“Yeah. Well, here I am. I have questions.” Finally, the strength she’d been storing decided to make an appearance.
“I’m not a lab rat. You don’t get to poke and prod just because I’m in a cage.”
Is that how he saw her? Is that how he saw himself? She hadn’t come all this way to gloat. That wouldn’t do either of them any good, and she hated wasting time.
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“Why then?” he asked, quick and sharp like the knife he thought she twisted in his back.
Her breaths were uneven again. She’d been preparing for this moment for weeks, and it hadn’t been enough.
“Questions.”
Great. Was that all she could get out? This wasn’t going the way she’d planned.
Zach’s big hands spread over the table as he pushed to his feet. “Sorry you wasted your time.”
Every expectation she’d foolishly held onto melted away. She wanted,needed, answers to the burning questions, but the only thing she’d gotten from Zach Wilson, today and any day, was disappointment.
2
Zach
The crowd in the meeting room did nothing to calm the hum that snaked beneath his skin. The heel of his state-issued boots drummed a quick rhythm on the floor. Another meeting with Lauren. Why did she keep doing this? What was in it for her?
For him, it meant digging up the past, reminding him that he was a monster who deserved this punishment. Breaking up the monotony was icing on the cake. Every day was boring with a side of annoyance.
That is, until Lauren Vincent showed up. He got a few minutes of entertainment before he had to walk away. Her irritating sweetness made him want to ram his fist through the stone walls. She was his opposite—the daylight to his midnight.
The door opened, and Lauren stepped into the room with her shoulders pushed back and her chin high. It was amazing, really. She didn’t look anythinglike the scared woman he shouldn’t have held against her will.
What did she want this time? She’d once said she had questions, but so far, she’d only asked how he was doing. It was stupid, considering he was locked up in the little house of horrors.
The closer she got, the harder his heart pounded. Did she have to be so ridiculously perfect? Straight hair, long lashes, full lips. She even had curves in all the right places, but it was her eyes that affected him the most. Every time she looked at him, he hated himself a little more.
She pulled out the chair beside him and gracefully sat, wafting a faintly floral smell in his direction. Her smile held confidence and radiated a glow he couldn’t understand.
“Hi. How are you doing?” Lauren asked.
“Let’s skip the pleasantries,” Zach said. “What do you want?”
Lauren spread her hands flat on the table. “I’m not sure yet. Is there anything you want to talk about?”
That was enough chit chat. Zach stood and turned. “Sorry you wasted your time.”
“Wait.”
He turned around to find her holding out a candy bar between them.
“I brought this for you,” she said.
Snickers. His mouth watered as he eyed the offering. “You brought a candy bar? Are you trying to bribe me like a dog?”
Lauren’s perfect brows pinched closer together. “With a Snickers bar? Eww, no. Do you know what happens when you give chocolate to a dog? I’m trying to bribe an inmate to have a conversation with me.”
At least she was honest. “What’s the catch?”
“Nothing. Just talk. About anything.”
