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Where the hell was she? What was going on?
Opening her eyes, she glanced around.
She hated waking up and not knowing where she was.
Roger. Snuggly.
She searched around for them. They had to be here. They were always there when she slept.
She never slept without them.
They’d ground her. Help her figure out where she was.
“What’s wrong? What are you doing?”
The rough and slightly impatient deep voice, made her cry out at the unexpectedness. She fell with a scream, landing on plush carpet that slightly cushioned her fall. Although the shock of it still reverberated through her body.
“Cat! Be careful! You’re going to hurt yourself!”
That warning came too late. Her butt already hurt. And her toe was throbbing again, along with her fingers.
But none of that mattered.
Where were they?
“Cat. Stop. Now.” Hands reached for her shoulders, and she turned on him.
“They’re missing! Where are they? Did you take them?”
The guy crouched down, staring at her in concern. “What’s missing?”
“Snuggly and Roger. I wouldn’t have fallen asleep without them.”
“Cat, you did.”
“No. No.”
“You did, Preciosa. You fell asleep on my lap as I was telling you the rules while you’re staying here.”
She eyed the man from where she sat on the floor, next to the sofa she’d been sleeping on.
No, not the man.
This was Alejandro.
They were in his house. Because he’d brought her here to keep her safe.
Or so he’d said.
Cat wasn’t stupid, though. She understood that most people would never really go out of their way to help others. Her friends were the only people she could fully trust.
He had to have another reason for bringing her here. Although, after this, he was probably going to try and get rid of her quickly.
No doubt she looked like an insane person, searching for something that wasn’t there.
“They’re not here.” It was more of a statement than a question. But he nodded.
“They’re not. But we’re going to go and get them now.”
“We are?”
“Yep.”
“You could just take me home to my apartment and leave me there.”
What am I doing? I don’t want to leave. I need information.
But at what cost?
“Not yet. I have to have my meeting to make sure you’re safe.”
She wanted to question him again about why it mattered. Point out that she was nothing to him.
But what if he agreed with her? Right now, she was feeling emotionally vulnerable.
And she didn’t like it.
“I fell asleep?”
He stood and held out a hand to her. Reaching up, she took hold.
“Yeah, you did.” He lifted her onto her feet. She winced as her toe ached.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Just my dumb toe.”
“Your toe?”
“It’s fine. Are we leaving now?” Even though she knew she shouldn’t have shown any weakness, shouldn’t give him something he could exploit or use against her, she just really wanted Snuggly and Roger.
She’d worry about everything else later.
When it no doubt came back to bite her in the butt. Because everything always did.
“It is not fine. You winced. You’re going to show me.” He gestured for her to sit on the sofa.
She sat. “This is silly.”
He shot her a quelling look.
With a huff, she held out her foot. He frowned as he stared down at her foot. “This toe?” He pressed down on her sore toe.
She hissed. “Yep.”
“It’s swollen. You should have told me.”
“It’s just a little bit of pain. It doesn’t matter. I’ve had worse. It’s nothing worth mentioning.”
“Any pain is worth mentioning. That’s another rule. Your feet are freezing, we need to get you some socks. Oh, and you’re owed a punishment for falling asleep while I was relaying the rules.”
She glared down at him. “I am not.”
“You are. It’s an early bedtime for you. Nine p.m.”
“You cannot be serious! Ten-year-olds stay up later than that.” No one had ever given her a bedtime. Not even Mama.
“I am serious. You’re obviously exhausted and need it. Next time, perhaps you’ll remember to stay awake while I am instructing you.”
Arrogant, rude, bossy jerk.
She glared at him. “Instructing me? Or lecturing me?”
“Either works. You should have had ice on this toe. Why didn’t you say something when it happened?”
She could blame Bernie, but that wasn’t really her style. Well, sometimes it was. She wasn’t perfect. She was definitely flawed.
But she just shrugged instead.
“I don’t know if you should be walking on it.”
She sighed. “It’s fine. I promise. Just a bit swollen and sore. It would have been better if I hadn’t kicked the door twice.”
“You kicked the door?”
“I was frustrated.”
“You kicked the door because you were frustrated?”
His voice was doing something odd.
“Um, yeah, I just said that. Are you all right? You look kind of weird.”
“Maybe because my blood pressure just rose.”
“I heard that can happen as you get older. You might need to go see a doctor. Get some medication. Perhaps exercise more and eat better. You did eat quite a lot of bacon at breakfast.”
