inside, doors similar to the one we'd just passed through lined each wall, stretching on as far as I could see.

After every few doors stood men big enough to be linebackers. Some of them had buzzcuts, others had tattoos crawling up their arms to disappear under the kevlar vest they wore. Scars marred a few of the men's faces and others were adorned with facial piercings.

The shadows cast on their hardened faces by the florescent lighting above us were aggressive.

Threatening was an appropriate word to describe them as a collective whole.

Cain passed Zak over to one of them who wasn't as gentle as I would have liked him to be in handling Zak in his fragile state.

The man followed Cain as he walked down the hallway and opened one of the doors on the right side.

I watched as the man carried Zak inside and sat him on a floating steel cot that was attached to one wall.

As I tried to step into the room, Cain's arm blocked my path.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm staying with him."

Cain gave me a hard stare and I felt the air leave my lungs.