But I’m not upset. Scared for her, sure. And okay, I was so fucking pissed when I realized she really was here after all, but now that anger has faded.
We need to get out of here.
“You called the police,” I say, a statement, not a question. “About me?”
She shrugs, a tight roll of her shoulders. “It was when I first saw you down here, tied up. I tried. Sandivar is right. They didn’t believe me.”
I bet. Between the Organization’s machinations and my own game of deception, even if the cop she talked to knew what was going on, he’d have pleaded ignorance.
“Are you all right?” I ask her, stroking her hair. “You threw up on that guy. Best move ever, gotta say, but are you feeling okay?”
She sighs against my shoulder. “I’m fine. Too much stress. Couldn’t bear seeing them hit you again.”
Something unclenches in my chest. I don’t know what to say to that. It feels good, knowing she couldn’t bear seeing me in pain.
Regroup. “You don’t happen to know another way out of here?”
“I’m trying to think of one. Hey…” She rubs her face on my shirt, like a cat, and mumbles something.
“What?” Dammit, I hate that I didn’t hear what she said, that I need to see her lips, or have her speak louder, because maybe she won’t open up again like this, when she’s whispering things against my shirt.
She lifts her head, looks at me. “I said, ‘Sorry I got caught.’”
“But not for staying?”
“No, not for staying. I don’t regret it.”
A grin spreads on my face, even though I fight it, because hell, she put herself in grave danger, but I can’t deny anymore that having her here, beside me, makes everything seem possible somehow.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I tell her gruffly, and she presses herself to me.
Which gives my dick ideas, and I tell it to suck it.
We need to get out before we get moved God knows where. Before my bluff with the lawyers is fully revealed, the damage irreversible.
If he hadn’t smashed my watch, we’d be getting rescued right now.
And if she hadn’t lost her bracelet in the bat
hroom while I fucked her on the counter, we’d still have a phone to call for help.
The way I see it, this is all my fault. “You need to get out of here,” I whisper in her ear.
“They’ll be guarding the bathroom like it’s Alcatraz. No way can I get out the way I came in.
“My grandpa always said there are more ways to do something than the ones you see at first glance.”
“You never talked about your grandpa before.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek. “That’s right, I haven’t.”
“You don’t tell me things.”
She sounds like she’s pouting, and it should annoy me, but it makes me smile. Like it’s cute. Damn. “That’s the point. I don’t tell things to anyone.”
But for some reason, I wanna tell her about my grandpa. Even though I should be letting her think of a way out. Even though I should be going around the basement, checking every possible exit, or thinking up a clever plan.
Even if I haven’t told anyone about him before, not even Rook and Storm.