I type out the first words that come to my head. What if I can’t hurt people?
Digging out my phone from my back pocket, I pause when movement on the screen catches my eyes. Welcome to The Castle, Ice Queen. How can we help you today?
I pause.My fingers glide over the keyboard just as there’s a distant knock on my office door.
“Cartier, would you like any refreshments?”
I lean to the side to see one of the men from earlier carrying a tray of deli meats, aged cheese, and crisp bread. “Yes. Please.”
He bows, moving farther into the room and placing the tray onto my desk. He has to be my age… “How old are you?” I ask while studying his features closely to gauge my guess. Warm brown eyes, blond hair, and smooth skin. Definitely my age.
“Seventeen.” He flashes me a wide smile. One that I’m sure would work on other girls, but not so much on this one.
“And you’re a recruit?”
“Correct.” He stands straight with his tight muscles on display. “Jordan and I are here to service you throughout your trials. If at the end you decide to let us go, we will go back to Kiznitch.”
“Hmmm, okay.”
“Was there anything else that you needed?”
I shake my head slowly. “Nope. Thanks…”
“Chris.” He turns and walks out the same way he came with long, wide steps. I wonder if King would’ve got a Jordan and a Chris.
I sure as fuck know Killian would have.
Shutting the front door of my apartment in the city, I drop my jacket onto the counter and move through to the lounge, flicking on the light.
I jump when I see Eli—I think his name is—sitting on the very same sofa I saw him on before. “Look, no offense or anything, and last time was great—and you’re hot—but I’m not in the mood right now.”
I fall onto the sofa opposite him, turning my head to the side and covering my eyes with my arm. My muscles ache and I didn’t even use them today. I’m so doomed this week. “Tell me a story.”
“You’re not what I expected. Should I start there?” he answers, and his tone makes me stiffen. He’s playful—good. I like playful because it’s unfamiliar.
“Hmmm.” I sigh. “And what did you expect?” I know in the back of my mind I should be asking who the fuck he is, what the fuck he wants, and how the fuck he continues to get into my apartment, but my feet throb, my eyes are being weighed down by lead, and I’m pretty sure that I’m a second away from closing my eyes for good.
Sleep.
Sweet sleep. It has nothing to do with work, since all I did today was paperwork and figured out how to use my computer—after getting rid of the creepy Red Queen on it, and more to do with the fact that the dark sky is about to ignite with a blazing nectar for a new day.
“Well, when your brother called me to babysit his little sister,” he pauses, and I crack a stubborn eye open, shifting my arm slightly up to see him. He’s a blur from my eyes being closed, but it’s all I need. “I thought you actually needed a sitter.”
“I let you fuck me last night, Eli. I’m pretty sure that’s evidence enough that Kyrin is right on hiring a sitter.”
“Oh, I ain’t hired…” He switches legs, resting a glass filled with amber liquid on his calf. “…and true. Fucking people who show up in your room something you do often?”
“Only ones dumb enough to try, and smart enough to get through,” I mumble beneath my breath, covering my eyes with my arm again. “So if you’re sent from my brother, that means I’m safe with you—but by the way, we’re not fucking again.”
“Deal—but you have to keep yourself out of trouble.”
“Well, I’m almost certain that’s going to be really hard, Eli Rebellious.” I yawn loudly, blacking out every second before coming back to awareness.
“And why’s that, Ice Queen.”
“Because apparently, I fuck my kidnappers.”