“Miss you,” she mouthed at me.
“Miss you more,” I mouthed back like I always did when she did it to me.
“Does anyone know how long they’ve been gone?” Ariel asked as she fiddled with her wrist. “I don’t have my watch.”
“I didn’t know you wore a watch?” Amanda asked as she turned to her sister.
Ariel smiled at her. “Cap got it for me. Birthday gift.”
I gasped. “We missed your birthday!?”
Amanda furrowed her brow. “No? What do you mean, birthday present?”
It was Ariel’s turn to blush. “Cap’s been doing this thing, you know? He says that he missed so many birthdays where he could’ve spoiled me that he’s going to start making up for them.”
“Oh. My God. That’s adorable,” Jasmine said.
“Do you get to pick your presents?” Anna asked. “Or, are you at his mercy?”
“Why?” Ariel shot back with a smile. “Don’t like being at anyone’s mercy?”
“Not my kink, no,” she said.
Somehow we found a way to pass the time by talking. The silence of the inside really helped to create an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ phenomena, and soon I found out all sorts of juicy things. For instance, apparently Jasmine and Ghost were lovers of the hard and quick. She told us about some of their sneaky escapades, or the moments where she’d wake up and he’salready going to town. And Amanda? Apparently, her and her man, Wrecker, love adrenaline rushes. They’re already planning their first cross-country trip together on the back of his bike.
Though, Ariel seemed a bit shocked at that.
Then, there was my best friend, and all I could do was smile while she gushed about Ranger. I wanted to know more about how he helped her. I had so many things to ask. So many things that I wanted to know. But the more she talked about the plans she had with Ranger, like going out on more rides so that she wasn’t so fearful of being on the bike with him, made me so goddamn proud of her. If I went through half of the shit that I could only imagine she went through, I would’ve never found my solace in the arms of another penis-wielder.
Em was always something else, though.
“What was that?” Anna asked.
“What was what?” I asked.
“Cap!”
“Oh my God, Wrecker.”
“Ghost! Ghost, where are you?!”
“Is Ranger out there!?”
I leapt to my feet when the door to the panic room disengaged, and the words to tell them to stand back got caught in my throat. Because when the door hissed open and I watched the familiar faces of those men pour into the room just to scoop their women up, I stumbled back with relief.
I collapsed back onto the edge of one of the beds.
“Where is she? Elizabeth! Marla, where is my Liz? Don’t tell me you guys let her out of this room, I would’ve?—”
My Liz.
My Liz.
My Liz.
I was up on my feet the second I heard his voice, but it was the tears that sprang to my eyes that pushed me across the room.My ankle was still a bit tender and I limped more than I wanted to, but I didn’t let it stop me.
“Oh my God, Doc,” I blubbered out as my face collapsed.
