Page 79 of Keeping Penny

“I’m okay,” Penny insisted, as she sat up straighter and wiped her face. “I just…Laryn looks so…put out.”

“Put out. That’s one way of saying it,” she agreed. “You think we can move this love fest to the couch? The floor is hell on my knees.”

Penny was moving even before she finished speaking. “Of course. I’m so sorry, get up, you guys!”

The four of them moved to the couch, and Penny glanced at Chaos. He was standing close by, looking angry himself…and kind of lost.

“You too, Chaos,” Penny ordered, holding out a hand.

He shook his head.

“Arrow Porter, get your ass over here,” Laryn ordered, pointing at the tiny space next to her at the end of the sofa.

He rolled his eyes but obeyed, squeezing into the remaining inches of space on the couch. Everyone leaned into everyone else and no one said a word, each absorbed in their own thoughts.

Penny was still terrified, worried about what Pyro and Bowie were going through, but talking to Tex had helped. She still wanted to do something more than sit around and wait, but knowing the wheels were turning eased her mind a tiny bit. Knowing Colvin wasn’t going to get away with his evil deeds. And knowing Pyro would do whatever it took to get Bowie home.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Pyro didn’t know how long Bowie had slept against him. Hours and hours, and he still hated to wake her. But he’d watched and waited as late afternoon turned to dusk, then to night, and he continued to wait. It was pitch black beyond the basement windows now…and it was time. Time to see about getting the fuck out of here before someone came to take them away.

“Bowie-Bear,” he said softly.

She grunted but didn’t wake.

Pyro found himself smiling, amazed at how hard this little girl could sleep.

“Bowie,” he said a little louder, shrugging his shoulder just a little to jostle her.

That worked. She stirred, and he could tell the moment she remembered where she was and what happened.

“I thought it was a dream.”

“Unfortunately, it’s not. And I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go home.”

“I want Mommy.”

“I know, sweetheart. I do too. Can you climb off my lap? I need your help.” Pyro had to go easy. Bowie was a little girl. A scared one at that. But he needed her to be brave. Braver than she’d ever been in her life. He loathed himself for what he was going to ask of her, but there was no other way. He’d been sitting in this chair with his hands cuffed behind him, his leg throbbing, racking his brain for some other way to get out of there. And he’d come up blank.

His plan was to get Bowie the hell away from this place, at the very least. If he ended up being sold off, so be it…as long as Bowie was safe and reunited with Penny.

He still wasn’t able to think about the woman he loved more than life itself for more than minutes at a time. It hurt too much. She’d be so scared right now, worrying about him and Bowie. If he did nothing else, he’d get her daughter back to her, one way or another.

Bowie awkwardly climbed off his lap and sniffed. “I need to pee,” she whispered, sounding embarrassed.

“Okay, Bowie-Bear.” Thank God for an almost full moon giving him just enough light through the small basement windows to check out their immediate surroundings. He’d mentally mapped out everything in the space while Bowie slept.

“Turn around so your back is to me. Good, just like that. Now, take one step to your right. Now, about ten steps straight ahead of you is a bucket on the floor. There’s an old woodstove behind it, so I think it’s used to put ashes from the stove into it. You can use that to go to the bathroom.”

Bowie wrinkled her nose but nodded. “Okay.”

He watched as she made her way toward the bucket he’d noticed earlier. The danger he felt in the air was making him antsy. At any moment, the men could return and take Bowie away from him. He might be able to take out one or two, even with his broken leg, but any more than that and he’d be in trouble. Not to mention if they had a gun, they could easily shoot him in the other leg, rendering him completely immobile.

When Bowie had pulled her pants back up, he said, “Good girl. Now, ten steps back to my side.”

Her strides were a little more confident as she made her way back. Pride filled him. Bowie had more courage in her little finger than many soldiers he’d met in his career. When her little hands gripped his arm, he took a breath. It was now or never. He had no idea what time it was, and he needed her as far as from this house as he could get her.

“Can you untie the laces on my boots, Bowie-Bear? The jerks who took us didn’t bother to search me before they tied me up. I’ve got a key to the handcuffs in my boot.”