I spun around and started running again, the muscles in my legs screaming in protest. I nearly stumbled twice, my speed hindered by chairs and other furniture that was lying around.
Refusing to look back, I frantically searched for any sign of the others. If I could just find them...
I rounded the next corner and smacked into something hard. Disoriented, I stumbled backward until a pair of strong hands gripped my shoulders.
I recoiled, a scream on my lips.
"There you are," a husky voice said.
My heart stopped. One beat. Two. "K-Killian?"
"What are you doing? Everyone's looking—"
The muscles in my legs seemed to fill with jelly. I raised my fist and smacked his chest as hard as I could.
"What the?" He sounded flabbergasted.
"You think this is funny, yeah?" I bit my lips, hating the small tremor in my voice.
"What?"
"I asked if you think scaring me like this is funny," I said, louder this time.
There was a brief silence, only disrupted by my own short gasps of breath.
"What're you talking about, Tay? Do you know how long you've been in here?"
"But—"
"It's been over a hour and a half," Killian cut me off, his voice tight. "This challenge was supposed to take maybe half an hour if you're slow. Do you think it's fun to put on a disappearance act to make everyone go look for you?"
Wait a second.
"But one of you guys was in here, right? You set someone up."
"What are you talking about? Everyone was at the entrance. They set up a moving door but that already stopped working after the first group was through."
My hands clenched more tightly. "No, there was someone," I said with more emphasis this time.
He sighed. "As I said, everyone waited at the entrance."
"No, I'm telling you, I saw someone and then they chased me."
"Chased?" A low threatening note crept into his voice. "What do you mean chased?"
"Yes, and I think I heard him behind me again..." I jerked my head around but didn't move to check. Killian pulled me a bit closer as he stepped forward. He lifted his phone and shone the light down the dark corridor.
"It's empty," he said calmly.
"But...there really was someone, I swear. He was in the hallway we were supposed to take, and he saw me and then..."
His hands moved to my back and then hugged me to him. "It's fine now, I believe you, okay?"
My knees buckled an inch, and I would have slumped forward if he hadn't been holding me up. As if my body had a will of its own, my arms wrapped around his waist, and I burrowed my face into his warm chest. A clean masculine scent with a hint of sandalwood swirled around me. The steady beat of his heart thumped against my ear. I shut my eyes and tuned out everything else.
Weighty steps pounded above our heads, and I flinched involuntarily. Killian tightened his hold on me.
"Did you hear that?" I asked, my voice muffled.
He shifted me in his grip but didn't let go. "Yeah," he said quietly.
I tried to keep my tone steady as I spoke. "Maybe one of the others is upstairs looking for me?"
More steps sounded, followed by a dragging noise. Someone was definitely moving around.
"I'm the only one who took this wing. They should be in the other buildings."
His even voice soothed the tension in my body and I let out a breath.
I would blame this messed-up night that it took me so long to realize what I was doing: Hiding. In Killian's arms. Not anyone's, but Killian's.
What the hell was I thinking?
I drew back, trying to ignore the sense of loss shooting through me as he let me go and stepped away.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked, his voice soft.
My cheeks flamed. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole but then again, that was probably an improvement to my state of mind five minutes ago. "I-I'm good. It just surprised me, that's all."
"Good. Let's go check it out then," he said unperturbed.
"Wh-what? But you said it wasn't one of the others."
"Probably not. All the more reason to see for ourselves, right?" An edge crept into his voice. "Besides I'm here now, so nobody will chase you around."
His words made me feel strange in a way I was too mentally exhausted to explore. Thankfully, Killian didn't seem to expect a reply. He took the lead, and I stuck close to him as we sneaked up to the second floor.
"How did you know where the stairs are?" I whispered as quietly as possible.
"There's a layout plan at the entrance hall."
Ah sure. The plan. Yeah. I had studied that as well.
A sparsely lit hallway opened up in front of us. Raindrops drummed against the windows and lightning flashed, plunging the world into a brief radiance. I knew it was coming, but I still jumped when a loud rumble vibrated through the building. My fingers snatched the edge of Killian's jacket as my eyes flitted around.
His warm, slightly rough palm wrapped around mine, giving it a light squeeze.
My heart stuttered just to bounce back twice as fast. Okay. We were holding hands. No big deal.
Killian's steps were surprisingly quiet as we crept along the darkened corridor. At the end, the shadows morphed into a corner, and we halted. Another passage spread out in front of us leading to the south building. The storm outside unleashed sudden, brilliant flashes of light that illuminated an open door on the opposite end. Just as we were about to move forward, we glimpsed a shadowy figure moving inside the room beyond.
I gripped Killian's hand more tightly. Someone really was there.
He pulled me behind him. We made it about halfway when a face appeared in the small opening.
"Hey!" I cringed as Killian's shout bounced off the walls.
The figure froze, and in the next second the door slammed shut. Killian cursed and let go of me. He rushed forward and slammed into the door with his whole body. It rattled in its frame but held firm. He stepped back and I winced when he threw his shoulder into it again. It took him four more tries to bust it open.
An old shelf blocked a second door at the other end and a small staircase disappeared into the floor below. Aside from that, the large room was empty.
"Shit," Killian said. He took out his phone again and swung its flashlight down the stairs. "I bet he's long gone by now."
"Do you also think it was a guy?"
"Looked like it to me," he grumbled as he straightened up again and started to investigate the dusty rack.
The sudden sound of boots against stone made me whirl around but Killian snatched my hand and maneuvered me behind his back.
"There you are." One of Nick's friends, the skinny one, appeared inside the broken door frame. He walked into the room carrying a large flashlight. His eyes fell on our intertwined fingers and a cheeky grin stretched his face.
Heat rose to my neck. I pulled away and put some distance between us.
"Man, Tay, we were looking all over for you, but I guess you had your own fun." He wiggled his eyebrows.
I didn't think any of this had been any fun and apparently neither did Killian.
"Fun?" He growled, taking a step forward.
Drew chose that moment to enter the room as well, panting. "Man, Mark. You were right. They—" He lifted his head and stopped as he took in the tense atmosphere.
"I told you guys this was a stupid idea. There was some freak in here chasing after Tay!" Killian raised his voice at the end and I started as suddenly all eyes focused on me.
"What?" Mark asked and chuckled. "You sure she didn't imagine things—"
Killian grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him against the wall. He'd moved so fast that I barely had time to blink. "This isn't funny, I saw him as well. The guy could've been some psycho for all we know, and you sent her in here without even a fucking phone."
"Hey, man," Mark said holding his hands up. "I didn't think this was going to happen. Everyone else made it."
"Well, how about you start using that stupid head of yours to squeeze out some decent thoughts here and there," Killian snarled.
"Tay, what happened, are you alright?" Drew asked.
"Oh." I shuffled my feet. "I managed to shake him off but then I got lost."
"I'm sorry, man," Mark said from behind Killian. "Sorry, Tay."
"It's fine. Nothing happened," I replied.
Killian shot me a sharp look. "Nothing happened but that doesn't mean it couldn't have."
I wrung my hands and dodged his gaze. Yeah, I'd rather not think about that too much.
"I'm not trying to scare you," Killian said a bit more gently this time. "I—Fuck, let's just get out of this place."
That actually sounded like a great idea.
By the time we made it back to the entrance, it was three a.m. The others huddled around the map but turned when we came in.
They bombarded me with questions, but Mark quickly stepped up and explained the situation. My eyes scanned the group. There were a few nameless faces, some I'd seen at a party before. Strangely enough, Suzy was nowhere to be found. Neither was Nick.
I moved to the side and watched the exits. My fingers tapped against my arms. They should be back soon, right? Something warm was thrown over my back and I jumped.
"Relax," Killian said and wrapped his jacket tighter around me. "I can't stand you shivering around anymore. It's starting to make people cold just by watching you. Do you never bring a jacket by the way?"
I paused. As if my body was waiting for my acknowledgment, I finally noticed the cold clinging to my limbs and started trembling even more. I snuck my arms through the zip-up hoodie and mumbled my thanks. The large fabric enveloped me, still warm to the touch. It held a subtle trace of his scent, and I felt myself relax.
"I think, it's just because I ran earlier," I managed to press out.
Killian sighed, and then his large palms started rubbing over my arms and back, sending jolts of electricity over my skin. As soon as I stopped shivering he dropped them but stayed close. Not that I minded. His body was like a radiator.
Then I remembered our hug earlier and my ears grew hot.
One of the doors opened to reveal Cody and Pete. They stopped and had a quick chat with Mark before heading straight for us.
Cody came up and drew me into a hug. "Kel, Tay. You good?" he asked and pulled back, giving me a once-over.
I pulled the jacket tighter around me. "Yeah."
"Where are Suzy and Nick?" I asked them.
"Let me call them," Pete said. "They went the opposite way to cut your way off. Maybe they did the whole circuit again."
Cody leaned down. "You sure you're good?"
"I'm fine."
Pete chose that moment to join us again. I read his expression and my heart sank. "You couldn't reach them, right?"
There was a grave note to his voice. "Voicemail."
Well, shit.