Shaking his head, he pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Just be careful.”
“That’s my middle name,” I grinned as I dumped the chopped veggies into the pot.
“Oh, hey! Can you let Milo into the backyard before you take a shower?”
He rolled his eyes, but whistled at Milo, opening the sliding door for him. Milo raced outside, chasing a squirrel as he happily got in some exercise.
Spinning around, I took the butternut squash out of the microwave and started peeling the skin off, wincing as the vegetable burned me multiple times. I chopped it open, scooped out the seeds, and chopped it into small pieces before dumping it in the soup to cook with the rest of the veggies.
“Sawyer! Thirty minutes!”
When he didn’t answer, I washed my hands and went in search of him. He was probably still sitting in his work clothes, sulking about Bugaboo, or whatever his pet name was for her.
“Hey,” I knocked on the door. “Tell me you’re not still thinking about the cougar.”
Pushing the door open a crack, I saw his boot laying haphazardly on the floor of his bedroom. “Sawyer?”
A pained groan filled the air, and as I shoved the door open the rest of the way, I gasped at what I saw. He was lying on the ground, a severe slash across his forehead as blood dripped onto the floor beneath him.
“Sawyer!” I shouted, rushing to his side.
Grabbing a shirt, I pressed it to his forehead, trying to stem the bleeding.
“Josie—” he whispered.
“So, this is JR’s girl,” someone said from behind me.
I spun, but the moment I turned, something hard hit my face and I blacked out.
“Sawyer,”I murmured through what felt like a broken jaw.
Everything was blurry as I peeled my eyes open. Something crusty was on my eyes, and my mouth felt like cotton balls had been stuffed to the brink inside my cheeks.
Blinking several times, I finally cleared my vision enough to see the room. I was still in my house, but I was tied to a chair. My arms were stretched behind my back, knotted together, and my legs were tied to the rungs.
“Sawyer,” I murmured again.
“Josie?” he whispered.
Through my one good eye, I found him on the ground, his legs and wrists tied together. But that was the best part about it. Blood dripped from his face, and a mysterious puddle of blood pooled beneath him.
“Oh, God,” I whispered. “What happened?”
But he didn’t answer. He just laid there, losing blood by the second, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I struggled against the ropes tying my wrists together, but there was no budging. It was too tight, and as I tugged, it only scraped against my skin.
Whimpering, I tried to think of anything I could do, but my brain was muddled and pounding.
“So, she’s awake,” someone chuckled.
Dark boots stepped in my line of sight. A dark trench coat hung from his bulky frame, and as I slowly looked up, my chest tightened with fear at what I saw. The man was frightening, with deep pock marks on his face and a few scars that spoke of the scrapes he’d been in.
“Who are you?” I managed to squeak out.
“Who am I?” Chuckling, he sat across from me, his legs spread wide as she got in my face. “That’s a good question. Maybe you should ask your boyfriend. And while you’re at it, maybe you could find out why he chose to not follow my orders.”
I sucked in a breath at his words. So, this was the man Archer and JR worked for.
