Page 60 of Booked for Kidnapping

The gun in question waited for me on the desk, and I read between the lines, got up, grabbed the gun cleaning kit, and went to work on doing a full check of my firearm. “I thought the cells only let us investigate things, not override state laws regarding firearms.”

“That was changed after you were kidnapped. We got the approval because we have demonstrated we have at-risk members in our cell. I think the FBI is really hoping our cell works out, because then we can augment their forces. Just go on a car ride to have a look, and then I’ll sacrifice my wallet to your car shopping ways. Any car you want, and it’s yours. We’ll even tag-team drive it back across the United States if you’d like. We can get back to New York in a few days rather than fly if we take turns driving.”

With that level of bribe on the table, I foresaw an uncomfortable few hours of looking for the last place I wanted to visit. “Chinese food. Spicy Chinese food.”

“It won’t be the same as what we get at home, but we can go look for Chinese tonight as a reward for doing something unpleasant, time allowing.”

“That better not be you saying I have to choose between Chinese food and you naked in bed,” I grumbled.

“You don’t have to choose,” he promised. “Can I text Dad that you’re ready to deal with our tyranny?”

“Fine, but if I cry, it’s your fault.”

“If you cry, I’ll give you tissues and offer my shoulder. It’s okay to be stressed and upset over having lost months of your life. I would probably be crying in your shoes, too. It’s a lot to miss. And there’s no getting any of it back.”

I appreciated he hadn’t tried to pretend otherwise. “I hate it.”

“Me, too. We lost a lot of time. I thought about cuffing us together, but I was told that would be a really bad idea.”

“Why?”

“It seems that a woman who was chained in some strange house is not to be subjected to any restraints of her person.”

I frowned, as I could think of many wonderful things we could do with a pair of handcuffs and a few hours. “There is a difference between unwilling restraining and willing restraining, and I’m not seeing me saying no to being cuffed while you cater to me. You’re good at that. Your magic is far more potent than I anticipated. I do not understand why you are an only child. After about ten minutes, my common sense flies right out a window, so it’s a good thing you’re the one in charge of the condoms.” If the condoms became my responsibility, I’d be investing in pregnancy tests every month. “You need a warning label, and I need to get a ring on your finger so all other women know you’re mine.”

“Now that I have some first-hand experience of what my father can do, I don’t understand, either. As we’re getting married, rings seems like a reasonable investment. If wearing a ring that states I’m yours makes you happy, we can go get engagement rings.”

“You might talk me into getting into a vehicle with you to look at these houses if we’re also looking for rings in the same trip. I am not brave enough to ask why you’re an only child. You were probably some form of demon infant. I can even accept we might not get to look at cars if we’re getting rings instead.”

“I think my parents don’t like helpless humans they’re responsible for. Honestly, I don’t actually know if my parents actually wanted kids. It was expected of them. While I’m a loved child, they prefer their humans capable of talking back. That takes a few years of careful training. They’d rather skip the first years, I think?”

I gasped. “No!”

“Well, you do like babies. Right?” Bradley’s tone implied he knew damned well how much I loved having little babies around, but he meant to make me say it.

As lying wouldn’t do me a lick of good, I bobbed my head. “My mother told you I do. I love when patrons bring the babies to the library. Everybody will often toss me to the infant wolves, as I can keep them happy most of the time while the parent—or parents—do what they need in the library. Once, I got to limp around the library with a baby in a sling, and it was amazing. She was such a good little girl. Mr. Tawnlen often lets me help when we do programs for children. We don’t have a lot of that in our specific branch, since we usually cater to the politicians and have a more specialized stock, but we have a corner for kids, especially since we will get single parents who are job hunting. On those days, Meridian helps the parent while I keep an eye on the kids.”

“When you’re ready to have kids, simply take our stash of condoms and toss them into the garbage can. That is my cue to get to work.” Bradley snickered. “And I might even be extra generous and get some form of restraint just to celebrate my conquering of your person.”

“Hey! Why is it you’ll be conquering me?”

“We can take turns if you’d like.”

I checked my firearm, put her back together, slid her into her holster unloaded, put a prepped magazine in one of the inner pockets, and gathered everything I would need for a day out of the hotel room. Then, to make it clear we were leaving, I got changed, put on my shoes, and stood at the door to wait.

Laughing, Bradley put on a suit and fiddled with his tie while shooting sly smiles in my direction before he texted his father to notify him of my surrender. Five minutes later, Mr. Hampton knocked on the door. I let him in. “Bradley’s being mean.”

“Figured out how to get you on the move, did he?”

“Rudely. He did so rudely. And then he added some bribes, and it turns out when he’s rude and bribing me, I’m weak.”

Bradley’s father chuckled. “You’ll be fine. With luck, we won’t need to get out of the car. What’s the plan, son?”

“We’re going to drive through the entire neighborhood while Janette checks out the houses and the yards. I suspect the illusionist targeted her with magic, so it’ll look one way for us but entirely different for her, so I’ll ask her what she sees every house until we figure out where she was held. We’ll record the location on our phones, take some pictures, and then go about the rest of our day.”

“What else is on the agenda?”

“We’re going to a jewelry store. She seems to have an impression I’m being hunted by women and wants to establish that I’m her territory. After the jewelry store, if there’s time, we’ll hit up some car dealerships so she can look around.”