“I’m so sorry, Hailey,” he utters. “I’m so sorry I let Alex into our lives. I know he was hurting you. I should have seen it. I should have protected you.”
“It’s not your fault. I... I don’t want to talk about Alex.”
“Of course, I’m sorry. Tell me how you’re doing.”
“I’m tired. I want to come home. I want to see you and I want this nightmare to be over.” I regret the words as soon as they leave my lips.
I’m sure he wants nothing more than to have me home but that won’t happen anytime soon.
“As much as I hate it, you’re safer where you are right now.” He lets out a deep sigh, like he can’t believe he’s forced to say this. “Carter’s very protective of you and better equipped than I am to keep you safe.”
I could argue, I could tell him he’s my dad and it’shisjob to keep me safe. That he’s a cop for crying out loud. He’s supposed to protect me... but I keep it in. He sounds so beaten, so resigned.
Admitting a criminal can do a better job at keeping his only daughter out of harm’s way couldn’t have been easy.
“Don’t worry about me,” I say, hoping to ease the weight on his shoulders. “I’m okay... and once I remember where Alex hid the evidence, I can come home.”
“I have to go, sweetheart.”
A puzzled frown creases my forehead as I check the time. We’ve only been speaking for three minutes. He hasn’t heard from me in weeks, hasn’t seen me in months, and now we’re finally on a secure line, he’s too busy, even after everything that’s happened.
“When you find the evidence...” he continues. “Remind Carter about our deal.”
“What deal?” I interject, dreading hisgoodbye. “You struck adealwith him? He’s a criminal, Dad.”
“I know. Believe me, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but everything hinges on Alex’s findings, sweetheart. They’re important. Remember that I love you, Hailey. So much.”
“I love you, too.”
The call ends, leaving me staring at the phone, replaying everything he said, a peculiar feeling twisting my gut. Something doesn’t quite add up.
25
CARTER
It’s past two in the morning when Hailey stirs. I’ve monitored the live feed of her sleeping a dozen times since we arrived, and learned she doesn’t move much unless she’s had a bit to drink the night before. Mostly, she wakes up in the same position she falls asleep in, so I know she’s awake the moment the sheets ruffle and she turns to stare at the clock on the bedside table, probably too sleepy to comprehend the time.
If she were caught by sleep paralysis, she wouldn’t move her head, so my heartrate stays level and my ass stays in the control room’s leather desk chair, a half-empty glass of Bourbon by the keyboard.
Hailey glides away from the clock, the dim orange hue of the nightlamp painting shadows across her pretty face. The paralysis doesn’t happen half as often with the nightlamp on, and even though it takes her longer to fall asleep, she doesn’t fight me over keeping it lit anymore.
I click a button, enlarging and centering the view from her room, the others rearranging themselves in smaller rectangles around the edge. I still have a magnified view of the front and back road on the other monitors, but directly in front of me is now mostly Hailey.
I zoom in on the bed, watching her shift position, those big eyes scanning the room slowly until she pinpoints the camera mounted in the corner of the room.
She stares into it without smiling, not giving me any facial expression, but she knows I’m manning the control room: the only reason why the bedroom camera is switched on. If I’m not close enough to hear if she wakes up paralyzed, I keep her onscreen so I can get upstairs as fast as possible if she needs me to calm her down.
It won’t be the case tonight, though. She’s fully awake... and flushed. Her cheeks grow pink while she holds my gaze—or rather stares into the camera—edging the sheets down her body.
My cock turns hard in no seconds flat.
God, I hope she’s not about to do what I think or I can’t promise I’ll stay in this seat.
My heartrate picks up rhythm when the comforter falls away and it’s just Hailey on the bare mattress. Inhaling deeply, her boobs rising and falling in sync, she props herself against the pillow. My mouth turns dry when she slides one spaghetti strap of her night dress off until her right breast pops out, the candy-hard peak of her nipple clear as fucking day through the 4K resolution camera.
Blood shooshes in my ears when she pinches her nipple between two fingers, then rolls it slowly, her lips parting on cue. My cock hardens more, swelling behind the fabric of my pants and boxers, pushing against the zipper, begging me to haul ass upstairs and let it sink inside Hailey’s warm, pink pussy.
But I don’t, because I know what she’s doing.
