“What’s the hurry? The driver isn’t here….”
When she would have gone toward the kitchen to make them drinks, Stump caught her hand, jerking her toward the door. “Slow down.” Bending down, he grabbed her shoes, giving them to her. “Put them on,” he muttered in a low voice, looking toward the bedroom. “Hurry.”
Becoming frightened at his expression, she grabbed his arm as she slipped her shoes on while he quietly opened the front door. As soon as her shoes were on, he jerked her out into the night, placing a shushing finger over his lips.
Instead of heading to his motorcycle, he turned toward her neighbor’s yard. Staying silent, she meekly followed beside him, trying to keep up.
At Kent’s door, Stump knocked loudly, banging his fist on the door.
“Stump, what’s going on?” Trembling, she tried not to become terrified at the expression on his face.
“Someone was in your closet.”
“Wha—”
He smothered her loud yell with his hand over her mouth as Kent opened his door.
“Give me one of your guns,” Stump ordered him, pushing her through the door.
Expecting Kent to be afraid and shocked at the demand, he instead went to a shelf along a wall, pressing a finger to the top corner. The self-spring opened, showing two guns. Giving one to Stump, he took the other one for himself.
“Call Ice,” Stump said, turning back to go outside.
“Call the police first!” Zoey again tried not to become too hysterical, but the thought of someone being in her bedroom was freaking her out.
Trying to catch Stump when she realized his intention to go back to her house, she reached out, wanting to stop him. “Wait for the police!”
“Go ahead,” Kent told Stump. “I’ve got a lock-down room I can put her in. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Stay with Zoey and call Ice.”
Kent picked her up around the waist when she tried to stop him again.
“Stump knows what he’s doing. You’ll get him hurt worrying over you.”
Zoey didn’t have time to be amazed at the expensive furnishings of Kent’s home as he carried her through the living room, taking her into a room off to the side of the kitchen. In her home, it was a small pantry, but in Kent’s home, it was an office with a large desk and bookshelves skirting around leather armchairs and a coffee table.
He slid one of the bookshelves to the side, exposing a room within. Motioning her to go inside, he took out his cell phone.
“Ice, Stump needs you at Zoey’s house quick. He needs backup.”
“You have Ice on speed dial?” She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling as if she was Alice and had fallen down a rabbit hole as she stared at the weapons spread across a table along one wall and the other equipment that she had no clue what they could be or their use.
“Zoey, I’m going to lock you in. No one can get inside but me. I want to—”
“Go. I would rather you help him than stay with me.”
Kent stepped out of the room, snapping it shut behind him.
Zoey stared at the door, realizing it was made out of steel and she was trapped inside. Taking a shaky breath, she nervously took a seat on a chair. There was another chair and a small bed along the other wall. There was also a table that had bottled waters and a coffee pot. Kent seemed prepared for any disaster that could strike Queen City.
She was amazed the seeming yuppie wasn’t what he had been portraying himself to be when he was around her. Instead, he was a man who kept a gun within reach when he answered his door.
That sent goosebumps down her spine. If anyone told her that Kent had a gun, much less a whole room filled with them, she would have laughed in their face.
Each minute that slowly ticked by had fear climbing higher, petrified that Stump would be hurt by the person who had been hiding in her closet.
She buried her face in her hands as she tried to figure out how he had known someone was in there. Then she raised her head when Kent opened the door.
“You can come out, Zoey.”
Kent’s grim expression didn’t reassure her, but seeing Stump standing behind him did.
She rushed toward him. “Are you okay? Did you find who was in the closet?” Throwing herself into his waiting arms, she didn’t feel safe until they closed around her.
“I’m fine. Whoever it was, was gone when I got back to the house.” Releasing her, he led her into Kent’s living room.
“Creed didn’t see anyone—”
“Who’s Creed?” Zoey looked at Stump then Kent as she asked, thinking it was a police officer or another member of Ice’s club.
She was surprised when Stump raised a brow at Kent.
“I am.”
Zoey stared at Kent wonderingly. “You’re Creed? But your name is Kent—”