My Funny Valyntine: Book One - The Pull

Chapter Twenty-Seven - At Last

i.

Latin pulls Valyntine close, forcing her into a ducking position to shield her while guiding her back into the penthouse. The glass crunches beneath their feet as he places her on the other side of the wall before diving into the kitchen, throwing open the breaker box and killing power to the entire apartment. Valyntine, rooted to her spot on the wall, shakes with fear. Her wet hair, just moments ago part of Latin's flirtation, now feels cold and uncomfortable against her face. She lets out a muffled, half-scream as he grabs her forearm.

"Valyntine," he says, low and urgent, getting her attention.

"Hm?" she forces out through pursed lips, her gaze transfixed on the dumbwaiter door and the black, smoking hole in the upper left corner.

"Bedroom, get dressed. Grab the bone and the key. Be quick," Latin gives the instructions in a calm, steady voice while still impressing upon her the need for brevity.

Tearing her gaze away from the gaping hole, Valyntine finds his brown eyes and nods. She tries to move away from the wall but can't lift her feet.

"He can't see with the lights out," Latin says to her, nodding his reassurance. "And all the other curtains are drawn. Now go! The bone and the key! Go!"

Valyntine sprints from her hiding spot. Dressing in the darkness, she considers what Latin had said: 'He can't see with the lights out.' She assumes they have each guessed at the identity of the one responsible for the gunshot.

After dressing, Valyntine feels her way to the nightstand on what she now considers her side of the bed. Opening the drawer, she finds the sliver of bone Taboo gave her and the key to the secret lift Latin pressed into her hand the night of their escape from The Robin's Nest. She pushes the nightstand drawer closed a little too hard and hears an odd thunk within. Valyntine's memory shows her what she almost left behind. Opening the drawer again, slower and with something akin to reverence, she removes the dented and scratched timepiece. It's the same timepiece Tunisia held so tightly in her hand the night she died, the night when a roil of thunder preceded the bullet.

Though Valyntine can't rationalize her thinking, she feels Latin would not approve of her keeping the timepiece. Perhaps because it belonged to Taboo, whom she suspects Latin blames for Tunisia's decision to leave the Nest. Or, maybe she thinks he might not like it because Tunisia kept the pocket watch as a token of her lover's affections. Whatever the real reason, Valyntine decides against telling Latin. She slides the timepiece into her jacket, and then places the bone and the key into the front pockets of her trousers.

Staying low, she hurries back down the hall calling out Latin's name in a hushed voice.

"Trash chute," Latin says from around the corner. She makes her way to the opposite side of the apartment to see the door of the trash chute propped open.

"What are you doing?" she asks, confused at the long coil of rope he's tying around an entrance pillar.

"I've been thinking about how we would get out of here when the time came," he says, hefting the remaining rope onto the floor. "I'll admit I didn't plan on that," he nods to the cold wind whipping through the missing pane of glass on the other side of the wall, and then to the hole in the dumbwaiter. "I predicted they would try to get to us from the floor beneath. I guess they tried and found it impossible." He shrugs, raising his eyebrows in annoyance. "How he's able to shoot at such distance..." Latin trails off, sounding as though he were talking more to himself than to Valyntine.

He ties a complicated knot in the rope. Once he feels confident in his anchor, Latin unravels the remaining length, feeding the other end through the open trash chute.