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Before she could come up with a plan, a noise outside their prison caught her attention. A few of the girls started softly crying. A loud metal against metal scraping sound was followed by the creak of what she assumed was the door opening.
She braced, ready to launch herself at her captor, but instead she heard, “Princess, are you in here?”
“Travis?” she cried and then arms surrounded her.
She heard someone telling the girls they were all safe and would be returned to their families, but all Janel could do was grip onto Dozer with all her might. She opened her eyes and didn’t understand the darkness. “Don’t you have a flashlight?” she asked.
“Why would we need a flashlight in the middle of the day?” he asked.
Confused, she tipped her head and felt warmth on her skin, yet everywhere she looked was dark. “Travis, why is it dark?”
“Princess, it’s not dark. I promise. The sunlight is shining on your face.”
She blinked and the reality hit her. She turned toward his voice. “I can’t see, Travis. I can’t see!”
CHAPTER 20
Dozer
From his recliner in his remodeled basement, Dozer took another drink straight from the whiskey bottle. He’d bypassed the glass half a bottle ago. The game on the widescreen held no interest. He had no idea who was playing, he just needed the sound to drown out the noise in his head.
He kept reliving the last time he saw her more than two months ago and the last kiss they’d shared before he left on the fucking assignment that turned into a nightmare. He hadn’t planned on kissing her that afternoon in front of everyone at the club. They were leaving and he’d looked back. The fear in her eyes had him marching right up to her and kissing her as a promise to come back to her.
They’d gotten to the location where they were supposed to find the next shipment of girls and thought they’d been set up by the demon when the drop didn’t happen.
He took another drink of whiskey as he remembered Prez getting the phone call from Violet. His blood had run cold when he found out Janel was missing and there was blood beside his truck.
He'd gone crazy and would have killed Demonte if Prez hadn’t held him back from going to the man’s house and ending him with a bullet through the brain. At the time, he’d thought Demon had set them up to take Janel for himself. Turned out he owed Demonte his thanks instead. Demonte overheard his father’s conversation, put the pieces together, and with a bit of persuasion, found out where the girls were, along with Janel.
His fist closed tightly around the neck of the bottle. Janel had been marked for quick sale. That meant anyone with a pulse could buy her. His gut rolled, thinking about what could have happened if they hadn’t gotten there in time.
Closing his eyes, his head fell back against the leather seat. When they found her, he recognized the blood-matted hair first. Her beautiful face was swollen and bloody, and he’d held her gently in his arms while she cried and clutched him tightly. His lips tightened into a fine line as he remembered her terror-filled wail that she couldn’t see.
He’d held her all the way to the hospital, saying whatever shit he could to comfort her. He’d carried her into the emergency room and she’d been calling out for him as they wheeled her out of his sight. Only his brothers holding him back kept him from her.
She’d needed surgery to relieve the swelling on her brain and her broken nose had been set. The next few days were really a blur. Her parents had shown up, but she still wanted him by her side and nothing, not even a glaring king, could send him away.
The prognosis about her eyesight had been uncertain. She came out of surgery with her eyes bandaged and they were told the outcome wouldn’t be known until the swelling went down inside her head.
Two weeks went by. The bandages came off. And she still didn’t even have light perception. The doctors could do no more.
That night, she insisted he go home. She wanted her mother to stay with her. He didn’t want to leave her. The next morning, as soon as he’d walked into her room, he knew.
She was dressed in one of her designer outfits of blue pants and a yellow and blue striped silky shirt with dark sunglasses on.
“What’s going on?” he asked
“I’m going home, Dozer. Back to Tanistan,” she answered without any of the softness he was used to hearing.
He couldn’t wrap his head around what she was saying before she continued breaking his heart.
“I wanted to say goodbye before we left. I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
And then she drove the knife the rest of the way in.
“I will always remember you fondly.”
Damn, he wished he could see her eyes. He could always tell what she was thinking just by looking into those blue depths. “That’s it? You’re just leaving?”
