Page 72 of Shattered By the Currents

Was she not here? Ethan was never wrong.

One more knock, and the same string of nothing filled his ears.

Fuck this.

He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and took out a credit card. The card slipped easily into the narrow gap between the door and the frame, and he slid the card downward. When he met resistance from the bolt, he tilted the card slightly inward, hearing it scrape along the metal.

“Hey. You s’posed to be doing that?” one of the guys shouted from a few yards away.

“Lost my key.” The lock clicked out of place.

Gotcha.

He opened the door.

Silence thickened the air, darkness like a cloak over the room. He still clocked everything in sight though—bag on the table, unmade bed, closed bathroom door, but not one single person.

He closed the door and turned the lock. He’d just flicked the light on when the bathroom door opened and Raven stepped out, small pistol in hand, pointed right at his chest.

17

Aknock on the door had Raven shooting up in bed. She hadn’t been asleep, because every little creak and crack had her eyes flashing open.

Her heart raced, and for a second she didn’t move. Was it one of the guys two doors down? They’d knocked an hour ago before shouting through the door asking for a cigarette. She’d ignored them and eventually they’d gone away. But maybe they were back. Maybe they were high or drunk or would actually try to get in this time.

Or was it someone else? Was it Xander?

A second knock cut through the room, and this one had Raven scrambling out of bed. Quickly, she raced to her bag and rummaged through it for her pistol. Her fingers brushed over cold metal. She grabbed it and ran to the bathroom. The door had just shut behind her when the click of the front door opening sounded.

Shit.

She raised her gun, pulse thundering in her throat. It was fine. She was armed. She’d go out there, tell whoever it was to get the hell out, and she’d keep her gun trained until they left.

One. Two.

The light flicked on.

Three.

She stepped out.

Air rushed from her lungs. “Connor? What the hell are you doing in here?”

“You know what I’m doing here, Raven. You shouldn’t be out here alone.” His gaze flicked to the barrel of the gun.

Crap.

She lowered the pistol before setting it on the table. Questions filled her head, but so did an exhausted fog.

“I told you I was staying somewhere else.” She glanced down, not caring that she only wore a top and panties, no bra. “I would have called if I needed you.”

“I don’t believe that.”

Okay, maybe not. It would have to get really freaking bad for her to call, and even then, she would have hesitated.

She wrapped her arms around her waist. “You need to leave.”

“No.”