Fallen Read Online Free PDF

“I plan to make some noise, and this seems like the perfect place to do it.”
    He looks even more pained, clenching my chest tighter and holding me against him. I have to sync my steps with his to avoid a junkie passed out on the floor and the hulk who’s bent over him, picking his pockets. A guy who could be security or might just be another patron pulls the pick-pocket up by his hair. They go down in a tumble of sweaty, muscle-bound arms that could be fighting. Or foreplay. It’s hard to tell.
    “Didn’t you get enough last night?” Valac says in my ear. “That’s what your sex worker was for.”
    “What can I say? I’m insatiable.”
    Valac shakes his head, but my heart is pounding with the possibility. If Valac gives Ophelia and I even a minute of privacy—for whatever reason—we’ll have a chance to make a plan. And the chaos of the club is the perfect place to escape into. Together. We would only need a moment, a distraction, and a little luck—
    “We’ll see,” Valac says. “Maybe. If the client hasn’t gotten here yet.”
    I grin. My heart beats double the time of the slow-pounding music. We make it across the club to a set of transparent stairs held to the wall with electric-blue rails. Valac unlatches from me, and we follow Nico, Two-Pints, and Ophelia up. At the top is a small office with what looks like a bedroom down a hallway in back. The noise steps down to a tolerable level once the door is closed, but the vibration still thumps through my body in a way that makes me slightly nauseous. Or possibly it’s the idea that this could be our chance, if only we can make it work. Ophelia gives me a look like she’s waiting for me to say or do something.
    I don’t see anyone else in the room. “Looks like your client is late.”
    Valac glances at his palm. “They’ll be here.” He strides down the skinny hall: there’s a bathroom at the end, and the door to the bedroom is open. Valac pokes his head inside, inspecting it, then gestures to me and tilts his head to the bedroom. I can hardly believe it. I grab Ophelia’s hand and drag her down the hall.
    I sweep my hand dramatically for Ophelia to go first, giving her a sex-filled grin for Valac’s sake. She plays along and floats into the room.
    “You might be all right, after all, Valac. Give us ten minutes.” I slip in after Ophelia and start to close the door.
    Valac’s hand stops it before it shuts. “Five minutes, maybe less. When they get here, the fun’s over.”
    “Deal.”
    Valac lets me close the door the rest of the way. I’m kind of stunned that he’s allowing this, but there’s no time to question it. Ophelia’s already checking the room for escape routes, but Valac’s not that stupid. There are no windows or doors, just a lumpy mattress propped up on a decaying wooden frame and a dresser with more bare wood than paint.
    “What’s your plan for our getaway, baby?” she says, and in that instant, I think I might actually love her.
    I step away from the door to make sure Valac can’t overhear and take both of her hands in mine. “We can do this. Valac’s off his game tonight. I don’t know why, but I think the whole incident with the boy unsettled him. If we make a break for it, he’ll never see it coming.”
    She peers up at me with those dark, deep eyes. “There are still two of them with guns. And Valac’s more powerful than me now. But… maybe not more powerful than both of us together.” She arches one eyebrow.
    Definitely in love with her.
    I hold her cheek with one hand and kiss her gently. “I love it when you talk like that.”
    She frowns and shakes her head. “It’s still risky.”
    “We’ll wait until after the payout, on the way out, through the bar.”
    “Nico will shoot straight through a roomful of junkies to get to you, Lirium,” she says, her voice grave. “Don’t forget that.”
    “Then we’ll have to take Nico first.”
    She nods. “I can stick close to him.” She looks at her