50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Thirty-Five

    This skinny, narcoleptic college dork is one of Palmer's contacts? Brian saw red as he stared at Jeremiah. Destiny is knocked out cold. He hurt her. He was going to take her. Who knows what he was about to do to her? I may have never heard from her again. "You were planning on kidnapping Destiny?"

    "She and I had some things to discuss," Jeremiah said. The creepy grin hadn't left his face yet.

    "Do you know how long I've been gone?" Brian asked him.

    "About half an hour, give or take," Jeremiah responded readily.

    "And you're still here? You couldn't snatch a girl and make it out of here in a half an hour?" Brian thumbed his nose. "That's a bit sloppy, isn't it?" The elevator doors started to close and Brian slid his foot in between them. The doors bounced against his foot and slid open again.

    Jeremiah stared at him. "I admit, it was a bit sloppy." He turned his head and looked down at Destiny. "But when you have this little fine thing in front of you, pushing up against you, it's hard to look away from her and focus on anything else." He lifted his eyes and gave a meaningful look to Brian. "Am I right?"

    Brian didn't pause to think. He reacted. One minute he was standing outside of the elevator, as still as a statue. The next minute, his arm shot out and he was grabbing Jeremiah by the collar of his flannel button-down shirt. Yanking him out of the elevator and throwing him to the floor.

    The dark-haired intern landed hard on his ass. He chuckled and ran a hand over his hair. "Really? You're going to fight me?"

    "Seeing as I don't have a gun to blow your brains out, yes," Brian told him.

    "If you had a gun, do you think you'd be able to pull the trigger?"

    Brian glared at him, his blue eyes frosty. He leaned down until his nose was mere inches away from Jeremiah's. "This isn't a question and answer session."

    "Right. This is when my ass is handed to me. Right?"

    The corny jokes. The smirk. The fact that he'd attempted to kidnap Destiny and had almost gotten away with it...Brian just snapped. He grabbed Jeremiah by the collar and punched him square in the nose. He was so hyped up on anger and adrenaline that the pain barely registered to his knuckles. So intent was he on bringing this twerp down that he barely heard the chiming sound behind him.

    Jeremiah lifted a hand and gingerly touched his nose. "You know...you can punch me all you want...but that isn't going to change the fact that Destiny won't ever love you. She won't ever lay a hand on you, much less fuck you."

    How does he know? How does he know how I feel about Destiny?

    Jeremiah searched his eyes. "Oh, you'd be surprised at everything I know."

    Now it was Brian's turn to laugh.

    Jeremiah's smile faltered, then disappeared altogether. "What's so funny?"

    Brian leaned close to him again. "The fact that you think taunting me with information is going to make me want to keep you alive," he said, his voice dropping down several octaves deeper than usual. "You hurt Destiny. You attempted to take her away from me."

    "I hate to break it to you, but she was never yours to be taken from," Jeremiah said softly. He turned his head and his eyes widened. "Oh my God...Destiny."

    Brian turned his head towards the elevator. The doors had closed at some point and she was nowhere in sight. Before he could turn back to look at Jeremiah, he felt a hard blow to the side of his face. A cluster of stars exploded behind his eyes.

    He could hear Jeremiah chuckling shortly before saying, "Made you look." Jeremiah took advantage of Brian's temporary shock and landed several more punches. Instead of getting up and trying to get away like a sane person would, Jeremiah remained on the floor, staring up at Brian. Studying him. Or, maybe he was studying his own work, the broken skin he'd created with his own fists.

    Brian's ears were ringing and his vision was hazy. Even as he struggled to steady himself, he could feel himself falling to his knees. You can't lose to this beanpole. You can't allow him to overpower you. If he does, he will take Destiny and he will hurt her. He will hurt her, and it will be your fault because you shouldn't have ever left her. He couldn't let that happen. His fingers tingled as he curled them into fists. He drew one fist back and launched it into Jeremiah's face.

    Blood spurted from the kid's nose and his head was knocked back from the blow.

    Brian stood up and drew an arm across his mouth. "Made you bleed," he muttered.

~~~~~~

    Destiny groaned and opened her eyes. She was lying on very thin carpeting. The thin carpeting covered the flooring of a very small, cramped space. With a frown, she sat up and instantly regretted it. Her head was pounding. She touched a hand to her brow, and dampness coated her fingers. Pulling her hand away from her head, she gasped sat the sight of dark red blood on her fingertips. "What...?" She raised her eyes and saw the elevator keypad. It looked familiar.

    Graham Enterprises. I'm at Graham Enterprises. I was...I was working, and then Jeremiah... Fear gripped her. Jeremiah. He was coming onto me, and being creepy. She glanced around the elevator. If he took me, then why I am alone right now?

    She heard grunting and thuds outside of the elevator doors. After taking a deep breath, she grabbed onto the railing mounted to the elevator wall and pulled herself to her feet. The elevator wasn't moving; it was still. And outside of these doors, something was happening. Jeremiah was most likely out there, and knowing that frightened her. At the same time, it sounded like Jeremiah wasn't alone out there. Whoever was out there with him could be trying to protect her. It could be Brian. Whoever it was could use her help.

    Swallowing her fear, she pressed the DOORS OPEN button and stepped out of the elevator. A splatter of blood was sprinkled on the marble floor of the lobby, but Jeremiah wasn't anywhere in sight. There was the telltale sound of splashing water, though. Clasping her hands together, she followed the trail of blood drops and stopped in her tracks.

    Several yards ahead of her, Brian was holding Jeremiah by the hair. He was holding Jeremiah's head beneath the water in the lobby fountain.