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Now I can’t stop smiling because that’s Abel for you. The man is a vault when he wants to be, and as frustrating as it can be, it’s just who he is. My smile falls when I don’t spot Liam and Kai, and when I ask Gus about them, he shakes his head and reminds me that Abel hasn’t seen fit to tell him anything.
“Gus,” I whisper, moving so my lips graze the shell of his ear. “If we’re okay, why are there guards outside the door?” I ask as I narrow my eyes on the three, bulky men standing on the opposite side of the glass. “And why the hell are we in a room with no privacy?”
Nothing about this seems right.
My cousin tries too hard to shrug as though he doesn’t have a care in the world, and that, more than anything, convinces me he has already noticed all of this but was trying to steer me away from it.
I make myself wait for exactly thirty minutes, at least according to the clock on the wall, and when Abel still hasn’t shown up, I get out of the bed. With a slight wince, I remove the cannula and whatever else from my body. Once I’m free, I walk over to the door and demand to be let out.
“It won’t help, I’ve already tried,” Gus sighs as he still sits on the bed.
I barely knock on the glass before the door is unlocked, and the guards step aside so I can walk out.
Speaking as one, they each greet me before bowing. “Good evening, Miss Drákon.” Then one of them breaks off, while another assures me that Abel will be along shortly.
As I turn around to give Gus a shit-eating grin, something sparkly catches the corner of my eye, and I turn back to the guard. “That’s pretty,” I say, pointing at the symbol on his shoulder.
It’s gold, and it looks like the number eight. I can’t help laughing at the stereotype I’m living up to right now. Seeing something shiny and forgetting everything else.
He grunts something about it being an heirloom while shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “I’m sorry,” I say, hoping he can hear the sincerity in my voice. “I didn’t mean to derail you from your duties.” The poor guys almost stumble over their words in their haste to assure me I haven’t. Not wanting them to feel like they have to hide the fact they’re working, I change the subject. “Would one of you guys mind taking me to a bathroom? Preferably one where I can shower and get dressed?”
I’m only now noticing the hospital gown I’m in, and now I can’t unnotice it. So before anything else, I really need to shower and get dressed.
Luckily, the guard agrees, asking me if I will allow Gus to follow when my cousin gets up from the bed and moves towards us. I frown at the question. “Of course. Gus is free to do whatever he wants,” I state, feeling slightly annoyed by the question. For clarification, I add, “He’s a Drákon and his dad owns this house.”
The guard bows again, but he doesn’t look at Gus once as he takes us to the bathroom.
“Thirty minutes, and then Abel will be here,” he says, tapping an ear-piece I hadn’t previously noticed.
With a nod, I drag Gus inside and shut the door in the guard’s face. He hasn’t technically done anything wrong, but his total disregard of my first love irks me.
“Come on, we better hurry,” my cousin says, his tone making it clear that he wants to get answers as fast as possible.
While he runs the water, I look around the vast bathroom, finding clean clothes for the both of us in a closet. On our way here, I finally realized where we are. We’re in Nikolaos’ mansion, in one of his many rooms beneath the main floor, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised the bathroom is stocked with our clothes, and my favorite shower products.
Since it’s not the same part I woke up in after the auction, it’s taken me until now to figure out, but I would recognize my uncle’s decor anywhere.
As I follow Gus into the hot spray of the shower, I curse how distracted my mind feels. He told me we were all drugged, and I’m admiring the guards’ shiny gold emblems and focusing on their attitude. Even now, as I’m mentally scolding myself, my mind keeps drifting, and I end up shampooing my hair twice.
With a strict timeline looming, I don’t allow myself to look at Gus’ naked body. I already know that if I do, I’ll want him inside me. Maybe I’ll even want a taste of… no, I need to focus. As I step out from under the spray, I shake my head at myself.
We got drugged… is that why it’s so hard for me to stay focused? I mentally ponder this while towel drying and getting dressed.
As soon as we’re both done, I unlock and open the door, and predictably, the guard is right there, ready to take us back to the room—or that’s what I thought. However, when he turns a corner we didn’t before, it becomes clear we’re going somewhere else.
Gus takes my hand, and I can’t tell if the squeeze is caused by a want to comfort me or a need to keep me close. Either way, I’m happy to hold his hand. Something about our situation feels wrong on a soul-deep level, and I hate admitting that my entire body is humming with trepidation.
“Ahh, there you are. It’s good to see you’re both awake.” Abel greets us as soon as we reach him, but there’s no joy in his eyes. Instead, he looks like he’s carrying an immense burden, and that makes me feel even more anxious.
“Abel,” I say, forcing myself to sound relaxed. “Thank you for looking after us. Where are the others?” I ask, confused that the others aren’t here.
The good doctor gestures towards the dark wooden desk that’s placed near the back wall. He even pulls a chair out for me, waiting until I’m seated before walking around the table to take his own seat. Gus straightens next to me, and just as I think he’s about to let go of my hand, he squeezes it harder.
“What’s going on?” my cousin brusquely asks, his eyes on Abel, who only looks at me.
When the Drákon doctor doesn’t answer, I huff in frustration. “Why is no one answering Gus’ questions?” I ask, idly wondering if Abel is the reason the guards ignored my cousin as well.
Rather than answering me right away, Abel takes his time pouring us some water from the carafe on the desk, before pulling some chocolate chip cookies from one of the desk drawers. “You need to rehydrate and eat,” he commands.
