Zach jumped out of the air vent he had been crawling through for the past minute or so. Right when he got into the mansion after parking the Lamborghini, Grant had come up to him and told him that there was a whole group of spies/guards working with Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The guards were going to be guarding the upper-floor hallways, where Cammie and Bex were supposed to be. So Grant and Zach had split up in search of the girls, to warn them.
When Zach was wandering the hallways, however, he accidentally came upon a group of ten guards. He ran off, and the group split into two groups of five. One group was still barely keeping up with him when he ran into a room and climbed into the air vent.
He brushed off the dust from his tuxedo and looks up at the dark air vent. Zach's spy-hearing could hear them clunking their way through the metal vents, but it would be about a minute before they made it all the way through. Zach glances around the room; the only exit was a thick wooden door.
He wiggles the doorknob, but it was locked from the inside, which was weird. He flicks the lock to unlock it, and when he steps into the hallway, he nearly collides with Cammie. Zach's hand whips out and grabs her wrist in surprise. Her big eyes widen, also in surprise, and Zach is just tempted to run away. But he can already hear the guards coming from down the hallway.
"That's a dead end," Zach informs her, nodding his head towards the room he came from, "Except for the way I came, but there are already guys coming from that way too."
"What are we going to do?" Cammie whispers. A shiver shoots up Zach's spine, but he shakes it off. He glances out the window behind him, and back at the corner of the hallway where the guards would soon be coming.
"Do you trust me?" he asks. A flicker of confusion flashes across Cammie's hazel eyes, but she nods despite that fact.
The guards dash around the corner. Zach's eyes flash to their belts, where their hands were reaching for their guns. For the first time, Zach notices the blue CD case in Cammie's hands, and he smirks out of pride.
But as the guards run closer, Zach tackles Cammie. He hugs her head to his chest with one hand, but holds her body to his with the other. They crash into the window, and luckily Cammie's head was guarded by Zach's hand, because glass shards exploded everywhere. As they fly out the window and into the crisp night air, Zach looks down. Everything seems to be going in slow-motion. The dark green lawn passes below them, and the glowing white tent appears.
A gun goes off, and Zach hugs Cammie closer to him. In his peripheral vision, he sees a bullet whiz by and clip the CD case, knocking it out of Cammie's hand. It tumbles to the ground, and the tent slowly starts rushing up from the ground.
Zach flips around in the air so he was the one falling first, and Cammie was free-falling just above him. He loosens his hold on her so he was just barely holding her by the waist. Zach looks up in the window, where the guards were gaping at them from the broken window.
They finally make contact with the tarp roof of the tent. Zach's body sinks into the roof, and Cammie crashes on top of him. The elasticity of the tarp bounces them up then back down a few times. "The disk!" Cammie exclaims, climbing out of Zach's lap and sliding off the roof of the tent. She lands agilely on the ground and jogs over to the CD case on the ground.
Zach hops off the tent and meets her in the middle of the yard. By then, people were streaming out of the tent and looking at the night sky in wonder. A few of them look at Zach and Cammie in suspicion, but Cammie slips the disk into Zach's hands behind her back to hide them from the crowd. "A seagull just dive-bombed onto the tent," Cammie exclaims, pointing to the clear night sky, "But don't worry, it flew off."
The crowd slowly disperses, people mumbling about how the mansion shouldn't be so close to the ocean and how seagulls are such stupid birds. "Come on," Zach says, leading her across the yard towards the parking lot.
"Liz? Bex?" Cammie tries, slightly tapping her comms unit with her finger. "Anybody there?"
A burst of static causes her to flinch, but then Bex replies, "Cammie! Finally! I've been getting all these bad signals, but now it's working. Where are you?"
"Zach and I are on the way to the car. We have the disk. Where are you?" Cammie replies.
"Grant was searching the hallways and he found me with the guards. We fought them off, and we left the party right away. We're at Grant's apartment now with Jonas, Liz, and Mrs. Hemlock," Bex explains.
"Okay, we'll be there soon," Cammie says, flipping off her comms unit, which had started screeching static again.
Zach and Cammie climb into their seats and Zach starts the car, gunning the gas and backing up at thirty miles an hour out of their parking space. He spins the wheel, causing the tires to let out a screech in protest as the car whips around. Cammie slams into the car door and quickly fumbles to buckle her seatbelt. "What the hell are you doing?!" she demands. Zach switches from reverse to drive and rockets down the winding road that leads away from the mansion.
"I don't think we'll be able to go to their apartment tonight," Zach replies, tapping the glowing time on the dashboard and glancing into the rearview mirror. It was 11:14p.m. Cammie twists around in her seat to see two guards with black shiny helmets on motorcycles following after them. She collapses against her seat.
"Great," she groans.
"I can lose them fast," Zach says confidently. He turns a sharp corner, with the motorcyclists fast on his tail. The farther he drives, Cammie begins noticing he's headed in the opposite direction from Grant's apartment and their room at the Four Seasons. But she keeps her mouth shut. For a few minutes, he keeps driving faster and faster down a deserted road. "So…," he says.
"So what?"
"…We got a small bump coming up," Zach explains. Suddenly, he spins the wheel so hard that the car turns off the road into a really wide alley, probably where a fair or farmer's market is hosted annually. But then, it was perfectly empty except for a few tipped-over trashcans.
"That wasn't a bu--," Cammie begins, but cuts off mid-sentence as the headlights light up a staircase in front of them. Zach makes the car go faster, and Cammie gasps, clinging to the armrests.
The car zooms off the road, and Cammie's is lifted about an inch off her seat as the car begins falling. With the tires not on the concrete, a loud whirring sound was heard as they spun without any traction. She clenches her teeth and screams at the same time, resulting in an awkward squealing sound. Luckily, the stairwell was short, and the car lands on solid concrete.
As they land, the car rattles, and everything inside the car shakes. Cammie whacks the door with her right shoulder then hits her other shoulder on Zach's shoulder. The tires, now with traction, propel the car away from the stairs.
Cammie turns around to see the motorcyclists halted at the top of the stares, glaring down at them. "We actually outran them!" she exclaims. Zach just smirks and begins driving back to Four Seasons. "So… tell me why we're not staying at Grant's apartment to interrogate Mrs. Hemlock with the others?"
"For one, they should be giving Mrs. Hemlock a break sometime so they don't exhaust her and they can't get any other information from her. Two, there are no extra beds for Mrs. Hemlock, Grant, Bex, Liz, and Jonas. And I really don't want to have to sleep on the floor," Zach explains.
The Lamborghini pulls into a parking space at the Four Seasons and they both step out. They walk into the hotel, across the lobby, and into the elevator. Surprisingly, they were the only guests in the elevator. Zach presses the button for the floor they were staying on, and it slowly rises up.
Cammie holds her breath in the silence and stares at the elevator doors, silently begging them to open up soon. "I'm sorry about what I said… before the party," Zach blurts. Cammie's head whips over to him at the sudden noise. She awkwardly nods and her gaze wavers to the floor again.
"I really do love you, and it's okay if you don't love me back. But I just wanted you to know."
Cammie nods again, feeling like a useless bobble-head. "I know," she answers. She looks up at him as the elevator shakes to a stop. "And… I think I love you too."
"Love is three-quarters curiosity."
- Giacomo Casanova
A smile, not a smirk, breaks out over Zach's face as he asks, "Really?" When Cammie nods, he puts his hand on her back and pulls her towards him. Before she knows what's happening, she's flipped upside down with his hands still on her back. He kisses her upside-down, Hollywood movie style.
Suddenly, Cammie somehow hears several high-pitched whistles cheering them on, even through the blood pounding in her ears. Zach lifts her back up, and her world spins around her. Cammie leans against him to keep her balance, and once the spots disappear, she sees the elevator doors already open and a small group of teenage guys smirking at them from the hallway.
Cammie walks out of the elevator with Zach right behind her. She holds her hand out for Zach's room card, since she left hers in her closet. He hands it over and she unlocks the door. Zach gently pushes her into the hotel room, with his hands on her waist. The heavy door slams shut behind them, and Zach leans against it. He spins Cammie around and pulls her towards him.
They start kissing, and Cammie lets out an involuntary moan. Seriously, she had no idea where it even came from. But it caused Zach to chuckle, and he started kissing her with more passion, like he's been waiting his whole life for this. For her. But when Zach playfully bites her bottom lip, Cammie pulls away.
"I'm sorry," Zach immediately blurts. "I shouldn't have done that."
"No! No, you're good," Cammie says. She tucks her hair behind her ear with a small chuckle and continues, "You're definitely good. But the guys who kidnapped me? They may still be here."
Zach catches his breath and looks at her with such a burning intensity in his eyes that it makes Cammie squirm. "I'll search the living room and bathroom," he offers, brushing past her to the living room. Cammie turns to search the bedroom and closet, the last two remaining rooms of the suite.
She looks under the bed, behind furniture, out the windows, and behind the clothing racks in the closet. She unstraps her high heels and kicks them into the corner of the closet once all is clear. Cammie leaves the closet and walks to the arch-doorway that separated the bedroom and living room, to check on if Zach had found anything. But right as she gets to the doorway, Zach practically runs into her. He puts his hands on her arms to stable her from the collision.
"It's all clear," Cammie reports, turning around and scanning the bedroom behind them. Though they hadn't officially slept in the room yet, everything had already been messed up from several searches. When she turns around to face him again, Zach's lips land on hers. They waste no time resuming what they were doing previously in the elevator… and more.
Zach backs her up, not breaking the kiss, and they stumble across the room until they crash into the wall next to the bed. Cammie's hands run through his dark hair and his hands glide down her back. His hands finally land on her butt, and her lifts her up. Still not breaking the kiss, Cammie wraps her legs around his hips and he carries her to the bed.
Zach leans over the bed until Cammie's back makes contact with the mattress. He crouches over her, planting kisses from just below her collarbone all the way to her jaw while Cammie catches her breath. Cammie wraps her arms around Zach's neck and pulls him onto the bed, next to her. She rolls over so now she's laying on his chest.
His fingers fumble for the zipper on her side, and he unzips it all the way down to her hipbones. The opening in the side of her dress sent a rush of chilly air onto her skin that made her let out a shallow gasp. Zach's hand slips into her dress, onto her lower back. Cammie, meanwhile, fumbles with undoing Zach's tie. He reaches up and takes over, untying the tie for her and flinging it across the room.
Cammie unbuttons his tuxedo jacket and Zach sits up to shrug himself out of it. Cammie shifts herself so she was sitting in his lap. She kicks the jacket off the bed and cups his cheeks in her hands, pulling him in to she could plant several kisses along his jaw. Zach unbuttons his white cotton shirt and takes that off, too, leaving him completely shirtless. He lays back down on the bed and Cammie lays on the bed next to him.
She wiggles out the dress and tosses the expensive fabric onto the floor. Cammie was left in her black strapless bra and black lacy panties. Both of their eyes travel up and down each other's bodies, taking in every square inch. Zach reaches for Cammie and pulls her close to him. He crouches over her, with his arms under her shoulders and his fingers intertwined with her hair.
She runs her fingers down Zach's smooth chest and across his tight six-pack abs. "Careful of my head," Cammie purrs into Zach's ear, whose hands were traveling dangerously close to the painful bump on her head that she got when she was knocked unconscious by her kidnappers.
"Fuck," Zach hisses, rolling off of her and walking across the room. He runs his hands through his hair then exasperatedly drops his arms to his sides.
"No! Where are you going?" Cammie protests, sitting straight up in the bed. She pulls a bed sheet across her lap, since the sudden disappearance of Zach's body heat on her bare skin left her with chills.
"Christ, Cammie. You were just kidnapped, what, a few hours ago?" Zach scowls. He starts pacing the room, and Cammie can't take her eyes off him. His muscles rippled underneath his skin whenever he moved.
"Yeah, but that was hours ago," she points out.
"You're emotionally unstable. I don't want to be an asshole and take advantage of that," Zach explains. But Cammie just scoffs. "Listen, this isn't any easier for me, seeing you like this." He motions to Cammie, only in her lingerie. "You need rest tonight anyway. And if I continue, rest will be the last thing you'll be getting."
Zach scans the ground, which was littered with shed clothes. He picks up the white cotton long-sleeve shirt he had been wearing under his tuxedo jacket and tosses it to Cammie. "Put that on," he tells her. His shirt would probably cover much more skin than one of her pajama tops, and the more skin was covered, the more control he had to not just jump onto the bed and rip all her clothes off.
"You know, in the morning I'll probably be grateful you were such a gentleman tonight," Cammie admits, putting her arms through the sleeves and buttoning up the white buttons. The sleeves ended a few inches beyond her hand. Zach came over and rolled up the sleeves a few times to shorten them up.
"But now?"
"Right now my feelings toward you are a lot less pleasant," Cammie says with a smirk of her own. Zach chuckles and walks around to the other side of the bed to unbuckle his belt. He tosses the belt on the chair and steps out of his black dress pants.
When Zach pulls back the bed sheets to climb in, though, Cammie stops him. "What do you think you're doing? I have to wear this massive shirt to bed, and you think you can just go to bed in your boxers and socks, and that's it? Go put something on," Cammie orders.
Zach smirks and finds a white tank top on the ground, then slips that over his head. "Better?" he asks.
"It'll do," Cammie replies. His abs were her main weakness, and even though the muscles were still tight against the tank top, they were at least partially hidden. Zach climbs into bed and tosses the covers over himself. Cammie burrows under the covers and plops her head on the pillow.
Zach reaches for the lamp on the bed-table beside him, and snaps off the light. "Goodnight, Cammie," he tells her.
Cammie scoots over and puts her head on Zach's shoulder. A shiver goes up Zach's spine as her hair fans across his bare shoulder and tickles his skin. "Night, Zach," she breathes in his ear.
"When love is in the way, as a general rule,
men and women constantly dupe each other."
- Giacomo Casanova
(Author's Note: So, I made a long chapter to hopefully make up for not writing in a while. I hope you guys liked this chapter, since I really liked writing it. Lol. OMG, and you guys will NOT believe the book I'm about to tell you about. It's called
Something About You by Julie James, and it's about a lawyer and an FBI agent falling in love. The lawyer is named Cameron, and the FBI agent is named Jack, which rhymes with Zach. Coincidence, much? I read the whole book in one day, it was so good. The summary is that Cameron witnesses a murder and Jack is the one who comes to interview her. Soon he has to start spending all his time with her to protect her from the murderer, who wants to kill her for witnessing his crime. It's soooo good! Everybody go and read it. It's an amazing book.)