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And that was what Reign thought had happened to me.
So be it.
“Yeah,” I agreed, my voice quiet from disgust.
“You're lucky as fuck to get out. But if he was using you to extort money, babe, he ain't gonna stop lookin' for you.”
“I know that.” God, I wish I didn't know that.
“You put me in the middle of your mess.”
“Technically you put yourself in the middle,” I corrected, feeling annoyance rise up. “You could have left me on the side of that road.”
“No I couldn't.”
“Yes,” I said, firmly, “you could have. You chose not to. And I am grateful for that. But don't put it on me. I told you I would be out of your hair once the storm blows over. Drop me anywhere. I'll figure it out from there.”
“Ain't dropping you nowhere,” he said, looking at me like I was crazy.
“Why not?”
“You got any fuckin' idea how crazy that piece of shit is? He'll have every man, every cop, every lackey out looking for you. Hair like that, babe, they'll find you.”
“Then I'll dye it.”
“Nah.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Like it was any of his damn business what I did with my hair. “Do you have any better suggestions?”
“You'll stay here.”
What?
No. Seriously. What?
“I'm sorry?”
“You'll stay here. Give it a few days to blow over. No one saw me with you. It was dead as fuck out tonight. Everyone with their power out in town and shit. He'll find the mangled car, figure you got taken to the hospital. He'll spend some time on that. Then he'll hit the streets. You need to stay hidden for a while. Ain't no better place than here for that.”
Was he seriously offering me sanctuary? Like, actual sanctuary?
“You can't be serious.”
“Do I look like I'm fuckin' jokin'?”
“V is dangerous.”
“I know.”
“If he finds out you helped me, you'll be on his shit list.”
“I know.”
“Then why would you ever offer...”
“Babe. He ain't gonna find out. It's that simple. You stay here. Inside the house. Couple days. Week. Two at most. I can get you out of here and far away from all this.”
“Why would you do that?”
Reign's shoulder shrugged. “Certain criminals give us all a bad name.”
I snorted. Then my eyes widened, my hand slapping over my mouth. Shit. I wasn't supposed to snort at the nice criminal who was offering to help me. Good going, Summer.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, looking down at my coffee.
Another shrug. “Might not get it, but we all got a code.”
“A code?” I prompted.
“Yeah. A code. That's why you see some good old fashioned cell block justice when a baby raper ends up in prison. Fucker doesn't get to live long enough to regret his life choices.”
“Have you been to prison?”
Damn it.
I was prying. And he had said to not ask questions. I was royally screwing up my chances of being allowed to stay.
“Yeah, babe. I've been locked up.”
“For a long time?” Oh my god. What was wrong with me?
“Sixty seconds behind bars is a long time.”
Well, that was true. And, in my own way, I knew exactly what that felt like. I had been in my own prison for months. Without regular eating schedules. Without trips to the yard. Without anyone to come in and stop the beatings.
“Seems you might know a thing or two 'bout that. How long did he have you?”
“What's the date?”
“What?”
“What is today' date?”
“October fifteenth.”
“I was taken on July second.” I had done that thing you see in movies. When people get caught. Or when they're in jail and they start scratching days into the wall. Four lines. One across. Four lines. One across. I had one-hundred and five days. Three months and two weeks. It felt so much longer. But knowing how long it actually was helped me keep my sanity through all the pain and the hunger.
Reign nodded.
“He hurt you?”
I swallowed. “Repeatedly.”
“Fuck.”
“I'm fine,” I said, shrugging.
“You know that's a lie.”
It was a lie. But it was one I was trying really hard to make myself believe.
“Alright. It's late,” he said, putting his mug in the sink. “Let's sleep. Talk more tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I agreed, sucking the rest of my coffee down greedily. It was something in my belly. The first thing in there in days. And I wished it had more calories, but at least caffeine suppressed the appetite. I could get by a few more hours.
Then he turned and, at a loss for what to do, I put my mug in the sink and followed him. Down the hall. Past the bathroom. A bathroom I wouldn't have to ask to use. A bathroom I could use more than once a day, sitting, rocking and praying I didn't pee myself until I got the chance.
Reign disappeared into the room across from the bath and I followed. Then froze. It was the master bedroom. I glanced back into the hallway. And there were no other bedrooms. Crap. I hoped he didn't think I was going to sleep with him. That because I was one of V's girls that I was happy to spread my legs for any favor.
“Relax,” he said, turning to look at me, his head cocked to the side. “The bed is huge. You won't have to touch me.”
“I can...” I started, licking my lips. “I can sleep on the couch. It's fine.”
“You're sleepin' here where I can keep an eye on you,” he said, finality in his tone.
I wasn't really in a position to fight him. And the bed was huge. I was small. He was right. There would be feet between us.
“Okay.”
He turned away from me, grabbing a remote off the nightstand and flicking on a massive flatscreen television across from the bed. Oh, my god. TV. I missed TV. And music. Just any sounds other than men taunting me and women screaming. And my own mind driving me half crazy.
“You pick,” he said, tossing the remote across the bed as he got in one side.
It took everything I had to not dive at the remote. I made my way around the bed, pulling back the sheets, and climbing in. I settled, picking up the remote, and starting flicking through the channels. I finally settled on old black and white re-runs that made Reign's head turn toward me, one of his brows quirked up.
