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“Or was that money you took for fucking me?” Nick went on. “When I see the guy tonight, I’ll have to thank him. I have never been worked over like you worked me over. I’m not even the same man.”
That was literally true. He was transformed, and she hated the transformation. “No, you’re not,” she said. “And I would never do what you are accusing me of, Nick. Never in a million years.”
He groped around inside her purse again, took out a small, flat device she could barely see. “I’ll get rid of this when I leave.”
“What is that?” She peered at it, trying to make it out in the dimness, but he’d already slipped it into his pocket.
“Don’t play dumb. It’s boring.” He took out her cell phone, pocketed it. “You go ahead and keep this.” He reached inside her jacket, feeling for the inside pocket, and slipped the thick wad of cash carefully inside. She could feel its weight tugging on her shoulder like a brick. “Keep it safe, beautiful. God knows, you’ve earned it.”
She shrank away from his touch. “Don’t touch me.”
“No?” His hands slid down and fastened around her waist. “Aw, come on. It’s how you’ve been managing me all along, babe. Don’t you want to give your sexual wiles one more try? I’m up for it.” He grabbed her free hand and pressed it against his erection. “Amazing, isn’t it? How the body and the mind just don’t connect. My dick doesn’t care about this convoluted bullshit. It just wants to have at that pussy one last time—”
“Nick, stop it. I can’t stand this.”
“Besides, you know how you go wild for extreme.” His voice was a deep, ticklish growl against her ear that made shivers of conflicting emotions race down her spine. “Remember how turned on you got for Zhoglo’s live sex show? What could be more extreme than being handcuffed and fucked in an abandoned warehouse? Talk about illicit sex. You’ve been paid, and I’ve been betrayed…and fifteen K should be good for one last whack, right?”
She shrank away. “I would rather die!”
He stepped away from her. “Not an option. That’s what this whole thing is about, Becca. You, not dying.”
She squinted at him. “Oh, come on. You’re protecting me, by chaining me up in a warehouse?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m doing the meeting, Becca. I’m going to let them take me to him. And I’m going to kill that fucker while he’s gloating. That’s my plan. You wait here. Out of harm’s way. You can’t harm me. He can’t harm you. It’s the best I can do for you.”
“But…but you can’t go to him,” she faltered. “He’ll—”
“Kill me? Cut me up? Oh, yeah. That goes without saying.”
She stiffened, lurching towards him, and was brought up sharp by the painful tug of the metal cuffs. “Oh, God, Nick. You can’t.”
“Please don’t pretend you care,” he said. “It makes it that much worse. Now listen closely. I don’t have much time. Truth is, I’m genuinely sorry to leave you here. This place gives me the creeps too. I would rather have used my own house, but it’s too far to drive there and back. There are six big bottles of water. Some food, enough to keep you going for a couple days. But I doubt that you’ll have to wait that long.”
“Nick, don’t. Don’t do this. I can’t let you—”
“You can’t do shit about it. I’ve placed the cuffs low enough so you can sit on the floor. You won’t be comfortable, but you’ll survive. I’ve FedExed your whereabouts to my ex-boss. Should be on her desk tomorrow. You won’t wait more than two days, max. They’ll come for you, and you can do your explaining to them, not to me. Because I don’t want to hear it.”
She turned her back. His footsteps receded. There was nothing more to say.
She looked at the two sets of handcuffs. The one cuffed directly to the scaffolding was placed at a height that enabled her to sit, with her arm fully extended upwards. If she sat, the other cuff that was attached to the long chain had just enough play so she could reach for the water and the bags of food, but not enough play so she could touch her other hand. Well planned, on the fly. But that was Nick for you.
Ironic, that her affair with him should both begin and end with handcuffs. One would think that detail might have given her an inkling of coming disaster, but no. Becca and her problematic taste in men.
She started shaking with something like laughter, but it died away abruptly at the sound of that door, scraping in its rusty grooves with a ponderous groan. The reverberating boom jolted her jittery bones as it slammed shut. The door blocked what light remained.
So the agonized wondering about Carrie and Josh and Nick was going to go on and on. Until someone opened a FedEx package, and took the trouble to come for her. She was all alone in the dark.
Or maybe not completely alone. Her flesh crept as she heard rustling, skittering, in the darkness. All round her. Getting closer.
The other inhabitants of the warehouse were wondering who’d come to visit.
CHAPTER30
Nick leaned on the truck, fighting the clammy faintness that threatened him. His heart thudded. Get out the fucking smelling salts.
He was in his usual place, squarely between a rock and a hard place, getting squeezed. But it had never made him woozy before. He was on the verge of a full-blown anxiety attack.
He tried to do the right thing, but there was no right thing. He’d never had enough information to know what was the right thing.
