Chapter Twenty-Four
Savannah
Staring down atthe ground, I rethought my plan to climb out of the bathroom window. I hadn’t realized that we were on the second floor when I told Macgrath I needed to pee. Now, the ground seemed very far away.
Then I thought of Rhys and Ava. They would be worried about me and, if they came looking for me, I feared they would both do something they regretted. Macgrath and Rhiannon might deserve to be punished for what they did, but I didn’t want the weight of their pain on Rhys’ soul.
I took a deep breath, pulled up my skirt, and threw my leg over the windowsill. I wished I’d worn something other than my usual summer dress. Moving carefully, I turned so that my belly was against the sill and reached back with my foot. There was a concrete ledge running the length of the house so I placed my toes on it. Gingerly, I put my weight down on my foot and brought my other leg out. Once I had both feet on the ledge, I looked down. If I let myself hang from my extended arms, I would only be four or five feet from the ground. At least that’s what I told myself. I also decided that once this was over, I was going to start working out. My arms and legs trembled from the effort of holding myself on this ledge.
The wind blew, lifting my skirt and obscuring my view of the grass below. Taking a deep breath, I prepared to put my plan into action.
“Nice panties,” a male voice murmured. “Does the bra match?”
I shrieked and my hands slipped off the window. My legs wouldn’t hold my weight and I fell backwards away from the wall. I closed my eyes, knowing that it was going to hurt badly when I hit the ground.
The air whooshed out of my lungs when I hit, but it wasn’t grass beneath me. Two strong arms caught me, one at my mid-back and the other beneath my knees. I stared up at Macgrath’s annoyed face for a beat before I went into action.
I thrashed in his arms, screaming my head off in hopes that someone would hear me. I scratched him and hit him with my fists as I kicked my legs. The vampire grunted as he released my legs, wrapping both arms around me in an effort to contain my struggles.
“You motherfucking asshole,” I yelled, kicking his shins with my now freed feet. “You’re a goddamn dick-faced bastard! Let me go!” More curses streamed from my lips as I fought like a mad thing. I said things that would have made my grandmother faint. But if there was ever a time to cut loose, it was now.
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” he asked, jerking his head back to avoid my flying fist. Suddenly, he had enough and gave me a firm shake. “Stop fighting. We’re a half hour away from the nearest house by car. Even if I did let you go, you wouldn’t get far.”
The fight went out of me then and I let my body go limp.
“That’s better,” he stated with a nod, letting my feet touch the ground. “Now, let’s go inside.”
Thirty minutes later, I was seated on the couch, my elbow resting on the arm and my cheek propped on my hand. Apparently Rhiannon didn’t believe in television and there wasn’t a single bookshelf in sight. To my utter disbelief, I was bored nearly senseless now that I knew the vampire guarding me had no intention of hurting me. At least not yet.
He’d proven that when he caught me climbing out of the bathroom window. Even as I fought, he’d been almost gentle when he restrained me. I bit, clawed, and cursed at him with the expansive vocabulary of a sailor. I used words that I’d never said before because my grandmother would have washed my mouth out with soap if she even thought I uttered them. He hadn’t even left a bruise on my skin and seemed utterly unperturbed.
Macgrath flipped the page of his book, ignoring me completely. I had no idea where he got the book from but the language on the cover wasn’t English, so I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to read it even if he was polite enough to offer it to me. I wasn’t sure but it looked like French.
I sighed and shifted my butt on the sofa cushions.
“What’s wrong now?” he asked absently, his eyes moving steadily over the page.
“Other than you kidnapping me, you mean?” I asked him belligerently, crossing my arms over my chest. Strangely, since the bathroom window incident, I was no longer afraid of him. He’d had every opportunity to harm me then and he hadn’t.
“Yes, other than that.” His voice was mild as though we were talking about the weather rather than the fact that he had forcibly taken me fromThe Magic Bean.
“I’m bored and I’m hungry. So if there’s no TV or books around here, then the least you can do is feed me.”
His eyes lifted then, focusing on me. “You’re probably hungry because you expended all that energy calling me names earlier.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s my dinner time. You’re obligated to feed me.”
The corners of his mouth twitched and I knew he was trying not to smile. “Obligated?”
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t grabbed me from the coffee shop. Therefore you’re required to feed me.”
“I’m not required to do anything,” he replied, going back to his book.
“Fine,” I said, crossing my legs. “Maybe I’ll sing. Do you likeNinety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall?”
His book closed with a snap. “I’ll see what I can find.”
I smiled smugly behind his back.
