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But the door closes, and he doesn’t respond. I try to get my hands together so I can undo each cuff, but it’s not possible with the way he has them buckled.
I consider screaming at the top of my lungs until he comes back, but something tells me he’ll come back and gag me. So, I get as comfortable as I can and try to fall asleep.
I manage a few hours of fitful sleep, and when I wake my stomach growls. Fuck. That bastard is going to make me ask him to eat. I can go for a while without food, no matter how uncomfortable I get. But my bladder is full too, and there is no way I’m going to pee on myself out of spite.
I glance around the room at the speakers and wonder if there are hidden cameras as well. Bellamy assured me there weren’t when I first took the tour, but it seems like something Owen might have put in just in case.
“Luke,” I whisper when I realize my bladder situation is getting worse.
“What do you need, Flower?”
“I need to use the bathroom and eat something.”
He doesn’t respond, but less than a minute later the door opens, and he walks in fully dressed in another one of his delicious suits. I wonder how many he has. I haven’t seen him repeat a suit in the last two weeks.
He reaches for one wrist and undoes the cuff and gently rubs it and presses a kiss to it before repeating the process with my other hand.
When I’m free, he steps back, and I move to the bathroom. Something doesn’t feel right when I move, and I glance down at my thighs before I sit on the toilet. Fuck. I started my period in the middle of the night. I wasn’t even paying attention to the calendar to realize I was at the start of my cycle. After using the toilet and cleaning up as best I can, I search the bathroom to see if there are any feminine hygiene products, but I don’t see any. Another humiliating request I have to make. I use a cup, and mine is in my bags that went to France because I wasn’t anywhere close to starting.
I don’t want to go back in the room and ask the humiliating question, so I climb in the shower instead to delay the inevitable. Luke’s voice is muffled, but I can hear him talking to someone on the phone while I wash my hair with the expensive shampoo in a pump built into the spacious shower’s wall. They’ve thought of almost everything for these bathrooms. I’ll have to suggest stocking pads and tampons to Bellamy. That idea makes me sad. After this, there’s no way I can stick around and be a part of High Card. It’s impossible to trust Luke now.
I stay in the shower for as long as I think I can get away with, and then I spend ten minutes sitting on the edge of the tub putting lotion on my legs and feet before I walk out wrapped in a towel. He will not intimidate me into hiding in here forever.
I’m prepared to ask for what I need when I step into the room, but the sight before me has me frozen. Four kinds of tampons and three kinds of pads are sitting on the nightstand, and Luke is finishing changing the sheets on the bed. His suit jacket is laying over a chair, and his sleeves are rolled to above his elbows while he works.
“How?” I ask… unable to form a better question.
He turns and stares at me, awkward silence hanging between us.
“I… saw the sheets and figured it out, so I called Bellamy. She doesn’t live far from here. After she told me where the fresh sheets were, she dropped off supplies. If none of that is what you need let me know and I’ll get you the right thing.”
“Why are you doing all of this, Luke?”
“Doing all of what?”
“Taking care of me, being nice. You’ve kidnapped me, for fuck’s sake.”
“Not at all, Flower. I’m simply keeping you safe while you come to your senses.”
“And who’s keeping you safe?” I ask as I move to the nightstand and pick up a box of tampons.
“I’ll be fine. You’re my top priority and I’m sorry, no matter how much you might think it’s safer, I can’t let you leave and not know where you are. It’s unacceptable Zara and if you’re ready to agree to that, we can go home.”
“And where is home, Luke? I’ve never even been to your house. Are we talking about the guest room at Matteo’s? A penthouse on the strip that isn’t even in our names? Home doesn’t exist for us.”
He cups my cheek and gives me a sad look. “That’s where you’re wrong. Anywhere you are is home for me. Do you want to go to London? We’ll go. But you’re not just disappearing.”
“Yes, Luke. I am. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually you have to let me out of here and when you do, I’m leaving. This thing between us will never last. It can’t. We’re too different and we’re both too stubborn.”
He shakes his head and leans in to kiss my forehead. “I’ll leave you to your privacy then, Flower. You know what to say if you change your mind.”
Chapter 26
Luke
“Hasanyoneevertoldyou that you’re an idiot?” Bellamy asks the next night.
“Excuse me? Since when do you get away with that kind of sass?”
