Vice (Tortured Heroes Book 1) (9 page)

D
evin

I got the last of the bartenders cashed out. Even with
The HolyRocks
, I knew receipts were going to break records tonight. One step closer, I told myself. I could pay off Uncle Cy’s loan and hopefully get his talons off the bar for good.

“Goodnight, Devin,” Leslie called out. “Tonight was great.”

I nodded as I kept up the mental count of bills as I reconciled the drawer. I made all those Hamiltons face the same direction then slid them into the zippered bank sleeve. “Hey, Les, is Kinney still in the back?”

She yawned and slid her purse over her shoulder. “I don’t think so. He asked Roy to do his count. I think he’s got a date yet tonight or something. You want me to call him?”

I let out a grumble and shook my head. “No. I’ll deal with him tomorrow.” Kinney could be a problem in that regard. Letting Roy close for him was not okay with me and he knew it. Luckily, everyone’s count was square. Leslie shut the main lights as she headed out the front door. Boomer went with her to make sure she got to her car okay. Well, I think it was mostly that. He also had a massive crush on her.

“We all set?” Roy said as he came from the back room.

“We are good, my friend. We are more than good. Thanks for everything. You guys were on fire tonight.”

“All right then. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He was halfway out the door before he turned and smacked his head. “Oh shit, Devin. I completely forgot. The CO2 needs to be switched. You want me to get it before I leave?”

I shook my head. “I’ll do it. I’ll forget if I wait until tomorrow. You go on and enjoy whatever’s left of your night.”

Roy laughed. “Who do you think I am? It’s one in the morning, Dev. I’m going to sleep.”

I raised a brow. “Sure you are, playuh. I’ll make sure to tell your mama that when she calls.”

Roy gave me a sheepish smile and a thumbs-up as he pushed his way out the front door. I closed out the drawer and went back to my office to put the drawer in the safe. I’d do the deposits first thing in the morning. I was about to grab my purse to head out when I remembered the CO2. Shit. It
could
wait until morning, but I was just OCD enough not to let it. Except with Roy gone, that was likely the last of the muscle.

“Dev?”

Jase’s deep voice made me freeze. We had a moment earlier. I hadn’t seen him since. The door to my office popped open and Jase stuck his head in. Those dark brown eyes of his glinted and a sultry smile lit his face.

“Uh. Hey. Thanks again, Jase. You really helped me out in a crunch.”

“Anytime, Devin. You should know that by now. All you have to do is ask.”

I was about to tell him goodnight, then I remembered. “Oh. Hey. Can I ask one last thing before you go? I want to switch out the lines downstairs before I leave or I’ll forget in the morning. I could use a little muscle. You got a minute?”

He gave me an odd look and for a second I thought he was going to say no.

“Oh. It’s okay. If you need to be someplace.”

Jase shook his head and smiled. “I’ve got time. Like I said, all you have to do is ask.”

I put my purse back on the desk and smoothed my hair where it had sprung free from my ponytail holder. I brushed past Jase as I walked through the door and every nerve in my body seemed to sizzle. I almost regretted asking him to stay. Almost.

I fumbled for the light switch leading down into the basement. Jase held the door for me then followed close behind. We made it halfway down the stairs before the door creaked behind us. My blood turned to ice. I turned on my heel and tried to push past Jase to get back up the stairs before the door slammed shut.

Too late.

“Oh fuck!” I said, sagging against the railing.

“What?” Jase stood two steps above me; the fluorescent light behind me flickered and buzzed.

I smacked my palm to my forehead. “The fucking latch is broken. Shit. I forgot to say something. We’ve been propping it open with a wedge at the top of the stairs.”

“Okay?” He turned and put his hand on the knob. It took him a beat before the situation fully dawned on him. By then, I’d sunk down and sat on the step. “Devin?”

“Please tell me you have your cell phone on you.”

Jase’s eyes widened. “Uh. No. It’s in my jacket hanging on a hook in the kitchen.”

I rested my head on my forearm. “God. I’m so sorry. Jase, we’re locked in.”

Color drained from his face. He started to mouth something. Before I could make it out, the fluorescent light flickered one last time, flashed bright, then blew out, pitching us in total darkness.

* * *

“
T
his is
not
happening
.” I planted my hands wide on the stair where I sat. Blinking hard, I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light. There was none. Just inky blackness as if we were at the bottom of a mine shaft, not the basement steps.

“Sit tight.” Jase’s voice boomed above me and the stairs creaked as he walked back up them. He pounded on the door loud enough to shake the staircase. I pressed my back against the cold cement wall. “Hey! You still up there, Floyd?”

I knew he wasn’t. Other than Jase, Roy had been the last one out the door. I heard metal scrape as Jase tried to force the latch and knew that was also no use.

“Jase, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he said, more to himself than to me. The stairs bounced as he bounded back down them. I put a hand up and stopped him before he stepped on me. My fingers closed around the hard muscles of his thigh. He felt solid and warm.

“You don’t have your phone on you either?”

“Nope. It’s in my purse up in my office.”

He slammed something, probably a fist against the railing hard, making me jump.

“What’s down here?”

I drew my knees up and rested my chin on them, hugging my legs tight. “Storage mostly. The wine cellar’s in the back. The windows aren’t even much help. There’s just the one and it’s glass block. Too small to crawl through even if we were able to break it.”

“Well then, I guess it’s back to trying to break the fucking door down. If I have to, I’ll take the thing off its hinges. Don’t suppose you have any tools down here?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. I couldn’t see him, but the air shifted and I knew Jase had squatted down a couple of steps above me. I felt his breath against my temple and it made me shiver. I had the urge to reach out and touch him again. I didn’t like the dark. Hated it, actually. And this was about as black as it got with no natural light coming through the dusty block window on the other side of the room.

Something brushed against my hand and I jumped, nearly falling off the step. Jase must have sensed it because he reached out and gripped my shoulder, his fingers spreading wide to feel what part of me he grabbed.

“Sorry. I felt something … uh … skitter. Oh gawd. Just what I need. I hate spiders, Jase.”

The minute I said it, icy fingers of panic crawled up my spine. I imagined dozens of pairs of beady eyes and spindly legs scuttling out from every darkened corner making their way toward us. Jase let out an infuriating chuckle at my neurotic distress. If I weren’t worried about pitching myself off the stairs and kissing concrete, I would have reached out and swatted him.

“Tools, Devin. Tools. Where do you keep them?”

“In the office,” I sighed, feeling defeated. The gravity of the situation settled over my shoulders. I could think of no good way of getting out of this basement until someone let us out.

“There’s
nothing
down here? Not even an ice pick?”

“God. No. We just don’t do much down here except store crap. I know, I know. It’s wasted space. My uncle’s been on me about that. One thing at a time though.”

“Dev, you’re rambling. Stay with me. I’m gonna try brute force. How about you make your way over to the window. There’s at least a chance someone can hear if you shout toward the alley.”

“Right.” It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was worth a shot. The only trouble was, feeling my way across the basement floor in the dark. I kept the floor mostly clear, but had boxes, old chairs, and piles of other shit inherited from previous building owners lining the walls.

I gingerly took steps down the remaining stairs and waved my hands in front of me. Eyes wide open, I just saw black with the hint of shadows. Behind me, Jase tried to bash the door in. I swear, the force of it seemed like it shook the building. If the door opened out, I think it might have worked. As it was though, all he managed to do was hurl a string of obscenities into the inky, dark air and jam his shoulder.

“Be careful!” I yelled out behind me. “Let’s not add a dislocated shoulder to the ingredients on this particular shit sandwich.”

“Fuck! Yeah. All right,” Jase grumbled after one more great thud that shook the walls. “That bitch isn’t gonna budge. Solid oak. I never thought I’d say this, but I have new appreciation for that shit particle board they make doors out of these days.”

“Right,” I said, fanning my hands out in front of me. I tripped over something metal, then made contact with the far wall. Just a faint ribbon of shadows above me let me know I’d found the tiny window. I knew we had an old, broken coat rack stacked against the wall nearby and I felt for it. I nearly pulled the thing down on myself before closing my fingers around the brass pole.

“Stay back there,” I called to Jase. My luck, I’d pick up the coat rack and brain him with it. I hoisted it up and tried to bash the window with the end of it. I got in one solid whack before the coat rack broke in half and the sand-filled base spun off the rod, hitting the floor with a clank.

“You okay?” Jase called out, his voice rising in concern.

“Yeah.” My boot filled with sand but the coat rack was the only casualty.

“Don’t move,” he said. “I’m heading toward you.”

Jase stepped off the stairs and came toward me with sure-footed steps that made me think he might be part cat, or bat, or whatever the hell kind of animal could see in the dark. The air shifted behind me and his strong hand reached out, resting gently on the small of my back. Goosebumps covered me as I turned to face him.

I couldn’t see his face, just the murky shadow of his solid form. I reached up, running my hands along his muscled chest until I rested them on his shoulders. My heart hammered a frantic pulse between my ears. We were close, intimate. And yet, this seemed safe somehow. I had to touch him to know he was there.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m sure there are a thousand places you’d rather be right now.”

He stiffened as if he were about to admit something. Then I felt his muscles ease. Jase let out a husky laugh that heated my blood. “This isn’t your fault.”

My turn to laugh. “Thanks for saying that, but it completely is. I should have stayed on Kinney’s ass to fix the damn door.”

Jase’s chest expanded beneath my fingertips as he took a deep breath. “Fine then. Remind me to kick Kinney’s ass next time I see him.”

“Fair enough. But what do you propose we do in the meantime?”

He reached out and slid his hand down until he cupped my elbow. He turned me toward what I believe was the direction of the stairs. “Well. Let’s assess the situation. That door isn’t budging until someone opens it from the other side. I can try to break the window but it’s too small to crawl out. And the light’s burned out.”

“Yeah. That pretty much covers the con side of the column.”

“On the plus side, maybe I can fix the light. Do you keep the bulbs down here?”

I smiled in the darkness. “There should be a box under the stairs. Unless somebody used the last one without telling me. I should be able to figure out which one it is. It’ll be long and slender.”

“Let’s try to work that problem.”

We shuffled toward the stairs. I ran my hand along the wood slats under the railing. The space beneath the stairs wasn’t tall enough for me to stand upright. I squealed twice as my hand passed through cobwebs or something worse.

“Sorry,” I said after the second scream made Jase jump. “I told you. I really hate spiders. And if you tell me they’re more afraid of me than I am of them, I’m going to treat you like the coat rack.”

He laughed. “Fair enough. Any luck?”

“Got it!” After shoving past a few other stacks of boxes, my fingers closed around a long, narrow box. I pulled it out and worked on opening one end. But the minute I lifted it, I knew we’d hit another dead end.

“Fuck!”

“You okay?”

“Yes. Dammit. The fucker’s empty. Will you remind me to fire the shit out of Kinney the next time I see him?”

“Sure. And you can remind me to
beat
the shit out of him.”

“I’ll help you.”

We stood in total darkness and silence for a breath. Then another. The weight of our situation settled over us at the same time. We were stuck down here. Probably for the rest of the night and probably in total darkness.

A tiny rush of air brushed my cheek and I jumped as Jase smashed something, likely his fist, against the stair railing. Dust and debris showered over my head and I jumped back in shock and disgust.