AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ghost flicked a gaze from my head, down to my toes, and then back to my eyes. “In the back of my car.”
I stared at him, speechless with incredulity. If he thought I was going to meekly go along with his psychotic road trip plan, then he wasn’t as smart as I thought he was. The second he stopped to pee, or get a snack, or gas up, I would be gone. “Okay,” I said, trying to keep my features neutral.
He leaned over me suddenly, bracing his hands on either side of me and bringing his nose an inch from mine. He smelled like eucalyptus and mint, and the warmth radiating from his body nearly set my overheated body on fire. “Until we get to the camper van. Then I’m handcuffing you to the bed until we get there.”
“You’re going to what?”
His cold smile in response sent goosebumps down my tethered arms. “I have one of my operatives waiting for us in Salt Lake City with a convenient little camper van. Should make it easy to haul you across the country without being noticed by anyone you might con into helping you.” He leaned a little closer, his voice dropping. “And if you so much as sneeze in a way I don’t like, I’ll hogtie you and gag you like I threatened.”
Like my nose had understood him with its own sentience, my nostrils itched, and I got the urge to sneeze in his face. I tamped it down because by the way he was staring at me—the hard lines bracketing his mouth and the ruthless intensity in his eyes—I knew he meant it. He was actually going to tie me up and cart me across three thousand miles of interstate until we made it to New York. I really was fucked this time. I couldn’t even blame him for wanting to make sure I stayed caught. It was a decent payout, and as far as he knew, my mommy and daddy wanted me home. There wasn’t anything sinister about it… from the outside.
Ghost straightened, leaving me prone on the bed and struggling for words. “Any other questions?”
I forced my mouth to close. Then I shoved a mask of indifference over my horrified features and settled back into the mattress. “Nope.” It was so much easier to pretend I didn’t care, to give the illusion that these things didn’t affect me. It had hurt deeply when I was younger—never being told you were loved was bound to. But displaying that hurt for all the world to see only gave them a license to poke it. To make it bleed. I’d learned the harsh reality that the world didn’t care if you were a wounded person limping through life. They only cared if they could use it to manipulate you. So, I’d hidden it away where it couldn’t be seen and it couldn’t be abused. Indifference was my armor and intelligence my sword. One to protect and one to strike with.
“Thought so.” With a cheeky lift of one eyebrow, Ghost turned and left the room.
I sniffed again, glaring at the pristine, white ceiling. No matter how stringently I chastised myself, no matter how resolutely I repeated the phrase, you’re fine, don’t cry. You’re fine, don’t cry, my body didn’t seem to get the memo. A stray tear leaked out from the corner of my eye, and it was all I could do to keep myself from spiraling into thoughts of my inevitable future in captivity.
If I did that, I’d think of that person. The monster. And once that started, there was no coming back from the nightmares. If I opened the mental door I kept locked in the back of my mind, the fears and panic would spill out and leak toxic dread over every fold and synapse of my brain. No matter how insistently the monster banged at the door, I would not open myself to thoughts of him. Keep closed. Stay safe.
I usually managed to succeed in keeping my despair dammed up tight, but my body didn’t comply quite as readily as my well-trained thoughts. I squirmed and twitched, restless and sore, and slowly, like mercury in a thermometer, I felt my temperature rising with every labored puff of breath. Sweat broke out on my forehead, and my nose started running so badly, I made a mess on the comforter wiping it on my own. So gross.
I fell into a fitful sleep, and when I woke again, it was to a cold hand on my forehead. The light from the window behind me had dimmed, and Ghost had turned on a soft, yellow light from a bedside table. I looked up to find him frowning, and he flipped his hand on my forehead so the backs of his fingers pressed against my dewy forehead. I closed my eyes again, too tired to find my sass. His hand felt so good on my hot skin.
His hand left, and then I looked up again to find him pointing the thermometer gun at my forehead. It beeped several times, insistent and clearly angry. “Shit,” he hissed.
“Did you fry me?” I croaked.
Ghost leaned over me, pressing one knee into the mattress and grasping the black canvas belt around my chest and arms. He loosened it with quick, efficient movements. “I may have kept you in the oven a little long,” he admitted ruefully.
I coughed, trying to lean into my shoulder by habit, and it rattled tight from my chest up to my throat. I groaned as Ghost loosened the second belt. “You really shouldn’t eat rabbits. They’re too cute.”
His hands stalled, and he flicked a loaded glance my way. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
My lips twitched. So, he does have a sense of humor. I tucked that information away for later. Possibly. The third belt loosened, and with creaky limbs, I extricated myself from the blankets, suddenly desperate to feel cold, fresh air on my face and be out of the stifling fabric. I kicked my legs, and Ghost fought me, struggling with the belts. “Calm down.”
“I can’t,” I huffed, kicking the last of the blanket and belts away. “I’m dying. I’m boiling on the inside.”
“Your temperature is one-oh-three, so I’m not surprised.” Ghost helped me, removing the last of the blanket.
I rolled away from him, going spread eagle on the bed and sucking in huge gulps of air. Ghost followed, snaking an arm around my waist and lifting me. “Come on. You need water and cold meds. We’re leaving in twenty minutes.”
I coughed again, pushing against him, but my arms had gone boneless, and I swore the room wavered like a mirage in the desert. “Get off—ah, choo.” I sneezed loudly, bringing the crook of my elbow up to my nose, and it was at that moment I realized I was wearing the middle-aged woman’s purple jacket still. And my pants were gone. I stared at my bare legs, and then leveled an outraged look his way. “What the hell?”
“Don’t even go there,” he warned darkly, dragging me to the edge of the bed. “Your pants literally froze on you between the trail and my car. Yes. I took them off.”
I noted the still-damp underwear he’d left on me, and then I gave him an affronted glare. “You took my clothes off, you perv.”
“I’m not a perv, I’m a heartless kidnapper,” he replied with a tilt of a laugh in his voice. “There’s a distinct difference.”
“What difference?”
Forcing me to stand with him, he hauled me up against his hard body. I grasped his shirt, surprised. “Follow-through, Bunny. I might have seen, but I didn’t touch. That good enough for you?”
“I wish I’d known,” I glared. “I wouldn’t have shaved my legs.”
Ghost steadied me, and I was suddenly grateful he had a titanium strong arm around my waist, because my legs slumped. Undeterred, he held me upright. “Are you being dramatic, or am I really going to have to carry you to the living room?”
