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“You can do this,” he assured me, his tone soothing. “We’ll make it out and you’ll see Dom again.” Tears clouded my vision at his words and I roughly brushed them away, blinking until my I could see again. “You know I envied him.” One of the knots loosened and I grasped at it gratefully. “He found you and there was never any question you were it for him. You belong together.”
I focused on the task at hand, not glancing up as I told him, “It’s terrifying, you know. To belong so completely to someone, to need them so much that it feels like death is the only answer if you lose them.” My fingers unraveled the first knot and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I had him free. “When Dom collapsed there was a void where our bond should have been. I’ve never been more scared in my life and it wasn’t even for myself.” A mirthless chuckled escaped me. “This is what…my fourth kidnapping? And the only thing that scares me is losing Dom. Of knowing how he would feel if he lost me.” I shook my head as the rope fell at last. “And the crazy thing is….I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’d do it all again.” I leaned back, looking at him for the first time since I’d started to speak. “You’ll find her. And it will be exactly right.”
He reached for his feet, unknotting it much more quickly than I had been able, as he disclosed, “I wanted it to be Anna.” His fingers slipped. “I tried to convince myself it was Anna.”
“You know better now?” I confirmed as he tugged the last knot free. “Cause she’s moved on.”
He shot me a wry smile. “You don’t pull any punches do you? And yes, I know better.” He paused, untangling the rope from his feet. “Now.”
“And she knows you know?” He stared at me. “If you know what I mean.”
“Yes,” he answered, the barest hint of a question in his voice. “We should probably get the hell out of here.”
I nodded, relieved to know he wouldn’t be pining after Anna since I was pretty sure Trent would bury him in the race for her heart.
We got to our feet, Caleb catching my arm when I swayed at the sudden head rush. “I’m also really tired of getting drugged,” I muttered, rubbing my head.
We headed for the open barn doors and Caleb murmured, “They were really confident we wouldn’t escape.”
“Or stupid,” I clarified as we slipped out the door. “I vote for stupid.”
The place was eerily deserted and as we started away from the barn, I also realized it was unfamiliar. “I don’t think this is the compound,” I whispered under my breath as I tried to orient myself. Caleb stopped, waiting for my guidance since he’d never been to the Hanley compound. “This place is abandoned,” I stated, fear trickling through me. Our backup was going to the compound, but we weren’t there. I didn’t know where we were. “I have no idea where we are,” I told him as moonlight washed over the overgrown grounds, revealing a small cabin with the roof partially collapsed.
“Might be a hunting camp or an old abandoned homestead,” Caleb guessed. “Either way, I bet it’s not far from their compound. I don’t think I was out that long from the Taser hit and you came to pretty quick.”
“But we still have no idea which direction to go,” I hissed, the lack of Hanleys making me nervous. I was ready for someone to pop out and shout, “Boo,” any second.
“They got us here so there has to be a road, path, something we can follow.” Caleb scanned the ground, looking for possible tracks and then took a deep breath, his face twisting into a grimace. “Definitely Hanley, can’t mistake the stench.”
“They’re going to come back,” I said, my voice turning urgent. “We need to go.”
“Their scent is strong here. Its hard to tell which way leads out. There are trails everywhere,” Caleb replied, looking hesitant about which direction to take.
“Go with the strongest scent. I don’t care, but we can’t stay,” I pressed, nerves skating up my spine in a tingling wave, and not in a good way. He nodded tightly and went to the left, keeping to the shadows as I followed in his wake. He led us past a corral, its wooden posts bent and falling over, and the smell of something rotting had me taking shallow breaths as I held my nose.
He paused as we came to a clearing, what I suspected had once been a field for crops, and turned in a slow circle. “This isn’t right,” he mumbled as I stayed silent, trusting he had a better chance of guiding us out than I did. “Why are they everywhere?”
