He sighed. “You know I managed the lease. Gary raised the rent a few times but I just didn’t tell you,” he admitted.
I shoved him off so I could sit up. “What?” I exclaimed.
“Don’t be pissed, babe.” He reached for me but I scooted back against the headboard. “I knew you couldn’t afford it and I… I didn’t want you to leave,” he admitted hoarsely. “I wasn’t ready then to be what you needed but I still wanted you close. I craved it. I cravedyou.”
I stared at him in shock, unable to form a response.
“Are you mad?” he ventured, after a few minutes.
“No,” I murmured finally, with a sigh. “I feel like I should be but I’m not. If you had told me, I probably would have moved out, and then who knows where we’d be now?”
He looked relieved as I allowed him to pull me back down into his arms. “So how about it, babe?”
“Oh, so now you’re asking?” I jabbed him playfully.
He chuckled. “Now where would be the fun in that?”
My fingers weaved into his hair. “You craved me, huh?” I grinned, unable to contain my pleasure at his words.
“Hell yes,” he replied emphatically. “I still do, more so every day.”
I looked up at him with a seductive smile as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Well, let’s see if we can satisfy that craving—at least for a little while.”
****
The clanging of the alarm sounding what felt like moments after we’d fallen asleep had Sid bolting out of bed.
“Get in the closet, like we’ve talked about,” he ordered. His voice was calm with a cutting edge I’d never heard before.
Sid and Travis had both been confident that we were still safe at Brad’s. Only a handful of people knew we were staying there. Despite their confidence, Sid had put me through various safety-training scenarios in the unlikely event Osip and his men found us.
It looked like I’d be using that training after all.
I managed to find my voice through the fear for my man. “Be careful,” I whispered hurriedly as I grabbed the gun he’d given me from my bedside table with shaking hands.
“Love you, baby.” He stood like a sentry, dressed only in boxers, his gun at his side, watching until I moved out of sight behind the door.
I heard the heavy dresser being pushed into position, blocking the door from the sight of anyone in the room.
I sat in the corner of the dark closet, raw terror percolating in every fiber of my body, shivering from fear and cold. I was only dressed in my underwear and a tank top. I vowed if I was ever going to be under attack again, I’d be better dressed.
Trixie sat on my lap, offering me some semblance of calm as I stroked her soft ears.
It felt like an eternity that we sat in the dark as I tried not to envision every nightmare scenario that could be taking place. If anything happened to Sid, I didn’t know what I’d do.
My breath sounded too loud in the quiet space, the soft jangle of Trixie’s collar like a deafening boom. My limbs stiffened as I remained frozen in place, afraid to move.
When the tread of footsteps sounded, followed by the dresser being scraped back, I didn’t know whether to be terrified or relieved. I waited, my breath trapped in my throat, as the door creaked open.
“Sam?” Sid’s voice was an instant balm to my fragile state.
I let out a shaky breath. “Yeah.”
The light hurt my eyes for a moment as he peered in toward me. “It’s okay, sweetheart, come on out.”
I swallowed hard, steeling myself against the fear that still crippled me. I refused to be weak when he was so strong. “Okay.”
I just had to make my legs work first.
