Samuel sighs and runs a hand through his greasy hair. “This shit keeps getting crazier and crazier,” he mumbles under his breath as he grabs a towel off the counter. “I’m going to shower.”
When the water starts up, I kneel down in front of Hazel. Joseph watches me as I run my hand down her back, feeling how much more prominent her spine is sticking out. She’s lost too much weight in a short period of time. Whatever Phil is doing to her, he’s killing her. I ease my hands around her face and lift her head up. Her lids droop, barely revealing her eyes.
“Hey, hellcat,” I whisper, trying not to let my voice break.
Her mouth slightly tugs up in the corners, showing the depths of the cracks lining her lips.
“There’s my girl.” I force myself to sound happy about it, but my heart feels like it’s in a vice. I’m dying inside.
“Bobby.”
The sound of my whispered name on her lips is enough to bring a tear to my eye. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see her alive again. I scan her face, and I have to keep my hands from balling into fists. It’s not just anger I’m feeling. It’s happiness, fear, and despair. Myemotions blend from one into the next so fast I can’t figure out what I’m feeling until they’ve already passed. But the one that remains steady in the background is rage. Unadulterated rage.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I whisper to her. “Soon. Stay strong and hold on. Okay, hellcat? Can you do that for me?”
She smiles again, and her head bobs once. “Do you ever wish your dreams could be real?”
I grab her hand and place it on my face so that she can feel me and know that every second of this is reality. Her cold fingers mold to my cheek. “Every day,” I tell her. “But, today, one of them is.”
CHAPTER 19
CADY
DALEhas no fear. He marched in on my shower, scaring the shit out of me and making me scream. I clutched the shower curtain, peered out from behind it, and stared at him as if he’d lost his damn mind. He snatched the towel off the sink and snapped it open before gripping the shower curtain and fighting it out of my grasp.
“Out. You need to get dressed,” he commanded.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” I wailed as I scrambled to get hold of the curtain again.
His nostrils flared, and I froze, water dripping down my face. Dale shut off the water, then ripped the curtain from my hands and away from me. I immediately covered myself the best I could. Not once did his gaze leave mine as he held up the towel for me. I reached out to snatch it away from him, but he stood firm. I stepped from the tub, and he wrapped the towel around me.
“You’ve got two minutes,” he stated. “Move.”
“What is going on?” I asked innocently, knowing damn well what was going on.
Samuel was gone, and they were going to hunt him down. I thought I had made the right decision, but staring at a pissed off Dale towering over me had me second guessing myself. If he was this mad that he was gone, how angry would he be when he found out I set him free?
Dale never responded, only walked away to give me privacy. I got dressed as quickly as I could with wet skin that caused my clothes to stick and wrapped a towel around my head. Dale was leaning against the front door when I joined him.
“Where’s Cash?” I asked, getting his attention.
He turned to me, taking in my pajamas and the towel around my head. “He went to find Samuel.”
“Oh.” I instantly knew that was the wrong answer and didn’t have time to cover.
“Oh?” Dale stalked toward me, making me crane my head back. “Why don’t you seem surprised by that?”
“I…I didn’t….” I tried to step back from him, but he grabbed my arms and pulled me to him. My hands landed on his chest, and I pushed against him but didn’t go anywhere.
“What happened?”
I couldn’t stand to look him in the face as I admittedto what I’d done. Instead, I stared at his chest that rose and fell with each angry breath he took. My voice quivered as I spoke softly. “I let him go.”
“Come again?” he asked. “I could swear you just said you let him go.” His voice rose higher and higher until he was yelling at me.
My head jerked up until I was looking him in the eye. “That’s exactly what I fucking said. I. LET. HIM. GO!”
Dale’s eyes grew wide, and his jaw clamped tight. He picked me up by my arms, making me shriek, and slammed my ass down on the couch. “Don’t fucking move from that spot.”
