Page 51 of Savage Don

“And he believed you?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t really matter. He does what I say.”

“Was Sonia there?”

The easy-going air in the room suddenly shifts, and I can instantly feel a darkness come over Ray.

“Your step-mom,” he growls.

Of course he knows that Sonia is my step-mom. He knows everything.

“Did you see her?” I ask. Strangely, a sudden morbid hope has grabbed me by the waist.

“Why?”

“Because I hate her,” I admit. “And I just had the wonderful thought that maybe she’ll be blamed for my disappearance—especially if her relationship with the guards comes to my father’s attention.”

“You think she’d run and hide?”

“A girl can dream.”

The darkness seems to lift a little as I hear Ray begin to pace behind me.

“What else do you dream about, kitten?” he asks, a more playful tone returning to his deep voice.

“School,” I sigh. It’s the first thing that comes to mind.

“Nerd.”

The absurdity of such a distinguished and terrifying man saying such an immature thing makes me laugh.

“I wish,” I giggle. “Nerds do a lot better in school than I do, and with a whole lot less effort.”

“From what I could tell, you were doing pretty well.”

“But only because I work my ass off… that’s all gone now. Without my laptop, I might as well be blind as a bat.”

“You still have your laptop,” Ray says, stepping up behind me. His long shadow is somehow burning hot. But not in an uncomfortable way. It’s reassuring; something I want to dive into.

But I resist the temptation. Something else has grabbed my attention. Something good.

“You brought my bag? Where is it?”

“Under the bed.”

My eyebrows furrow as I look towards the mattress. I already tried looking under there. “There’s no room under the bed,” I point out.

Without clarifying, Ray steps away, and I feel myself slink ever so slightly when the warmth of his darkness leaves me behind.

Turning around, I follow him as he walks up to the nightstand and opens up a drawer. Pulling out a key, he waves it at me.

“Try using this,” he smirks.

Hesitantly, I stumble forward, still in my towel, and take the key. “Where does it go?”

Bending into a crouch, Ray points to a spot on the black wood beneath the bed frame. It doesn’t look any different than any other part of the wood, until he flicks it with his finger, and a square cover unlatches from the rest of the board.

“Right here.”