Page 68 of Grant’s Blaze

“Umm, no. You’ve made a few comments about her dying from a drug overdose, but that’s about it. But I’m—”

I held up my hand to stop her. “There’s a reason I’m bringing it up. Just hear me out. I was young. Just a teen…fifteen. I was friends with Bas and Elijah already. Actually, Elijah was with me when I found her. Sebastian came right away. You know, for all the shitty things she did in the way of mothering, I still loved her the best I could. So when I found her body, it was hard. Up to that point, I’d never seen an actual dead body before, so it took me a couple of minutes to realize what was going on. I mean, shit, she was so cold. Her skin, you know? And not stiff, but I don’t know. Firm? I don’t know how you describe that. Anyway, it took a police officer to drag me away from the body so they could take her away. I didn’t want to let go of her. She was all I had.” I shrugged. “I mean, she was a super shitty mother, but she was all I had.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that when you were that young. And where did you go after that? To live, I mean.”

I looked away. I don’t know why I felt so self-conscious all of a sudden. Everyone knew my story by that point. So many stories had been written about Bas and me—how we’d come up from nothing to where we were today.

“Bas and I lived on the streets. We took care of ourselves. Well, he had his sister, Pia, too. But yeah, we squatted in his dad’s place for a long time after that old boozer died. As long as the rent got paid, old man Blake never came around. The neighbors all knew what was going on, but we kept out of trouble.” I rolled my eyes and grinned. “For the most part, at least, so no one told the authorities.”

“That’s incredible. I mean, you realize how incredible that is, right?”

“I don’t know about all that. We were just doing what we were doing. We didn’t want to go into the system. We’d heard enough horror stories about what foster homes were like from other kids on the streets, so we knew we didn’t want to be a part of that. And Bas would’ve rather died than be split up from Pia, so he did what he had to do.”

“I don’t understand, though, how the authorities just let children roam around on the streets, knowing it’s going on. I mean, they have to know, right?”

“Well, sure, they know. We used to talk to the CPS case worker that would’ve been assigned to our cases if we would’ve been in the system, but they are so overwhelmed with cases. If they see older kids are doing okay on their own, they look the other way. They don’t want the extra work any more than the kids want to go into the system.”

“That’s unreal. And a crime on its own.” She shook her head but didn’t meet my gaze. “That’s so fucked up.”

“Baby, you can’t fix everything in the world, you know?” But I loved her kind, generous heart that wanted to.

“I know that. But I think about all the years I wanted a baby so badly. Sooo badly, Grant. And they make it so difficult to get a baby in the foster care system. Believe me, Sean and I tried.”

There wasn’t a good response to that. All it did was bring up memories of her deceased husband, and honestly, I didn’t want to think about Sean Gibson at the moment.

“Okay, so let’s go back to you finding your mom. That must’ve been really hard for you, I can only imagine. Does that somehow relate to your time on that pirate vessel? Did those people kill your mother?”

I laughed. Hard. I just couldn’t help it. Now that took an active imagination, connecting those two things in that way. “No, baby,” I finally chuckled out. “The two things aren’t related. Not like that, at least. I told you that story about my mom because that was the first time I’d ever seen or touched a corpse. It’s just not something you ever forget.” With eyes closed, I sucked much-needed air in through my nose, desperate to stay grounded in the here and now. Still, I forced myself to say, “It’s a particular feel—the skin, the smell, even. Everything about it is…distinct.”

I looked at her directly to make sure she was still with me. But this Rio was so different from the woman I dealt with in the days before my abduction. The one who was unpredictable, unfocused, and vacant at times—and wholly capable of scaring the daylights out of me with that empty stare. But for the time being, she was gone—and I rejoiced in that because I needed her full attention now.

We all needed to be on the same page with what was happening, because lives were at stake now. Playtime was over. I had a feeling whatever Elijah found on that video footage on Hannah’s phone wasn’t going to be a bunch of teenagers trying the cinnamon challenge.

Rio nodded that she understood my intention now, so I continued. “Onboard the thugs’ boat, most of the space was used for cargo storage. They tossed me in with the cargo. No nice stateroom for the prisoner, of course.”

I gave her a wink, trying to keep it light, but she immediately frowned. Nothing about this was remotely lighthearted, and I knew the effort had been a long shot.

“Did they tell you what they wanted? Why they came onboard our yacht and took you?” she asked.

“Not directly. Over time, I figured it out—which leads me to think that these pricks aren’t done playing games with us yet. That’s why we’re thinking we probably need to move—”

I stopped that train of thought before it could even pull into the station. Rio would hit the roof if I told her I was taking her to a safe house like Bas did with Abbigail last summer. But damn it, my girl didn’t miss a trick. She caught that slipup and now had her chocolate glare pinned to my forehead like a sniper rifle’s sight.

She slammed her hands to her hips before declaring, “Oh mister, if you think you’re stashing me away like your fish friend did to Abbigail, you have another think coming.”

“We can talk about all of that later. There hasn’t been an actual plan decided on.” I dropped my voice to the dominant tone she responded to without question. The one that warned her not to fuck with me on this. To be extra sure she caught my intention, I leaned over and said right beside her ear, “Because if your safety becomes an issue, you absolutely will do what you are told, Blaze. I don’t care if I have to hog-tie you and carry you there myself. Clear?”

She shivered, and when I sat up straight again, I watched as her mouth dropped open as if she were going to rail on me, but then she thought better and closed it. Opened again and closed. Finally, I spoke before she could launch into a tirade.

“Baby, listen to me.” I tried to scoop up her hands, but she pulled away from my grasp. I narrowed my eyes at her and held my hands out for her.

After making me wait there like that a few beats, she finally placed her hands in mine. I needed that connection with her. Right now, more than ever. She just didn’t understand that yet.

“These men are cruel, evil excuses for humans. Filthy animals who don’t deserve the space they take up. They won’t go easy on any woman they get their hands on. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I waited for some sort of response, and finally my stubborn queen nodded.

“None of us would recover from it, Rio. Not your team here, not your sweet friend Hannah, not Abbigail—and especially not me. None of us could handle you being taken away from us.”