“No?”
“No! I can’t call it up whenever I want,” she said. “It comes when it comes.”
Kedrov considered that then said calmly, “Until it does, prepare to be a guest here for a very long while.” He dismissed them, ordering his men, “Take them away.”
The brute hauled Lauren to her feet. Morgan grabbed Erica roughly by the arm.
She jerked away violently. “Are you deaf or just stupid? I’ll walk.”
The two guards chuckled again.
“Then, move,” Morgan snapped.
Chapter 31
On the hard narrow bed, staring at the ceiling again, she didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel. But her mind betrayed her anyway.
Vince’s face came to her. She remembered the glint in his eye when he teased her, the slow, crooked smile that always tugged at one corner first. She could almost hear him call herdarlin’in that deep, sexy drawl that made her melt. And she remembered his lips on hers.
He was as clear to her as if they were in her studio that rainy night.
His head dipped to hers, his breath warm on her lips as he whispered, “Still nothing?”
Her pulse skipped. “Nothing that I’m not supposed to feel.”
His hand moved slowly up her back, and his voice rumbled. “Good. Because I don’t want anything or anyone in this with us.”
But someone else was. Morgan had pulled a gun, fired, and everything changed.
A tear slipped into her hair.
Water rushed through pipes overhead. A moment later, the bathroom door squeaked open. Lauren crossed the room and crouched next to the tray on the floor. Her hand hovered over it, then she picked up one of the cans of Coke, leaving the rest untouched.
She turned to her. “You should eat. The food sucks, but you need your strength.”
Erica blinked at the ceiling. “For what?”
“Rescue,” Lauren replied. “I haven’t given up hope.”
She rolled only her head on the thin piece of foam that was supposed to pass for a pillow and stared at her. The girl was bruised, terrified, barefoot on cold concrete, and still clung to hope.
Erica wasn’t sure she had any left. But Lauren was right. She had to stay strong for both of them.
Resigned to eating when she had no appetite, she sighed. “Toss me the crackers.”
She caught them without enthusiasm, turning the plastic pack over in her hands but not opening it.
Lauren didn’t return to her side of the room. She approached and asked the question that must have been burning inside her. “You said my sister’s name earlier. Shannon. You know her?”
“We met at a barbecue. I… sensed something was wrong.” She didn’t elaborate. She couldn’t. “Your sister seemed scared. I didn’t understand why.”
Lauren’s gaze drifted to where scratches covered the wall in neat bundles of five.
She counted quickly. At least fifteen bundles. “You’ve been here that long?”
“Give or take.” She shrugged, sounding tired, and no wonder. “I started marking after the first week. I didn’t want to lose track.” Lauren lowered herself onto the bed next to her. “I can’t imagine how Shannon is holding up. She’ll blame herself. They took me because of her job.”
“She works for Senator Burnside,” Erica said.
