She snorted and tried to turn over, but the shackles on her wrists prevented her. Her eyes opened, barely, and her eyes looked glassy as she stared at me.
“Wha?” she mumbled.
I kicked her. Not too hard, but a solid kick all the same.
“Wake up!” I barked.
Her head jerked and she opened her eyes all the way, some of the haze clearing from them.
“What happened?” she slurred.
“We have to get out of here,” I whispered.
Poppy blinked and I could see her trying to focus on me. “Where are we?” she asked, her voice quieter this time.
“Some cabin in the woods. Leo and his goon squad brought us here and handcuffed us both to this bed.” I glanced at the bracelet on my wrist, jammed just above the cuff. It was digging into my skin just enough to be annoyingly painful. “It can’t be too far out of town because I’m not supposed to be able to leave the city limits while I’m wearing this.”
Her head tilted back so she could look at her hands. “Sonuvabitch,” she whispered.
“I know. I can get myself loose because they put me in conventional handcuffs, but I don’t know if I can pick the lock on yours.”
Her head snapped back toward me. “You can pick locks?”
“How do you think I got away from Daniel the night he took me hostage?”
The last of the haziness in her gaze vanished. “He took you hostage?”
Shit. Poppy didn’t know any of this stuff. She thought I was his guest.
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you later over a bottle or two of wine. Right now, I need to know what you want to do.”
Poppy resumed her study of her wrists once more. “I think I can break the chain between the shackles. You said you could pick the lock on your handcuffs?”
“Yes.”
“Do it,” she ordered. “We need to get out of here.”
I nodded and wiggled around on the bed until I could reach one of the bobby pins I’d used to pull my hair away from my face this morning. I plucked it loose and used my teeth to pull the protective blob off the end.
Then, I set to work.
It took longer than I wanted since my hands had gone slightly numb over my head.
Finally, five minutes later, I’d managed to free myself.
Poppy gaped at me.
“What?” I whispered.
“I thought you were exaggerating,” she whispered.
I rolled my eyes. Like this was the time or place to exaggerate my abilities.
“Okay, can you break the chain?” I asked.
She nodded. “But it will be loud.”
“Let me know when you’re starting, and I’ll cry and whine like a complete imbecile.”
