“Glad to hear it,” he says, dragging off his clothes. He crawls back into bed.
“Should I sleep with you? Or in a guest room?” I ask.
“What are you talking about now?” he asks, settling back and closing his eyes.
“I tried to sneak out. Aren’t you angry?”
“I’m not happy about it, but you told me you wanted to leave,” he says with a shrug. “I don’t blame you for trying.”
“So if I don’t want to sleep in here, I don’t have to?”
“Sleep wherever you want,” he says tersely. “When I’m ready to deal with you, I’ll track you down.”
I bite my lip, wondering what his dealing with me will entail. And whether he’ll be more lenient if I sleep next to him for the rest of the night.
“It’s not that I don’t enjoy being with you,” I say.
“I know that,” he says. “I’ve felt you come.”
I wince. There’s an edge to his voice. He’s very angry at me.
“I know you’re tired. We’ll talk later,” I say. I leave the room, padding down the hall to a sage and cream bedroom with an antique gold light fixture. I crawl into the pretty sleigh bed, but find it hard to sleep.
* * *
Connor
We’re in the kitchen and Trick and Anvil are taking the opposite positions from what I expected.
I’ve just told them I’m taking Zoe to Boston, so she can stay with a friend for a couple of days.
Trick says, “Bad idea.”
Anvil says, “She doesn’t want to stay, so you let her go. That’s fair. I’ll follow in a second car. Better security.”
Trick’s eyes cut to Anvil. “Seriously, ‘Vil? You’re on board with this?”
“We got all the information there was to get. You want him to keep her prisoner?” Anvil counters.
“Who the fuck are you? And what have you done with Sasha Stroviak?” Trick demands. “Yeah, of course, I think she should stay right here. Number one reason? Because C wants her and she enjoys the way he wants her. Second reason, and more important, because other guys, our enemies, want her too. I repeat, letting her out of our sight is a mistake.”
I frown. “She wants to leave. If I force her to stay, I look like Frank.”
“Not on your worst day, C,” Trick says in a hard, flat tone, which for him is rare.
Both Anvil and I are watching him now. My gaze slides to Anvil, who shrugs.
“Let me talk to her,” Trick says.
I hold out a hand for him to go upstairs.
* * *
Zoe
I’m dressed in one of C’s shirts and black leggings. I’ve put my dirty clothes into a small plastic bag. I’ll do laundry later. Now that Connor’s agreed to let me go, I’m anxious to leave the house before he changes his mind.
“What are you doing, Z?”
