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“What?” Lucas stops at the door, and my breath hitches. They’re enormous, and standing shoulder to shoulder they give the very clear message that I’ll never win a fight with them.
“Please. I just want to go home.” I hate the little whine that wiggles into my tone.
They stare at me a moment, then Lucas turns. “She’s all yours, Colt. Get those pills in her and get her to lay back down.”
Once Lucas is out of the room, Colt steps further inside and shuts the door behind him. The little click echoes.
“I don’t need any aspirin,” I say firmly. My head feels like it’s going to explode, but I need to keep my wits about me, and I can’t do that if I’m drugged up.
He takes along moment to look me over. “You’re pale and your eyes are all glassy. You’re fighting off a lot of pain when there’s no need.”
“I’m not taking anything you give me.” I have to keep my mind clear, and I can’t be a coward. No one knows where I am and from what I saw when I looked out the window, I doubt there’s anyone close enough to this place to hear me if I scream. Which means, I need to get out of here. And I can’t do that if I’m sleeping or too drugged up to know which way the door is.
“Hmm.” He picks up the aspirin bottle off the night table and twists the top off, shaking one of the pills into his palm. His hand is as big as my whole face. He picks up the glass of water and looks right at me.
I ready myself. I won’t be able to beat him in a fight, but I might be able to get the pill out of his hand if he tries to shove it in my mouth.
With our eyes locked, he pops the pill into his mouth and takes a gulp of the water to push it down.
“See? Nothing’s gonna’s hurt you.” He puts the glass next to the bottle of pills. “Your turn.” He holds out the glass of water to me.
I’m in too much pain to keep arguing with this mammoth of a man. I take the pills and down the glass of water.
He stares at me a long moment.
“Good girl,” he says with a curt nod. “Now get some rest.”
“Wait.” I stop him as he turns for the door.
“What?”
“What is going on? Why am I here? What happened?”
“Give me a second.” He leaves the room, keeping the door ajar. I hear his heavy footsteps disappear. Moments later he’s back with a cell phone in his hand. He closes the door behind him again.
“This morning we got a call from Hunter. He’s… a friend… who’s done some work for us in the past. He called us to take you off his hands.”
“He’s the guy who was in my room? Who kidnapped me?” I don’t remember much after that. Not even what he looked like, only the darkness of his voice.
“He’s the guy.” He opens an app on his phone. “He was hired by your stepmother to kill you.”
My stomach drops. “Kill me?” The urge to run boils within me.
“Yes.” He hands me the phone. “That’s the call. He recorded it.”
I touch play and my stepmother’s voice fills the room.
“I want her gone. Dead. Never to return, do you understand me? No trace of her either. It needs to look like she’s missing.” Her voice is insistent, full of hatred.
Tears well up in my eyes.
“Is that why I’m here?” Fear pours over me. My hand shakes as I hand the phone back to him.
“No. We aren’t in the business of killing.” He tucks the phone away. “Hunter brought you here so we can protect you and help figure out what to do about your stepmother.”
“I’m hiding here?”
He lifts a shoulder. “Essentially, yeah. You’re under our protection while you’re here. Which means you need to do as we say. The seven of us can’t keep you safe if you’re hell-bent on doing things your own way and not listening to us.”
