My eyes snapped to hers. “What?”
“Thank you for saving me. I don’t know why they would want me, but you were there, and if you hadn’t been…” She fought a shiver.
“I’m not a hero, Poppy.”
Her lips curled up in the corners, though only slightly. “Hmmm.”
I made quick work of her stitches. It helped that she didn’t move much, and she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. I was sure that if she kept up all that thinking, she would know exactly who killed her dad.
“Can I look at your shoulder?”
The dress she wore was torn and slightly hanging from her body. She was still missing a shoe, and I knew she needed clean clothes. She nodded slowly, and I went to the closet to find one of those plush robes they always hung there.
With trembling fingers, she began unbuttoning her dress right in front of me. I turned my eyes to the ceiling. Sure, we’d done this song and dance before, but circumstances were a little different then. Plus, there was also the fact that I’d pretended not to know her. She would be getting to the bottom of that soon enough, too.
The ringtone on my phone blasted through the silence in the room, making us both jump. I kept my eyes to myself as I brought the god-forsaken device up to my face and walked out. She didn’t need an audience to put the robe on, but I was worried about her being alone with all of my guns and getting curious. I didn’t have much time.
“Yes?”
“Well, are you ready to hear the job position we have for you?”
Chapter Seventeen
Poppy
By the graceof all things holy, my phone didn’t get lost in the struggle. Maybe Ivan grabbed it when we were running back to his car. Maybe he grabbed it before he reached me. Or maybe it was none of the above, and my trauma memories were trying to put pieces together that weren’t there.
I was still trying to piece together why Ivan was there to begin with. How had he acted so quickly? My mind was spinning as I thought over every scenario. Was it a coincidence that we were in the same place at the same time, or was he following me?
The longer and more I thought about it, the more dizzy I became. The robe was a welcoming comfort as the soft fabric slid over my slightly chilled skin. Being in a hotel room with Ivan was bringing back memories, and I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
I want the security detail, whatever those old women were proposing. I need it.
My phone rang immediately after I hit send. I stared down at the screen as it rang four times before I finally clicked the green button. There was a little crack that went across the top of the screen, and it seemed to be the only thing I could focus on as I answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
He laughed first. “You were always a nosy one.”
“I don’t care, Jones.” My voice sounded hollow and faraway. Broken, almost.
“Wait,” he stopped and got serious. “What happened? We just saw you, what, two hours ago?”
“Someone attacked me.”
“Jesus!” Jacob barked in the background. “What happened?”
I took a shaky breath as I tried to think everything over. “I don’t really know. A lot of it is a blur, to be completely honest with you both. I was walking back to the hotel from your office, and two men grabbed me.” Explaining everything felt like an out-of-body experience. “They put a bag over my head, I think.”
“Is this a joke?” Jones said—yelled.
“How the fuck did you get away? How are you even talking to us right now? Is this a ransom request? FUCK! Poppy!”
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” I repeated a few times. “I just know that Ivan Cristof saved my life.”
Jones’ laugh was hysterical. “Fucking Cristofs. Of course. Speak of the devil. That’s them calling now.”
The line went dead, and I stared at the wall until Ivan opened the door to the room and we stared at each other. He ate up the distance between us in a few strides, and stupidly, my heart picked up within my chest as I imagined him peeling the robe from my body. When he pulled the soft fabric from my shoulder and probed the skin that was already turning purple with cold fingers, I knew I was out of my mind. Why on earth would I want this dangerous creature? The amount of guns around the room spoke volumes, but at the same time… I’d never felt so safe. This was entirely too silly.
