“We’re moving into the parking garage,” Micah announced quietly into whatever was attached beneath his jacket sleeve. A mic of some sort. There was also a receiver tucked into his ear, the little wire to it tucked behind his ear and hidden by his hair until it disappeared beneath his collar.
“All’s clear,” Clint stated as Micah pulled into the closest slot to the elevator.
“We’ll come back for the bags,” Micah decided. “I want to get Risa upstairs first.”
Clint nodded. They exited the front of the car and eac
h opened a door to the back. Micah reached in, took her hand, and helped her out, then placed her carefully in front of him, keeping her there as they moved to the elevator.
They stayed together every step of the way until they arrived at the apartment. As they neared the door, it opened. Another man stepped out, nodded to them, and entered the apartment across the hall.
Another stranger had been in her home?
“It’s okay; he’s part of the team,” Micah leaned close and whispered in her ear. “We don’t have any more of those nasty bugs in your apartment.”
The bugs. She hadn’t wanted to think of what that camera might have caught her doing at any given time. She touched her brow as she bit back the sniping reply she wanted to make. It wasn’t his fault, she reminded herself; he was trying to help. He was trying to save her life; the camera wasn’t his fault.
They stepped into the apartment. Clint and Micah went through it carefully, then left her alone with Morganna while they went for the shopping bags.
“This must be hard on you; you’re used to being here alone,” Morganna commented as she curled into the easy chair in the corner of the room, leaving Risa the couch.
Risa shrugged as she sat down, feeling helpless and very much alone as she stared around the apartment.
“It’s different,” she finally said, mostly because the other woman obviously expected an answer.
“Risa, if you need to talk, I’m willing to listen,” Morganna offered. “It must be difficult, being thrown in this situation.”
“I don’t need to talk, Morganna.” She forced herself to stay on the couch rather than pace the room. “I’m fine. Really.”
“You have a monster trying to kill you, you’re thrown into a situation with a man you don’t even know, one you’re forced to sleep with, but you’re okay?” Morganna stared back at her, disbelieving. “Somehow, I doubt that.”
“What do you want me to tell you?” she asked the other woman with no more than a hint of the anger that she felt at the situation. “He’s bossy, domineering, and that fucking drug Jansen Clay shot me full of, too many times, ensures that I’m ready to fuck on a moment’s notice. Having him in my bed is hell. I’m not sleeping. And I’m not fucking happy with the situation. Is there anything else you need to know?”
Morganna breathed out deeply, her gaze compassionate.
“The Whore’s Dust to begin the arousal,” Morganna finally said. “It only makes it worse. You don’t want him because of the drug. You want him because you’re a woman and he’s a very sexy, very desirable man. There’s nothing wrong with that, Risa.”
“Isn’t there?” She snorted mockingly. “You know, Morganna, if my friends had been so kind to just tell me what the hell was going on the night I met him, perhaps I would have understood that. I wouldn’t have made the mistake of going to bed with him, and I wouldn’t have to lie in that bed night after night, aware that it would take a bag over my head for him to get off. Thank you for that, by the way. It was a very enlightening experience.”
She came off the couch as Morganna stared back at her in blank shock.
“You…he…” Morganna breathed out roughly. “Damn. I didn’t know about that. He didn’t add that in his report of that night.”
“No kidding,” she muttered.
“What the hell happened to make you think he’d have to put a bag over your face to get off?” Morganna came out of her chair then. “That is simply not true, Risa. You have got to get over what Jansen Clay did to you in that regard. You are not an ugly woman.”
“Yeah, boy. I’d just win the next Miss America, wouldn’t I?” she sniped back angrily.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Morganna admitted, which did little to soothe Risa’s anger as she turned to her. “Risa, you’re a very pretty young woman,” Morganna said then. “No, you’re not the next Miss America, but you’re a far cry from coyote ugly, I promise you that. And if there were issues that night, then you need to discuss them with Micah.”
“Why don’t I just do that?” She laughed mockingly. “I could just say, ‘Oh, by the way, Micah, remember when you couldn’t fucking get off? Well, why not just tell me—’”
She broke off as a flash of movement caught her attention. Heat filled her face at the sight of Micah and Clint standing in the open doorway, their hands full of bags, their expressions making it clear that they had heard every word of that last tirade.
Damn, damn, and double damn.
“Just tell you what?” Micah’s lips were a straight, furious line as he moved into the apartment and tossed the bags carelessly to the couch as Morganna moved quickly to the door.