“Are you telling them you’ve kidnapped someone?”
“You could say that.”He goes back to clicking away on his phone.
“You're being rude again.No phones at the dinner table,” I sing-song.
“Was that your grandmother Annika’s rule or your mother Lilia’s?”
My spoon pauses almost to my mouth with the last bite of dessert on it.This time, I slowly put my spoon down, and real fear starts to creep up my spine.I sit up straighter because this little game is finished.I already knew I was in over my head, but I’d never thought about who could go down with me.
“Gray.Please don’t—”
“I’m not going to hurt them.It’s quite the opposite.I don’t know how deep you’ve dug or who might be on to you being averynaughty girl.”I block out hisnaughty girlwords and what that does to me.
“They have nothing to do with this.”
“If only it was that easy.”My heart starts to race as panic floods me.Gray watches and then places his hand on my arm.“Take a deep breath, Jade.Let your heart calm down.”
Can he hear my heart?Is it truly that loud, or is this thesomething moreI’ve been expecting since I got here?I reach out and pretend to grab the bottle of wine sitting on the edge of the table.I tip the edge to fumble it, and the bottle starts to fall.
In a flash Gray has it in his hand before it can hit the ground and places it back on the table.I suppose that answers that question.Our eyes lock, and he knows I already had an idea of what he is.
“I’m going to assign someone to keep an eye on them.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because although you might have slipped your way into this mess, it's my responsibility.The whole point of what I’m doing is so that innocent people don’t die.”
“Promise me you won’t hurt them.”
“It’s not me they need to worry about, Jade.”He pushes back from his chair and motions for me to get up.“It’s time for bed.”
He steps back to give me room, and even though he’s close, it’s enough that we don’t touch.I follow beside him up one of the staircases.
“Did you switch it up?You know, sometimes you take this set of stairs on the right and other days you take left?”
A bark of laughter comes from him, but he doesn’t answer my question.I notice as I follow alongside him that he stays close to me but never touches.
“So where am I sleeping?”I ask as we draw closer to the double doors at the end of the hallway.
There were three to pick from when we got to the top of the stairs.He’s taken us to the right, and I know that room has to be the master at the end.
“In here.”He swings both doors open at once.
“Is this like the master suite of this hallway and your master suite is in one of the other hallways?”
“In you go” is his only response.
Finally, he touches me as his hand goes to my lower back to guide me into the bedroom.I peek around the giant room, seeing small personal items here and there.
“This is your room.”I spin around as he drops his hand from my back and closes the doors behind us.
“You think I’d really leave you alone in my home?”He strides slowly across the room, and nervous anticipation builds in my belly.
“Why, is there like a secret lab somewhere behind a really cool bookcase?”I hadn’t even thought of that until now, and it sounds badass.He opens another set of double doors and goes inside.“If it’s in there, that’s totally lame,” I call after him.
He reappears with a shirt in his hand, and I suppose it’s a closet and not the bat cave.
“This is for you to sleep in.”He brings it over to me, and I glance toward the bed.“The bathroom is there.”He points to the other side of the room and brings my attention back to him.