Colton~~
Vienna straddles my lap, her mouth on mine. With one hand I grip her waist while the other I run up her side, her shirt bunching underneath my fingers. She groans, pulling her hand from my shoulder to yank her shirt back down.
"Andrew. Basile."
I pin her hand to her hip. "Are probably doing the same thing we are."
The lighting is dim making her eyes not their usual bright blue.
I lean forward pressing my lips to hers. She relaxes against me, and my back presses into the couch. She digs her fingers into my shoulder, and I kiss the corner of her mouth before working my way down her neck.
She sucks in a breath, her eyes closed. My mouth curves into a smirk against her skin.
"Wait."
I close my eyes, throwing my head back against the couch.
"What if Erik walks in?" she asks.
"Then he'd be doing a horrible job keeping watch."
"It's cold out there."
I cup the side of her face in my hands. "And I'm just now getting warm." I sigh, dropping my head into her neck. "What's really bothering you?"
She places her hands over mine and pulls them away from her face. "We're being foolish."
My eyes soften even as my heart tightens. "We're foolish for not taking time for granted?"
"We're only hurting ourselves."
"I'm going to figure something out."
She shakes her head, her lips turned down in a frown. "You won't."
"Don't you have any faith?"
"From the moment you found me in the library, our future vanished."
She's right. In a way. It had felt like our future was pulled out from underneath me.
I wrap my arms around her, nose nudging her neck, inhaling her scent. She smells like eucalyptus, Andrew's body wash. It's unsettling she smells like my cousins and brother.
I let out all of my frustrations in a groan against her skin. "I gave you up once. I can't do it again."
She rests her cheek on my head, her hand buried in my hair.
Neither of us say anything. Words can't comfort us. They've failed.
A door creaks. It's not the bedroom door; I'm facing it. Vienna and I pull away from each other. Erik shouldn't be coming inside anytime soon.
We both drop down off the couch, reaching underneath it for the handguns strapped there.
Two shadows spread across the wood floor.
Maybe it's Jonas and Iris.
But if that's the case, it'd be nice if they would say something before we shoot them.
The newcomers step around the corner, dressed head to toe in black and wearing vests and helmets. They each hold a raised silver gun with a long sleek barrel. A kind of gun I've never seen before.
Vienna fires, hitting Intruder Number Un—I've been picking up some French— in the leg. Their legs have padding though, and Un merely shakes their leg as if it had fallen asleep and they're waking it up.
There's no way Andrew and Basile didn't hear the shot though.
The intruders take aim and fire, one of the bullets just missing my shoulder. It lands behind me, sticking straight up in the rug. It's a dart of some sort that sticks out of a silver cylinder with a blue blinking light at the end.
Well that's different.
I fire my gun, hitting Intruder Number Deux in the hand causing them to drop their gun, which clangs loudly as it hits the floor.
Andrew's bedroom door flies open, and he and Basile run out, guns in hand and shirtless with only jeans for protection. I don't believe the denim will do much to fend off the darts.
I duck as Un fires.
A window shatters by the front door and three more helmeted intruders storm inside. Excellent, I get more numbers practice. Good evening, Trois, Quatre, and Cinq. Make yourselves at home. I think there's a beer or two left in the fridge. Sorry but Erik drank all the wine.
Vienna fires two shots at them, hitting Quatre though I think in a padded area.
Un, Trois, Quatre, and Cinq fire at us, and Andrew and Basile leap behind the other couch for cover.
"We need to get to the car." Vienna reaches under the couch for more ammo.
"It's too soon." I grab more as well and fire at the second set of intruders. Are they the French or the Amoris?
"The plan's already gone to hell."
"Bently." We won't find him if we aren't the one's doing the pursuing.
"I'm sorry, Colton." She spends the rest of her ammo and changes out her cartridge. Nodding to Andrew, she grabs a second handgun from under the couch and stands. With one she fires at the trio near the front door and with the other shoots at Un and Deux at the back door, all while moving around the couch and toward the two of them.
As stunning as she looks right now, her hair tousled from our more . . . intimate . . . activities a few minutes prior, I'll be damned before I let her have all the fun. I grab a second gun and follow her.
With a kick she knocks the gun out of the hand of Un. Deux clutches their bleeding hand and tries to knee Vienna. She whirls around Deux and lands a kick in their back.
There's enough light that up close, I can see their eyes are purple.
Andrew and Basile follow in our wake, Andrew guarding Basile like he's the one who's royalty. Vienna darts out the back door that the Amoris left open, which settles it; they're horrible guests.
Basile's sedan is parked outside of the garage for easy access. That was part of the plan. Us retreating in it, wasn't.
Vienna nearly stumbles over Erik's body lying in the tall grass, and my heart stutters for a moment. She lets out a hiss and drops down next to him and does a quick scan of his body. There's no blood on him, but he's out cold.
She stands, not bothering to check for a pulse. He can't die. "Get him to the car." She checks our surroundings before closing the distance between herself and the car.
Yanking the door open, she drops into the driver's seat. I hear the engine sputter before dying. She twists the key with force, and the engine sputters three more times and then cuts off. Slamming her hands against the steering wheel, she swears.
I hoist Erik up and grimace. He's all dead weight.
Using a remote, Vienna opens the garage door from inside the sedan.
We're taking Erik's car with the shot-out windows. Amazing. While Vienna runs to it, I drag said cousin toward it.
Something sharp hits me in the neck like a pinch. I can't reach around to feel it because I'll drop Erik—not that he doesn't deserve it. I'm sure it's one of those darts. With Erik being knocked out, I have a good idea what those darts do.
I'm almost to the car when the poison hits. My head swarms, and my limbs feel weak, achy.
Erik slips from my grasp.
The engine purrs.
I drop to my knees. "Vienna!"
Arms snake under mine to lift me, but I'm too top heavy and slam into the grass, inches from the concrete.
Vienna's shoes and calves, hidden behind strands of grass, are all I can see of her. "Andrew!" she shouts.
I open my mouth to tell her to get back in the car and leave us, but nothing comes out, so I close my mouth and my eyes close with it.
Y'all, PKata01 did it! She made a drawing of Jonas taking a selfie with a monkey. I can't stop smiling at it. Thank you so much!