Poison Ivy Ch. 07

No. He deserved more than that. He deserved to suffer. "I'll be back for you, you fucking prick." she promised. Hesitating for just a second, she ran back, lifted her foot, and drop kicked him.

Hard.

Twice.

In the balls.

She took a deep breath in and blew it out from between pursed lips, walked back to the door, made a fist and pounded twice.

The bolt unlocked. Ivy aimed the barrel as it swung open. Now or never.

A face came into view, glancing up at her before looking down at the gun in her hands and then back up. Kentucky. She kept her gun raised, just in case he was considering double crossing her again. He didn't seem to take offense. He nodded once and moved into the open doorway, glancing behind him to make sure nobody was paying attention. "Do you trust me?" he asked quietly.

"Absolutely fucking not," she snarled. He grinned, and she felt like she had been punched in the gut. There was so much of her old friend in that smile, it was easy to humor the thought that he had been telling the truth, that he really did regret his actions and really was trying to redeem himself.

"Unfortunately, Poison, you don't have a choice right now." He spared another glance behind him. "There's about fourteen guards in the hallway at the moment, and all of them are armed. You'd have no chance of getting out of here by yourself. I can get you as far as the rec room by the back entrance, but we have to make it look like you're coming with me willingly, without a gun pointed at my head. I'll give you my key card. When you get out the back door, run to the tree line and hide. I'll meet you out there with a cell phone and some cash, and then you're on your own." He fell silent, waiting for her to make a move.

She narrowed her eyes at him. She was taking a risk, but he was right. Fourteen against one wouldn't work, even with a gun. And what else could she do? Hang out until the Mav gained consciousness and then ask him politely to let her go? This was her best chance of getting out of here, and she wasn't about to back down just because Kentucky had been a dick in the past.

"Okay," she relented, reluctantly lowering Maverick's gun. "But if you fuck me over again, Kentucky, I swear to fucking God, I will shoot you in the face before I go down." He grinned again and nodded. "Deal."

Ivy tucked the gun into the back of the ugly scrubs (which was a rookie move, but she couldn't exactly shove it up her asshole, so whatever), and moved toward the open door, stepping out into the hallway as Kentucky grabbed her upper arm and pulled her against his side. Together, they walked down the hall, Kentucky nodding at the other guards as they walked by.

They were about halfway there, still several yards away from a door marked "Recreation," when they heard a sudden commotion behind them. "STOP THEM!" a voice bellowed. Ivy spun around, twisting out of Kentucky's grasp, to see Maverick stumble out into the hallway, his face beet red with unabashed fury. "STOP THOSE TWO, NOW!" he roared again. Several guards turned their way, drawing their weapons and moving toward them.

Kentucky grabbed her forearm and yanked her behind him, pulling his own gun from his side and aiming it down the hall at Maverick and the approaching Betas. "Run, Ivy! GO!" he grunted, thrusting a lanyard with a small plastic card into her hands. Ivy hesitated for a fraction of a second, suddenly unwilling to leave him alone. Her pulse raced as she looked over her shoulder at the exit door and then back to Kentucky. "Thank you," she whispered.

And then she ran.

She reached the end of the hall and swiped Kentucky's card through the reader. There was a click, and the red light turned green. "IVY!" Maverick screamed from behind her. "GET THE FUCK BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

Ahh, there it was. She was glad he got that out of his system. Must've been killing him.

She yanked at the handle and slipped out, sparing a quick look back. Maverick had a gun trained on Kentucky, along with the rest of the guards who had surrounded him in the wide hall. She swallowed hard and turned, starting for the tree line.

A gunshot rang out behind her. She froze, looking over her shoulder just before the door shut.

Kentucky was on the floor, gazing up at her with lifeless eyes, a bullet lodged between them. She whimpered, which was pretty much the most pathetic sound she'd ever made. She spun around and started sprinting toward the trees beyond. With her friend dead and a bunch of brainwashed assholes hunting her, she had to get as far away as fast as she could.

A heavy weight barreled into her from the side and she was scooped up into a set of massive arms. A hand closed over her mouth, muffling her scream as she thrashed and kicked at whoever had caught her. She did not just watch Kentucky die for a second time just to be dragged right back into that hell! She somehow managed to wrestle one of her arms free and elbowed him in the gut. Which, naturally, did nothing.

Fucking Alphas.

"Easy, there, easy. I'm a friend," a deep voice growled, his words just barely recognizable as words. "I'm gonna take you to Hunter now, okay? We'll do introductions later."

She stilled at the sound of Hunter's name. Relief washed through her like a tonic.

He was here. He was going to take her away. And he had brought friends! Her muscles relaxed, and she nodded. The growly giant released her and grabbed her hand, leading her around to the front of the building. The muted sound of gunshots echoed from behind the brick walls of the facility. What the hell was going on in there? Her stomach churned at the thought of Kentucky's dead eyes, the clear amber of his irises dulled to a defunct brown. Maverick's beet red face, screaming at her to get back there. Pssh, yeah, like that was going to work.

Her mind was flitting from one disjointed thought to another, faster than she could keep up with them. Growly released her hand and ushered her in front of him, putting himself between her and the sounds of gunshots until they were far enough away to be cloaked in darkness.

And then a large figure emerged from the building and charged toward them, and she stopped breathing.

Hunter.

He didn't stop when he reached her. He scooped her up like she weighed nothing and kept walking until her back hit the rough bark of a tree, the gun still in her scrubs digging into her tailbone. She wrapped her legs around his waist as his body pressed hard against hers, pinning her in place. He cupped her cheeks with both hands, his thumbs swiping away the tears that had inexplicably started falling as those wild storm-cloud eyes bore into hers. "Ivy," he breathed. "My little poison. Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, stifling the sob that was trying to wrench itself from her chest. "You came for me," she whispered, her voice shaking.

"I will always come for you." His hands snaked around her head, his fingers threading through her hair as he pressed his forehead to hers. "Do you understand me? There is nowhere you can go that I won't find you, nothing I won't do to get to you. Always, Ivy." His mouth crashed into hers, and then he was kissing her like he wanted to swallow her whole. Possessively, crazily. There was nothing gentle about the way his tongue demanded entrance, or the way his teeth scraped and bit her lower lip, or the way his hands fisted in her hair, clinging to her like she was disappearing in his arms. She didn't want gentle. She found herself returning his frantic affection, suddenly needing to be conquered as much as he needed to conquer. He was reclaiming her, proving to both of them that she was his, that she would always belong to him.

And for once, she didn't hate him for it.

For once, for now, she fucking loved him for it.