“I told you,” Talon murmurs. “Don’t give me a reason. Up.”
Cassian and Talon haul Mark out of the car.
“If anyone asks,” Talon murmurs to me, “he’s drunk and we’re putting him to bed. Try not to look like you want to stab him, okay, Little Grim?”
“I always look like that,” I whisper back.
“I know, baby. But try to think about something else, okay?”
We cross the parking lot. The front-desk guy barely glances over when we pass. He clocks Mark’s unsteady gait, but I guess he’s learned to look the other way.
We reach our door. I unlock it and push inside.
The room is smaller than it looked in the faded lobby photo: two beds with ugly floral bedspreads, a nightstand, a sticky-looking carpet, and a bathroom door hanging half off its hinges.
But it’ll do.
“Way worse than our hospital, huh?” Talon asks.
They march Mark into the space between the beds and shove him down. He hits the carpet, and Nathaniel is on him a second later, retightening every knot Mark loosened outside.
He might be tied up again, but he’s still going to be too close to me tonight. I didn’t mind him being in the car, because that was different. But having Mark in the same room while I sleep feels like hell.
“Smaller,” I say.
“Meh. We’re going to push the beds together,” Talon replies. “Make one big bed while Mark sleeps on the floor.”
At the same time, Nathaniel ties Mark’s hands a little too tight, and Mark grunts.
“This treatment is beyond excessive,” Mark hisses. “You’re going to cut off my blood flow.”
“Really?” Nathaniel asks evenly.
“Yes! I can’t feel my fingers.”
Nathaniel ignores him completely. Cassian tosses him the roll of tape, and Nathaniel rips off a fresh strip. He slaps it over Mark’s mouth again.
Mark’s eyes burn as they follow me when I move.
I busy myself by pretending to check the lock, sliding the bolt back and forth. The room really does feel small. The air feels thin.
“Okay,” Talon says, clapping his hands once. “Watch schedule. I’ll take first. Cassian, second. Nathaniel, third. Skye gets to sleep because she’s our favorite. And also because she already died once, which we should try not to repeat.”
I choke on a laugh.
“I can take a watch,” I say.
Nathaniel shakes his head. “No. You need rest. You didn’t sleep at all in the car.”
Right. Like I could relax in here with that piece of shit. We should’ve found another way to handle him. Like… I don’t know. Bury him. He could wait patiently in a grave, suffocating every now and then.
But you know what they say: keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Besides, we didn’t have time to dig one.
Either way, it’s hard to stay in this room. I take a deep breath, and it still isn’t enough.
“I’m going out,” I say, reaching for the door.
