“Watch her,” she said as she left the room, pulling the door shut with a thud.
Andrew stared out the peephole for several minutes, then moved the curtain aside to watch out the window. Letting it fall, he turned and looked at Addison intently before approaching the bed.
No. Fuck, no. If he came near her, she’d kick him in the face and anywhere else she could reach before she let him rape her. She scooted over as much as she could and turned on her side, kicking out when he got close enough.
“Stop!” he hissed, grabbing her leg.
“No!” She struggled as best she could, wriggling and twisting, kicking and kneeing.
He lay down on top of her and pressed a thumb into the pressure point of her hip.
“Ow!” She jerked her knee up, ineffectually hitting him in the chest.
“If you don’t stop struggling, I can’t loosen the ropes,” he said.
She froze. “What?”
“I can’t untie you—she’ll realize someone had to let you go and that someone could only be me. I can’t afford to lose my cover right now.”
“You’re—? You’re the inside guy?” She didn’t want to mention Connie’s name in case this was all a ruse.
“Yes. We don’t have much time until she figures out there really is nothing to eat here and comes back. Don’t kick me when I get off you.”
“Okay,” she whispered. She still glared at him warily.
He knelt beside the bed and pulled on the frame. “She might have tied you, but I set up the ropes.” He yanked on the frame and grunted. “I loosened the frame when I did so it would look like you managed to slip free.”
The bed shifted, and he fell back on his ass. “Shit. I thought I’d loosened it more than that.”
The rope slackened, and she pulled her arms down, groaning when her muscles protested after being in one position for too long. “How is this going to work? I can’t just walk out of here.”
He pushed up and helped her sit. “There’s a team on the way, but they’re about fifteen minutes out. You’re going to hit me on the back of the head with the telephone to make it look like you took me by surprise and then you’re going to run. There’s a cop over by the souvenir shop.”
“Where is that from here?”
“It’s across the road—we’re on the back side of the hotel. There’s a bridge that goes over the road if there’s too much traffic. Although with your hands tied like that, you might get help faster if you flag someone down.”
He unplugged the old-fashioned push-button phone from the wall and handed it to her. “You ready?”
She took the phone and nodded. “Yes.”
“Okay. I’m going to kneel on the rug so I don’t fall so far.”
That surprised a laugh from her. “Okay.”
He knelt on the carpet and hung his head down. She lifted the phone over her head and paused.
“You have to do this, Addison.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I knocked you on the head. It’s only fair.”
She swung the phone down with all her strength. The bell inside it rang.
He grunted and fell to one elbow, but didn’t collapse. “You need to do it harder than that.”
She gritted her teeth. With her hands tied together, she wasn’t sure she could get the leverage. The decision was taken from her when the lock beeped and the door rattled.
