“Because I had to make a run into town for supplies.”
“We can’t coddle her,” Ammo insisted. “She’s a prisoner.”
“No, she’s not,” Zander countered.
“Then what the hell is she?” Eli demanded.
“She’s not a prisoner,” Zander bit out as he watched her. “She’s a guest who can’t leave for her own protection.”
Honey coughed. It sounded like she coughed the word bullshit, but he thought that impossible. Could someone cough and it sound like the word bullshit? Maybe.
“I’m going to go speak to her. Turn the camera off once I’m in there.” It worried him that she hadn’t moved since he’d been watching her. Was she sleeping?
“Think if I was her, I’d rather take my chances out there than be locked up in here,” Honey said suddenly.
He whirled with a frown. “What do you mean?”
“Here, she has no privacy or rights. Nothing to do. Seems almost fucking cruel.”
Webb and Miles nodded.
He hadn’t thought about it like that. This was to keep her safe. But he admitted he had his own selfish reasons too.
“I’d be depressed as well,” Honey added.
Depressed? Was she depressed?
“It’s only been a few days,” he said. Could she be affected that quickly?
“You need to do something about her, boss,” Honey advised. “Don’t know your plan, but we can’t keep her here indefinitely.”
“It’s not indefinitely.”
“Right, just until she’s safe from Bartolli and that asshole that beat her, right?”
“Yes,” he said uncomfortably. Because there was a part of him that didn’t want to let her go. Ever. But that part of him wasn’t something he wanted to examine too closely. So he pushed it down. He moved to the door. “Although Bartolli is dead, so he is no longer a concern.”
“Dead?” Eli asked.
“How?” Honey sat up straight.
He shrugged. “I didn’t ask Kent for details over the phone. But he’s gone.”
And so was that threat to her. But Zander wouldn’t rest easily until Carl Kansas was wiped off this earth and sent to the bowels of hell.
Where he fucking belonged.
7
Keira scowled as she heard the door open. She rolled over on the bed. “Damn it, Webb, you need to let me out of here right now before I. . .”
Her voice trailed off as Zander walked in. He raised his eyebrows as she grew quiet.
“Before you what?” he asked as he set a tray of food down on the table. She didn’t bother looking at it. She wasn’t in the mood for food. Even though she was hungry, every time she her tooth protested. She was certain it would go away, but probably best to stick to softer foods at the moment.
“Where have you been?” she demanded instead of replying. A warning pinged in her brain, telling her that she probably didn’t want to go down this path. “Why have I only seen Webb?”
“I’ve been away.”