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No one.
Not even hope.
Stella stopped working on a knot when Autumn drew her knees in closer and dropped her forehead to them, curling up as much as the tub would allow. As much as her belly would allow.
Today was the first day in a long time that she cried. She didn’t think it was possible anymore. She cried in the woods when she spotted Sig. She cried on his motorcycle. She cried on his floor.
Now she was crying in his tub.
But the bath was making her feel human again.
And that was the problem. It was making her remember what it was like to feel something.
“You’re right. I have nothing,” she said in a broken whisper. Not even the seed that had been planted inside her. She didn’t even have that. Not really.
Stella squeezed Autumn’s hand that was wrapped around her own shin. “No, I was wrong. You have something now. Us. And my ol’ man loves to remind me that something is better than nothing. I swear it’s his damn motto. That needs to be his next tattoo.”
Autumn sniffled and wiped her nose on her own knee. “Old man? Your father?”
A small smile curled Stella’s lips. “No. My ol’ man. My future husband. He’s a biker like Sig. They’re half-brothers. Ol’ man is just a term we use. Like husband or boyfriend.”
Stella said nothing more as she finished getting the knots out of Autumn’s hair, then took the washcloth and scrubbed her back until it was clean.
After a while, the water circling the tub became clear. Her fingers and toes were wrinkled and she began to shiver since it was no longer warm.
Stella helped her up, wrapped a thick towel around her and used another one to towel-dry her hair. “I should’ve brought a hairdryer,” she muttered more to herself than to Autumn.
When she was done, she helped Autumn sit on the closed toilet seat and handed her the Powerade bottle.
“Finish that. I brought a couple things you’ll fit into and then you can eat whatever Sig made. Though, it might be cold now. I’ll tell him to heat it back up.”
She disappeared for a few moments, then was back with a T-shirt, black leggings and some socks.
Once Autumn was dressed, Stella said, “We can get the police involved, if you want. Take you to the ER first and then report what happened there. They can arrest whoever did this to you, you know.”
She didn’t want to do anything but disappear, to somewhere the Shirleys couldn’t find her. “No. They’ll want me back. They’ll do whatever they can to get me back.”
“For the baby?”
Autumn closed her eyes. She ignored that question. Just like she did her best to ignore the seed that grew inside her.
From the beginning, she knew it was better not to get attached. So, she didn’t.
She was just the host until she was no longer needed. Because she never planned on going along with everything else they had wanted from her.
“Hey,” Stella whispered, grabbing her elbow. “C’mon, let’s see what Sig made you.”
The woman with the long black hair with blue stripes assisted her out of the bathroom to the open kitchenette on the left at the end of the short hall.
And there he was, the man who’d caught her in the woods, who helped her off that mountain, standing behind a short counter with two stools. One had a plate sitting in front of it and a glass of what could be OJ and another glass with what looked like water.
His dark brown eyes followed her and Stella as they made their way to the stool. As she sat down, she stared at the plate half full with scrambled eggs, the other half two pieces of buttered toast.
She breathed deeply, inhaling what real food smelled like again. And the seed inside her moved. Surprised, she pressed her hand to her belly. And the seed moved again. Restless.
It hadn’t died like she feared.
She had worried that if it died, she’d have to start the nightmare all over again until she gave them one that lived.
But this one was alive.
Fear shot through her. Now, they’d be determined to find her. To find it.
“Did the baby kick?” Stella asked, her face soft and a small smile curling her lips.
The baby.
“No,” Autumn said quietly. “My stomach growled.”
She didn’t miss when Stella’s eyes slid to Sig’s and they gave each other a look.
She didn’t like that look.
“Take your time eating. While you do that, I’ll clean up the bathroom.”
Stella disappeared and then it was just Autumn and Sig.
In that little kitchenette.
“Eat,” he said. His voice was low and deep.
She stared at the plate again, then picked up the fork, stabbing at the chunks of eggs. She lifted it to her lips and stuck out her tongue to taste them.
The familiarity flooded her senses. She shoved the eggs into her mouth, swallowing them down before she even chewed them. Then she began to shovel the small yellow mountain into her mouth to fill her belly. When she was done with that, she began to take large bites of her toast, eating it quickly, chasing every mouthful with a gulp of OJ.
