“I like to be prepared.”
“Right.” He picked up one of the food packets and tossedit against my chest. It landed with a loud smack, and Phoenix smirked at the look I gave him when I jerked against my bindings in an attempt to catch it before I realized I was still cuffed to the post. “Eat up, then. Though you’re really missing out.”
My stomach clenched—I wasn’t desperate enough toeatpeople, and he didn’t look like he was desperate enough toneedto eat people.
He was all muscle and tattoos, tall enough that he had to stay bent over when he stood.
Yeah, he didn’t look like he was skipping out on meals, but maybe that was the point.
Phoenix looked me over as I sat up and tore the bag open with my teeth, pulling out the dried strips of meat with a grimace. It wasn’t my favorite thing, but it would fill up my stomach and give me energy. “That looks disgusting.”
“You eat people. You can’t talk.” I didn’t bother looking up when I said it, so I missed it again when something else hit my chest. This time it was heavier, metal that nearly knocked my food out of my lap. It was on the tip of my tongue to curse at him when I heard sloshing.
Water.
Fuck. This would have been easier if he was being a complete asshole instead of acting like he had intentions of keeping me functioning while he kept me captive.
“Now, be a good boy andstay.” He smirked at me before scooping up the contents of my bag and stuffing it all back inside, slinging it over his shoulder as he ducked out of the tent.
I was half tempted to throw the canteen at the back of his head, but he had my gun tucked in his belt, so that wouldn’t get me anywhere. Instead, I dumped some of the water into my food packet after giving it a sniff to make sure it at least smelled okay. While I waited for it to soak so it would be a little more chewable, I sat back and looked around.
The tent was crude, with a makeshift bed on the ground and blankets made of some kind of animal hide I didn’t recognize. There were a few bags thrown in the corner, but he hadn’t made the mistake of leaving me in here with anything I could use as a weapon so I could take him out when he came back in from…
Fuck, he was really out there eating a person, wasn’t he? Had he just given me my food because he wanted to keep me fat enough to do the same to me later?
No. The way he’d looked at me when he was straddling me, the way hetalked,told me he wanted something completely different. Something the Order probably would have slit my throat for even considering. I’d been working so fuckinghardover the last few years to begood.
I’d beengoodwhen I joined, because some part of me thought if I could try to help while using Bishop’s name, I could honor who he’d been when he was alive.
And then I wasgoodbecause when Ben looked at me with his warm smile and his bright eyes, it felt like there was someone worth being goodfor.
I’d beengoodbecause even when we’d been sent on missions to fuck up camps, I’d been able to help them more often than not under the guise of it being easier to form bonds so we could use them later.
I’d spent the last eight years beinggood.
Good. Fuck, what did that even mean? It felt like the syllable was trying to crawl up my throat to choke me.
I was so tired of the word. Tired of how meaningless it felt when I thought it—tired of the way that beinggooddidn’t get me shit.
So what did that leave me with? My gaze lifted at the sound of laughter spilling in from the flap of the tent, raucous and warm, like the people out there actually cared about each other.
Like being around one another meant something.
Fuck.
I needed to get out of here before they changed their minds and dragged me out there after all.
My eyes dropped back to the metal cuffs Phoenix had slapped around my wrists, and a small smirk made the corner of my mouth twitch. Maybe I’d spent the last eight years trying to be good, but before that, I’d just been Aubrey Malcolm—the only name I’d carried was my dad’s, and I didn’t give a shit if I sullied it by learning things like how to pick locks so I could get food on the days he refused to feed me.
And maybe Phoenix hadn’t left me a weapon, but there were little twists of metal holding the edges of the tent together. I didn’t need a weapon to get out of my restraints. I could gofinda weapon for when I came back.
There was no way I was leaving my bag here, or the gun Phoenix still had tucked into his belt.
But for now…
For now I needed to leave before my captor decided he wanted to make me his lunch one way or another.
I tried to be silent as I twisted one of the metal ties off the side of the tent and carefully bent it into shape, and I had to close my eyes when I started. It was all muscle memory and concentration. The sound of my heartbeat slowing as I blew out a breath.
