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He’s always diving straight in, never scanning the area for danger, assessing the room, just throwing himself into what he wants. I’m not ready to involve Akila in this mess. In this world. I look down at the phone, my fingers unenthusiastically calling the only person left to call, the only person who is close to a sort of acquaintance of mine.
She picks up the phone. “They have fired you,” Katie says straightaway, her tone dripping in amusement.
I force the truth out, past my pride and need to be level-headed and pristine. I’ve been fired anyway, so what the hell. “You know the guy. ..Theguy, well, he drugged me, kidnapped me, and dragged me back to our home city.” I breathe out fast. The rumble of Bronson’s laughter vibrates against my spine. I clutch the phone harder, as her silence both annoys and concerns me. “Katie?”
She clears her throat. “Well, um, that’s quite a week you’ve had. Do you need-“
“You were right,” I blurt. “I was stuck up. I was rude to you-” My voice breaks on the honesty. “I treated you like you were beneath me. I might have even believed it. You don’t have to listen or care, but there it is.”
She sighs. “Who is looking after Akila?”
I pause, surprised she knows my sister’s name, even more surprised she cares. Apparently, I’m silent for too long because she says, “Your sister?”
I scoff. “I know who Akila is.”
“Sorry.” She clicks her tongue. “Guess I thought maybe you hadCockheimers.”
I reach up and rub my temples. “What?”
She laughs. “Memory and mental abnormalities from the excessive consumption of cock.”
I shake my head, fighting my reluctant smile, my dark satirical side chuckling. “That’s seriously inappropriate, Katie. That’s a really terrible disease.”
“Yes. So isCockheimers. It kills ambitions. Motivations.Elasticity. . . I knew you weren’t as boring as you acted.Fuck.I might actually like you. . . no wait, false alarm. So you want me to check on Akila? Where’s Perry?”
His name moves into my throat, lodging itself in deep while I struggle for a response. “He’s not around,” I finally say. “I think he. . .leftme.”
“Do you wanna be my BFF?”
I groan. “Oh my God, I hate you.”
“No, you don’t,” she sings. “You fucking like me, which is why you called me. Are you going to go to the police?”
Bronson’s lips touch my shoulder, and a shiver rushes the full length of my body, curling my toes. “No.. . it’s not really like that.”
“You fucking hussy.”
“Fine,” I submit, my tone void. “I’m a hussy.”
“Jesus, you could sound happier about it.” She breathes out with exasperation, disappointment moving through the sound. I’m just not up for a verbal sparring match. “I’ll go see your sister.”
Relief embraces me. “Thank you.” After giving her the address, I kill the call, feeling overwhelmed. I wish I could switch it off again, slip into another quiet, sleepy place and wake up when Perry’s memory is distant and painless. “She is going to check on her,” I say to Bronson. “Katie is a really excellent nurse.”
“Oh yeah. Hot blonde,” he says, locking me tight to him. I cringe at his admiration for her appearance, especially seeing she is my complete opposite. His hand moves up to my throat, where he circles the column and squeezes softly. “Stay with me,” he murmurs, and my pulse thunders on the other side of his fist. “Stay with me. I’ll do anything, everything for you. I’ll do whatever you ask.”
I smile at the thought. “Don’t call her hot again.”
“Done.”
“Are you giving me the choice to stay?” I ask, my breaths laboured from the air deficiency his fist causes. “What if I say no?”
“Try me,” he growls by my ear, suddenly releasing my throat. He shuffles from the bed. I twist to face him, following his movements across the room as he pulls a pair of jeans and a shirt on. Perving at him, I realise I’ve never done that with another man before. I like the way he moves, like the smoothness of his strides, the confidence in each gesture.
“What did I say about looking at me like that?” he says, pulling me out of my head. I smile a little at him, not feeling good but not feeling terrible either.
“Are we in danger?” I ask because last night may be as normal as breakfast to him. I want to ask him again what is going to happen to Perry’s body, but I think I know the answer.
“Youare not in danger,” he assures me, and my heart twists at the thought of something happening to him.
