“Oh, thank god.” She flips over, swaying a little when she stands. “Look, maybe I was a little rash beating up your friend. I promise to behave.” She gives an innocent smile that does nothing to convince me she is either sorry or going to behave.
Akio brings the bag over to the bed, saying, “We brought you some things to make you more comfortable.” I see her deflate when she looks in the bag. She knows that this means she’s going to be here for a long time. I feel this tug of some unknown emotion that pulls me over to half sit on the bed on her other side. She melts onto the mattress between my brother and I, staring at the ceiling.
Akio mirrors her position, and seeing her allow this without tensing up has me doing the same on her other side. Two masked men and a captive lay side by side on a bed in a basement. There has to be a joke in there somewhere.
“How ya doing, Siren?” his voice floats across the room.
“Clearly I have been better.” I don’t like the hollow sound of her voice.
“Want me to get…” I pause before I fuck up and think of something to say other than Matteo’s name. “The other one? Let you get in a few more shots?”
She laughs softly. “I wouldn’t be opposed.”
“Want to look in that bag a little closer?” Akio chimes in. “You might find something you like.” He’s clearly trying to tempt her. She turns her head to him and I miss whatever expression is on her face, but she sits up with a shrug and turns to the bag that she had pushed to the foot of the bed.
We sit up with her, and for the first time in several weeks, there is no tension between us. I don't know what made it drop, but it feels… Nice.
She squeals and starts pulling books out of the bag.When did he put those in there?She holds up one that matches the others:Kings of Quarantineand Akio chuckles. “I didn't have a squid, but I thought this might work instead.” She barks out a laugh.
Irritation crawls up my spine as they share some kind of inside joke. I fight it back because this is the most cooperative we’ve seen her and it’s the perfect chance to get some answers. I reach up to fiddle with my eyebrow ring only to come up short.Gah, this fucking mask.
“I see you have good taste in reading material.” She throws him a smirk.
“It wasn’t difficult to figure out your favorite. You have only read the series fifteen times.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
An idea hits me, and I speak up before Akio can respond. “Let's play a game, Poison.” She turns to look at me with an arched brow. “We take turns asking questions and giving answers. For every honest answer you give us, we’ll give you one in return.” I know this is a risk and she couldcompletely shut down. I wait for her answer, hoping I didn’t just fuck this up.
She glances between my brother and I before scooting back on the bed so she can see us both. “Okay, you have a deal. But I get to go first.”
“Go for it,” I tell her.
“Would you have truly dropped me from that roof?”
It isn’t the question that catches me off guard. It's the fact that she delivers it with a clear, confident voice and a face of curiosity rather than one filled with fear.
“Maybe.” She cuts me with a glare at the vague answer so I go on. “I would have no issue dropping someone off of a roof, other than maybe the clean up. But we weren’t done with you at the time so I guess my answer is a two-for-one. Am I capable, yes. Was I going to drop you at that specific moment? No.” She nods while she gets more comfortable, crossing her legs under her.
“Why aren’t you afraid of us?” The question is out of my mouth before I can really think about it. I realize that this is exactly what has me so intrigued. Most people cave, crumble, break down at the reality of captivity and torture, but not this girl.
“I mean, I am.” She pauses, scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion. “Or at least, I was. It started out intriguing and really fucking hot at the club. I felt scared at the office, pissed when you attacked me on my run, scared again with the whole waterboarding thing.” She pauses, giving us both an irritated look and pointing a finger at me followed by Akio. “Which was bullshit by the way. But I guess I feel like if you were going to kill me you would have by now, so I don't know what to feel honestly.”
I nod,accepting her answer, but not any closer to understanding this enigma.
“How long have all of you been watching me?”
Akio saves me the trouble by responding, which is nice since he’s the one who did most of the stalking. I mean surveilling. “From a distance as part of Helix? Probably five years or so. As a specific person of interest, a little over six months.”
I struggle and fail to hold back the chuckle when I hear her mutter, “Fucking stalker,” under her breath.
“My turn.” Akio better make this question count. “Tell me about Quinn.”
Her head jerks up in response, eyes darting between us. The silence stretches until she finally speaks. “What do you want to know?” Her evasive response is to hide something from us or protect her friend. I am leaning toward the latter.
“Nope, it's your turn to answer. A deal is a deal.”
She cuts a glare at me. “Fine. Quinn is my best friend, as you well know, I’m sure.” She rolls her eyes and looks at Akio. “She was there for me through some really hard parts of my life, and I did the same for her.”
