I wasn’t good at sitting around and doing nothing. And the fact that I’d left without telling any of my clients what was going on made matters worse. I hoped I still had a business when I got back. I’d worked so damn hard to get to where I was, and it could all be gone. The thought made me nauseous.
Gunner had been receiving regular updates from Carter, but they hadn’t made any progress on finding the Irish or figuring out how to get them to back off.
I’d been busy planning a disgusting dinner that included baked beans, asparagus, and beetroot when I was rudely interrupted by Gunner dragging me into the bathroom and once again cuffing me. If I hadn’t hated vegetables before our little cabin getaway, I’d surely hate them by now.
I rattled the towel rack until my arms turned into limp noodles. With nothing else to do, I slumped against the wall and worked on a new escape plan.
I grudgingly admitted that Gunner was great at his job. He really did have every corner of the cabin covered. Escaping was also a lot harder when you were stuck in the same room as your captor 90 percent of the time.
Guess it was poetic justice that he’d locked me in the bathroom, since last time it was him who found himself locked inside one.
The soundof the front door closing ripped me out of my thoughts two hours later.
“Honey, I’m home,” a deep, familiar voice called out before a grinning Gunner appeared in the doorway to the bathroom.
I didn’t respond, trying for more passive-aggressive silence instead. Not that it had ever worked in the past.
He uncuffed me and caught my hand before I could stomp away—in silence but with lots of stomping, of course.
“What happened?” he asked, looking at the red welts around my wrist. I should have just held on to the towel rack with both hands when I tried to hulk it off the wall instead of rattling the cuffs in anger. But I was too mad to think before I acted.
The redness from my drawer incident had only just gone away.
“Nothing,” I said, pulling my hand back. “Can I go now?”
He stepped back, his jaw hard. There were streaks of dirt smeared across his face, and I forced down the impulse to wipe them off.
Nothing good ever came of touching him, so it was best if I kept my hands to myself.
So instead of giving in, I retreated into the main area of the cabin. But there wasn’t really anywhere I could escape to. Well, except the bathroom. But I’d be damned if I went back in there anytime soon.
“I’ll be outside, getting dinner ready,” he said, and I chose to ignore what that meant.
When he came back over an hour later, I was lying on the bed, my head hanging off the edge, counting the wooden beams on the roof. Heating up our sides, aka tins of beans, wouldn’t take long, so there wasn’t much for me to do.
“The meat is cooking on the barbeque, and I think I saw bread mix somewhere.”
At the mention of bread, I perked up. “Bread? Really?”
He rummaged through the tins, finding a box that had a loaf of bread on the front.Eureka.
“Do you need help?” I asked, getting off the bed.
“I think we only need to add water and milk.”
There wasn’t much in the cabin, but we had plenty of water. And, of course, tinned food and powdered milk. We’d survive at least six months on all the supplies that were stacked up along the shelf and under the benches.
Once we got out of here, I’d never look at baked beans the same again. In fact, I hoped I’d never have to look at them again at all.
Gunner opened the box and poured the mix into a bowl. “Says on the packaging that you just need to mix it all together and put it in the oven for an hour. Sounds easy enough.”
I nodded like I knew what he was talking about. I’d never in my life made my own bread, premix or not. My mom knew how to bake anything from scratch, but I had no talent in the kitchen. Or any interest in learning how to cook or bake.
I regretted that decision now. But who would have thought I’d ever need to know how to make bread?
I measured the water and mixed the milk powder, and Gunner put it all together. He then slid the bread in the oven.
“We just have to remember to take it out on time.”
