“Not until Ghost has at least investigated Ledger a little more.”
“I want to go back. You can’t just say no to me. I’m not a prisoner here.”
“No, but you’re under my protection.” Jack glowers. “You came to me, remember?”
Flutters of panic dance around the hollows of my chest. “I didn’t realize coming to you would hand over my freedom!”
A muscle ticks beneath his eye. “You have your freedom.”
I throw out a hand. “How can you say that? I can’t even go for a bike ride when I’m still in the confines of the compound. I’m being stalked by your asshole men—” I glare at Ghost so there’s little confusion who I’m referring to. “And now you’re telling me I’m not allowed to leave at all.”
Jack slowly rises from his seat, seeming to grow as large as a monolith. He plants both hands on the desk in front of him and cranes his head closer to mine. His voice is low and steady.
“You leave when I say you leave.”
I sputter at the audacity of this man. “If you don’t take me back… I’ll, I’ll… call the police.” It’s a stupid threat that I don’t even mean.
The room goes very still. So still and so silent it makes the hair stand on the back of my neck.
I just seriously fucked up.
Ghost steps closer to me, tall, quiet, and terrifying. Iimmediately move back until I end up flat against the wall with Ghost right at my front, staring down at me.
“Little girl, we don’t threaten to call the police around here,ever.It’s a fucking death sentence to do something so stupid.”
That’s when it happens. That’s when I lose my last shred of dignity. The moment any control I had left snaps.
“Please, just leave me alone.” The words come out on a sob and big fat tears spill down my cheeks. I sniff loudly, not caring the sound is unpleasant, and wipe at the tears with my hand.
Ghost glances over his shoulder at Jack. “Well, fuck. Now what do I do?”
It’s as if he’s not been threatening me. As if my reaction is totally over the top.
Jack blows out a breath and shakes his head. “Get the hell out and sort out Rook and those fucking Numbnuts. Tell them they’ve lost all privileges for a week. As for Rook, order him to stay in his room until I talk to him.”
Ghost gives a curt nod and leaves me and Jack alone, the door closing behind him.
I hang my head, mortified at my tears and my brokenness. I just want this to end now. For all of it tostop,and to be able to feel safe again. I wish I’d never gone on that stupid date. I wish I’d never come to Jack for help. I wish I’d remained invisible to everyone and just been allowed to get on with my life.
“Please, let me go back to the college. I need my friends. It’s all been too much.”
“Baby-girl.” Jack’s deep voice calling me that pet name is like molten heat to my core, but I harden myself against it as he carries on. “It’s not safe.”
“What if I promise that I won’t ever be alone outside my room?”
“How do you plan on doing that? You don’t have a personal bodyguard.”
I think fast. I need to get out of here. These men are screwing with my mind. I want Jack all the time—even when he’s acting like a total controlling, overbearing dick—and then there’s Ace, whose gorgeous mouth and beautiful eyes keep sneaking into my thoughts in the same way he’d slipped into my bed. My heart now seems to be making space for Rook, with his prison tattoos and lean body. He looks like a tough guy on the outside, but he’s young and unsure of himself, just like me. Finally, there’s Ghost, who clearly hates me and think’s I’m a brat, and, despite myself, I discover that I want to prove to him that I’m not what he thinks.
Would Vani let me stay with her? No, if she asks me about Jack, I’ll end up blurting something out.
Ophelia and the Preachers, though?
Ophelia came to the college last year, and she has her men, the Preachers. They live in a water tower, and it is heavily guarded. They would maybe let me stay for a few days, I’m sure.
“I can stay at the water tower with Ophelia and her men.”
Jack’s eyes narrow.
