Of-fucking-course.
Full of panic and worry, I rolled off the bed.
I went to the window first, searching out to see where I was. The moon illuminated enough for me to see the woods outside, but it looked like I was one story up. As that didn’t seem like the most appealing option for an escape, I headed to the door.
The pricking sensation across my flesh and a sort of numbness in my limbs assured me I hadn’t wholly recovered from whatever drug I’d been pumped full of. Likely a sedative.
Damn, this had to be a fucked-up nightmare.
When I reached the door, I pressed my ear against it and listened…feeling like some sort of Hardy Boy, waiting to hear the bad guys talking on the other side.
Silence.
I assumed the door would be locked, but when I tested the knob, I was relieved to discover it wasn’t. An oversight on some villain’s part? Or had they intended for me to find it that way? There was a chance Liam had survived and brought us here, but I figured it was better to assume the worst.
Opening the door, I searched around the short hall outside. A few feet from me, the floor came to a stop at a rail made up of round wooden beams. To my left, the rail made an L-shape around the corner, leading to several doors. To my right, the rail led down a set of stairs into a living area, furnished with a matching sofa, love seat, and recliner set up around a coffee table, in front of the fireplace.
On the opposite side of the living area, a door much bigger than those on what I presumed was the second floor, looked like it was probably the exit. But next to it, an open doorway illuminated with bright white lights made me think that whoever had brought me here would be able to prevent me from leaving. I noticed a shadowy figure seeming to approach the doorway, coupled with the sound of footsteps. I slipped back into the room, closing the door carefully behind me.
Steadying my breathing, trying to think rationally, I scrambled around the room.
Footsteps echoed through the place, and soon it sounded like they were coming up the stairs.
Fuck.
It could have been anyone…even Liam. But I couldn’t risk it.
I hopped back into bed and closed my eyes. I had to play dead and then kick some serious ass if I had to. Of course, I’d already seen how well that had gone for me before.
The door opened, and my senses were on edge, alert as the footsteps drew near.
“I heard you, Ty.”
Liam’s voice was music to my ears. What had been all tension and nerves…a frenzy of panic…evaporated as my eyes filled with tears of fucking relief.
Opening my eyes, I saw him standing by the bed, his muscles thick in a black tank top, looking sexy as fuck, as always, his face so stoic, as though we hadn’t just been through all that madness.
“Thank fucking God,” I murmured as I leaped off the bed, threw my arms around him, and pulled him close.
My breath was shaky, filled with all the anxiety my body was still in the grip of.
“Were you trying to make a break for it?”
“I was freaking out. I thought whoever those guys were might have kidnapped us or something. You could have fucking left a note or left me my phone.”
“Sorry. I had to inspect it.”
“Inspect it?” I pulled away from him, checking his expression.
“To make sure we weren’t being tracked.”
“Tracked?”
Liam studied my face.
“I think it’s safe to say that now isn’t the time to keep on with the secrets,” I said, frustrated and a little angry that he wasn’t just confessing the truth—whatever explained why the hell we’d been attacked and where the fuck we were now.
“I know that much, Ty, but please, just…give me a moment. I’m not used to having to share so much, but as soon as it happened—well, as soon as I got you to safety, I should say—I knew I didn’t have a choice.”
I didn’t know what it was, maybe the violent confusion he’d left me in, but there was a certain eagerness.
Liam had been this impossible mystery for me, and for once, I felt like he didn’t have a choice. He had to tell me more about himself.
He had to tell me about this secret life he’d been keeping from me.
