Chapter Six: The Saferoom

Serenity’s body dropped to the ground and it took a second for her to realise the scream was coming from her own lips.  

Xander’s footsteps pounded up the stairs, shaking the ground as he raced towards her, but before he could reach her another round of bullets rained through the open door. Uncaring about his broken arm, Xander sprung into action, dropping his body over hers, shielding her from fire as he crawled them away from the entryway. 

When they were around a corner and far away enough, Xander sat her up against the wall and searched her body for signs of blood. 

“Serenity, are you okay?” He questioned in a panicked tone. 

In the distance Serenity could hear men rushing around as someone barked orders. 

“I’m fine.” She panted, finally able to hear something above the ringing in her ears.

“Fuck! When you screamed-” Xander huffed and ran a hand through his hair, “What the hell happened?” He shook off the panic he was feeling. 

Being under fire wasn’t a foreign feeling to him, but hearing Serenity scream, seeing her laying on the ground did something to his nerves.  

“I heard the shot and I just ducked, I didn’t even realise I screamed till you came flying down the hallway.” she looked at him wide eyed. 

Never in a million years would she have expected to use the extensive survival training she underwent two years ago. 

Xander nodded, “We should get out of here, that was a sniper attack, but we can’t take any chances.” Xander pulled her up with his good arm and drew his gun from his waistband, keeping her body shield as he ushered her downstairs to the safe room. 

“Xander, what the fuck happened, is Alessia okay?” Lorenzo demanded over the phone when the line connected and if it had been any other situation, he might have laughed. 

“She’s fine, no thanks to the fucking sniper that tried to take her out the moment she stepped into her room.” Xander sneered and pushed a random tile on the wall of the kitchen.

“Where are you now?” He questioned tensely. 

“I’m putting her in the safe room till we can secure the perimeter.” Xander moved to close the door after her, but Serenity’s arm stuck out, stopping him. 

“Xander, what are you doing, get in here!” Serenity hissed when she figured out what he was trying to do. 

“Stay in here, I’ll be back to get you as soon as the perimeter is secured.” Xander responded coldly. 

“No, I’m not going to stay in here like a sitting duck, so either you stay here with me till someone comes to get us or I’m coming with you. End of story.” Serenity’s eyes narrowed at him and he knew then and there she wasn’t going to give up so easily. 

“Seren- ” Xander tried, but she took a firm step forward, putting her on the outside of the safe room. 

“I’m not leaving your side, Xander. Not this time.” She gritted and Xander froze as her words dawned on him. 

She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. 

“Okay, I’ll stay with you.” He conceded, there was no way he trusted himself to protect her with just one working arm. “Lorenzo-”

“I got it, I just pulled up now, I’ll come get you both when everything is secured.” Lorenzo promised and Xander took a step closer, backing her up into the safe room and slammed his hand against the shut button and tucked away the weapon in his hand.

The vault-like door sealed behind him with a puff of air and a series of clanks as it locked them, all while Serenity’s chest moved steadily against his. 

With every rise and fall of her breath, Xander felt his body heat up. His eyes wouldn‘t leave hers and Serenity’s eyes remained trained on him watching him like a hawk, as if she expected him to blind side her and leave suddenly. 

“Serenity…” Alexander whispered, bringing his knuckles to her cheek to stroke it. Her skin was as soft as he remembered, everything about her seemed familiar yet foreign and Xander found himself caught in limbo. Fighting between the urge to take her in his arms or push her away. 

“Thank you.” She found herself saying.

“For what?” Xander’s forehead creased, he was still lost in her endless hazel pools. 

“For staying.” She sighed softly, the adrenalin that coursed through her veins finally seemed to slow, but her heart had yet to stop racing. 

Xander sucked in a deep breath, he could feel the soft pants against his skin and he felt his body heat up, but just as quickly as the feeling came he shoved it back. 

“We should get comfortable, I don’t know how long it will take for Enzo to get to us.” His gaze broke away from hers and he nodded towards the dusty couch at the back of the tiny room. 

Snapping out of it, Serenity took a step away from him and immediately missed his warmth, being close to him was like a drug.

“I lived here for eighteen years and never knew this place existed till today.” Serenity murmured, taking in the dusty shelves and single bulb hanging from a chord on the ceiling. 

“You grew up in the Mafia, you were homeschooled for the better part of your life. The least Giovanni could do was give you a somewhat normal life inside of this house. That’s the reason he never conducted his business here.” Xander shrugged with a small smile on his face. 

“Never in a million years would I have thought I’d see the day you defend Giovanni Lombardi.” Serenity shook her head, her eyebrows were almost touching her hairline. 

“Never thought I’d see the day either.” Alexander chuckled softly and pulled two bottles of water from a bar fridge she hadn’t noticed before. 

“Thanks.” She accepted it and took a long, greedy gulp, feeling the cool liquid dripping down her chin and into her shirt. 

Xander watched, entranced by the path the stray droplets took down her shirt. She didn’t seem particularly bothered by the intrusion and a sudden thought flashed in Xander’s mind.

I wonder how she’d react to an ice block on my tongue tracing every curve of her body. 

The intrusive thought brought him back to reality just in time for his wide eyes to look away before she caught him staring. 

Being stuck in a tiny room with her and nothing to distract himself was already posing to be hell and it had only been a few minutes. 

“How did you know about this place?” Serenity asked casually as she ran her finger over the shelf beside the couch and looked at her finger with disgust when a clomp of blackish dirt gathered on it. 

“Giovanni showed it to Enzo and I years ago. Our orders were to get you here safely in the event of an attack on the estate. At the time I scoffed about it, didn’t think a soul existed that was brave enough to bring fire to the devil’s palace.” Xander smirked ruefully. 

“I see the irony.” Serenity tsked, “What do we do till Enzo comes in here to get us?” She bit her lip, she didn’t want to speak her thoughts aloud, but she was worried Enzo may never come and if he didn’t no one would know they were in there. 

“Just sit tight, if he isn’t here in the next six hours we’ll find a way out of here.” Xander answered her silent question with ease and confidence in a tone that calmed her instantly. He was good at that, calming her down. 

“Okay.” She plopped down on the couch and let out a startled cough when a puff of dust rose from the cushion. Fanning her hand across her face, Serenity gave Xander a sheepish smile, “Wanna play rock, paper, scissors?” 

“What’s the stakes?” Xander smirked and Serenity fought back a chuckle. 

“Best out of thirty wins, the loser gets to make the loser do whatever they want for an hour.” It was only after the words were out of her mouth and Xander’s face contorted in lust that Serenity realised the implication of her words. “I- uh…” Serenity’s cheeks flushed red. 

Alexander cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with her, “Let’s just say the loser has to cook the winner dinner, yeah?” 

Nodding furiously, Serenity blew out a shaky breath and brought her hand out in a fist in front of her. 

“Ready?” her eyes sparked with challenge, the awkward moment they shared now safely locked away in the box of shared memories.