“Great, we’re throwing clichés around now. Just kill me and put me out of my misery.”
Charlie chuckles. “If you think about it, she’s perfect for you.”
I stare at him like he’s just grown wings. “Are you insane? She’s been lying and manipulating me from the get-go.”
“I said what I said.” Charlie gloats, and I flip him the bird. His expression turns solemn. “She saved your ass back there.”
“She saved all our asses,” Kai acknowledges, rubbing the back of his neck.
“We were toast when those reinforcements arrived. We only got away because she gave us an advantage,” Hunt reminds me.
“I can’t work out if she’s an enemy or an ally or if it’s interchangeable depending on the circumstances,” I admit.
“So, let’s ask her,” Kaiden says. “I reckon it’s cards-on-the-table time for all of us.”
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Athena
“Can you take these off now?” I ask when we are finally up in the air, lifting my bound wrists. “And I need to use the bathroom.” Pain shoots through my arm from my injury, and I wince.
“You’re hurt.” Kai frowns from his seat across from me.
“Her wrists are bleeding,” Hunt says, but I barely even feel that pain. I haven’t taken pain pills in hours, and my arm is throbbing like a bitch. It’s possible I might pass out from a combination of pain, dehydration, and starvation.
“Don’t try anything,” Drew warns, reaching over from the seat beside me and unlocking the cuffs.
“What the hell do you think I’m going to do forty thousand feet in the air?”
“Cut the sass, or I’ll gag you again,” he says, standing and helping me to my feet.
“Get off. I can go by myself.” I move out to the aisle.
“Not a chance, sweetheart.” Drew eyeballs his friends. “Order food and drinks and keep an eye on the prisoner.”
I glance over at the teenage boy, sitting beside Charlie in the group of four seats on the right of the aisle. He’s cuffed to the arm of the chair closest to the window, scowling at the large man with a gray crewcut sitting across from him with a menacing smile.
“Don’t hurt him.” I jab my finger in the air. “Touch one hair on his head, and I’ll gut you like a squealing pig the minute we land.”
“She’s a tad dramatic,” Drew says, taking my elbow.
“A bit like someone I know,” Kai pipes up, and he’s fast becoming my favorite person.
“No one is hurting the boy,” Drew says. “Get him some food and drink and a blanket if he’s cold.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Move.” Drew motions me forward with his eyes, and I chew on the inside of my mouth instead of giving in to my desire to chewhimout.
He opens a door at the end of the plane, letting me step into the bedroom with en suite shower room first. Drew locks it before turning to face me. “Strip.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to see your arm. How bad is it?”
“It’s fine,” I lie as my arm aches anew.
“Off with the shirt, or I’ll do it myself.”
