“Two minutes.”
“Okay!” I yelled.
I made sure all the soap was out of my hair and switched off the water. I leaned out of the shower, grabbing the towel. There was only one and I had a lot of hair. I dried the ends to get as much of the water out and used the now mostly damp towel to dry off before stepping out of the shower enclosure. On the counter there was a packet of new underwear and a sports bra, a pair of workout leggings and a t-shirt and hoody. All of them black and still with the tags on. I paused, wondering what had brought this on but he knocked again.
“You’ve got a minute to get dressed.”
“Yeah, right,” I opened the packaging and pulled on the underwear, it was a little big but it was better than what I’d been wearing for what seemed like a week. I felt refreshed, like layers of grime washed away. I pulled on all the clothes then started drying my hair again when he pushed the door open, his eyes raking over me.
He took the towel and dumped it on the pile of my old clothes. I stopped suddenly and bent down, snagging the t-shirt, he gave me a funny look but didn’t question what I was doing. It might not smell likehim but I didn’t want to lose Hudson’s shirt. As silly as it sounded, there was comfort in having it and I didn’t want him to take it or dump it in the trash.
“Come on,” he took my arm again and dragged me back to the room.
“Is this for Danica’s benefit? She doesn’t want to meet me in dirty clothes, with greasy hair?”
He started to say something then reconsidered. After a brief pause, he did speak. “You were right, you smell.”
“Fucker,” I grumbled and for a second, I thought I saw him smile, but it could have been gas.
“Yeah, that’s me. She is coming.”
“What?” I asked, widening my eyes. “Now? Today?”
“Try to keep up.” He exhaled deeply when he saw my body language shift. “She’s coming back early so I told her she needed to get her ass here and finish whatever she started.”
“Meaning?” I asked, not liking the shiver of fear that ran through me.
“I’m not sitting on you indefinitely. My club is…” he looked away, realising he was saying too much but after a moment, he surprised me and went on. “The Devil’s are pissed, they’re ripping through everything we have and I’m sick of being here while that happens.”
“What do you expect them to do?” I crossed my arms. “You’ve spent the last few months attacking them, people have died, and takingme? Tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing if it happened to someone you care about.”
His jaw clenched, his eyes filling with something I couldn’t put my finger on. They hardened quickly. “She’s coming back. She can do what it is she needs to do and I can get back to my club.”
I didn’t know what my family was doing but it had Mace rattled. “Which is what?” I asked, already knowing. He wanted to be back out there, fighting my family. He wasn’t going to tell me his plans.
“When will she be here?”
“An hour or so,” he headed for the door but paused. “You hungry?”
He really gave me whiplash. He didn’t need to feed me, he more or less told me he wanted to go out there and do my family harm. I didn’t get him at all. I shook my head though, I didn’t think I could stomach anything right now but I was thirsty.
“Just water, maybe coffee too?”
He left and the door locked. I bit my thumbnail and tried not to freak out. Whether he liked Danica or not, she was the one the Kingsmen were working with, who had taken me and started this fight with the Devil’s Chaos. I had no idea what she was about to tell me but I wasn’t tied to a chair this time, and I wasn’t going to let her leave without giving me the answers I needed.
Mace didn’t say a word when he brought me a bottle of water and a coffee about a half hour later. I paced, I sat, I turned the TV on and off but still no Danica. I was sure the bitch was doing this on purpose. She wanted me on edge, probably watching the camera seeing what this was doing to me.
Finally, the door opened. I wrung my hands in my lap and raised my head. Mace’s expression was completely unreadable. He read the question in my eyes and nodded then crooked two fingers to me to come over. I did so, thankful I was getting to leave the room. I’d seen some daylight when I was in Mace’s room, I needed to see more.
“What? No cuffs?” I asked.
“You gonna try and hurt her?”
“Maybe, you saw what I did to Lily.” I’d never get used to calling her anything else.
His brow arched and whether he wanted to admit it or not, a flash of amusement crossed his face but he wiped it away. “Do yourself a favour and don’t bother,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t want to have to break anything up. Besides, if you have any sense, you’ll listen and ask the right questions.”
With that cryptic directive, he headed out of the room. He wasn’t dragging me around, clearly at the end of his patience with this. I followed him, squaring my shoulders, ready to face this bitch again.
