I guess I know why my head’s hurting.
Buck kneels beside me, silent.
“Shit,” I breathe in growing horror. “She wasn’t kidding.”
“No. Welcome to Wonderland, Alyss.”
Turning to him, I don’t bother hiding my confusion. Buck scans my face before he sighs, getting to his feet.
He doesn’t bother asking before reaching down and lifting me up, settling me back onto the bed next to him. “Don’t argue. You smacked your head hard.”
I glance down at the rumpled sheets. “Uh… do I get a bed of my own?”
“That one’syours. The one you fell off.” He points at the empty bed next to us.
“Right.” Leaning forward, I bury my head in my hands and squeeze my skull. “Chess is going to be so fucking angry with me.”
“Hard to be angry with a dead person.”
I cast him an askance look. “Well, aren’t you cheerful?”
But Buck doesn’t smile. “Take a look at this place, Alyss. None of us are walking out of here. This isn’t Red’s first rodeo.”
It’s hard to argue with his pessimism as I look around. My gaze locks with eyes of deepest, darkest blue, and I stiffen.
The man opposite us eyes me for a moment. Heavily muscled, the scar on his cheek draws my eye before he scowls and turns away.
“Kayden,” Buck murmurs. “I’d steer clear if I were you. I’ve seen him rip someone apart with his bare hands.”
Lovely.“How do you know him?”
“He was one of Red’s pets. She used him in the fighting ring, but he became uncontrollable. Climbed the bars the other night and went for an investor. So she put himandhis twin in here.”
He keeps his voice low. My eyes move from Kayden to the man in the bed beside him. His eyes are closed, his body sleeker than his twin’s, but I can see the similarities there. “Red had a lot of pets, it seems.”
Buck flinches. “You could say that. Although given most of us seem to be down here, she’ll be recruiting new ones.”
The last of the fog clears as I turn to the bed next to me.
Hatter’s chest rises and falls, his eyes closed. A heavy fist squeezes my stomach.
“He’s fine,” Buck says quietly. “Just sleeping it off.”
When I turn back to him, he’s squeezing his hand, looking down at his shaking fingers. “Why does that happen?”
They clench into a fist. “Doesn’t matter. It’s a liability in here.”
I sit back next to him. “What are you detoxing from?”
He pauses. “Alcohol.”
Slowly, I nod. “How long?”
“Not sure. A day or two.” His jaw tightens. “Red likes to cut me off and watch the fun before she offers me another bottle.”
Bitch.
Buck follows my sightless gaze, his eyes tracing the others in the room with us. “Be careful. None of the people here are ones you’d want to meet in a dark alley.”
