Page 61 of Three, Two, One [321]

But she’s alluded to being a willing participant in some sexually deviant thing on several occasions. So who is looking for her?

“I can see your mind spinning, you know.”

“Is that right?” I ask. “What am I thinking?”

“You want answers. And I’m not going to offer them up. Not yet. If I leave this loft, I’m not coming back.”

“What?” I sit up for this part. “Explain.”

She shrugs and turns over, showing me her marred back in the bright morning sun. I lift up her hair and study the brand. “It’s a circle, so that means forever.”

“Yes,” she says in a low voice.

“But there’s no legally binding contract on forever, Blue.”

“I’m aware.”

“So what are you afraid of? That someone will see you and take you back?”

“Something like that.”

“Kill you?”

Silence.

I take a deep breath and lie back down, my arm pushing under her hip so I can circle her waist. “We can stay in. It’s no big deal. We’ll have dinners together.”

She turns her head a little, looking over her shoulder at me. “We can? All three of us?”

I shrug. “I don’t control JD, but yeah. I’ll eat your food.”

She turns all the way over this time and stares at me. “What’s this about? You’re Mr. Agreeable now?”

“I’m never Mr. Disagreeable.”

“Whatever,” she laughs. “You’re nosy and bossy. You want to call all the shots and you hate it when you can’t. I barely know you, and these things are so true, I figured them out on day one.”

“Day one? You were out of it on day one.”

“And still I had you pegged.”

I stare at her for a few seconds. She needs to eat more, that’s for sure. She’s not sick-looking, like the first day she got here. But she’s still too thin and she looks weak. Her complexion is far too pale and her hair isn’t shiny and bright. But her eyes are getting there. And this gives me hope. Enough hope to allow her some leeway in finding her way forward. “I just want what’s good for you, that’s all. Staying in or going out isn’t a fight I’m interested in fighting just yet.”

She reaches up and touches my face. “Why are you interested at all?”

I take her finger and pull it to my lips to give it a kiss. “I think you need help. And I want to be the one to give it to you.”

“You’re a good Samaritan?”

“Something like that.”

She chuckles at the way I mimic her answer a few seconds ago. “OK, then. I’ll make you guys food and you will eat with me and not pressure me to leave here.”

“Deal,” I tell her. “Now let’s go back to sleep. With any luck, JD will get lost on his way to the breakfast place and leave us alone for a little while.”

She turns back around, her back pressed against my chest. “I know you worry about it. But I don’t understand why. He seems fine to me.”

“Well, Blue, if you ever get a desire to leave the loft, maybe one day you can follow him. Then you’ll know what he’s up to. Then you’ll know why I worry.”