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To Elle’s relief, Dawn went into her room and closed the door. She’d feared that Dawn would want to treat tonight like a sleepover.
She took her turn in the bathroom. When she came out, she noticed that all the lights were still on downstairs. Even after she’d turned out the lights in the bedroom and had gotten into bed, she could hear the TV and the muffled voices of the men coming up through the floorboards. The game must have gone into extra innings. It seemed never-ending.
Eventually, blessedly, the television was silenced. Conversation dwindled, then died. Although all became quiet, she had trouble falling asleep. She was still awake, lying on her side facing the windows, when she smelled leather, like Calder’s jacket. She sensed a shift in the air.
She rolled onto her back just as he planted his knee beside her hip on the mattress, leaned over her, and cupped his hand over her mouth. “Don’t say anything, just listen.”
She swatted his hand away. “Like hell I will. Leave this roomnow, or I’ll shout this place down.”
“Elle. Shh. Please.” He clasped her head between his hands and lowered his face close to hers. “After last night, I can’t even imagine what you must think of me.”
“I promise that whatever you can imagine, it’s worse.” She began pushing against him, trying to unbalance him, dislodge his knee from against her hip, break his hold on her. “Let go of me and get out of here.”
“Goddammit, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. This is a disaster—another disaster—waiting to happen. I’m getting out of here, and you’re coming with me.”
“Not if my life depended on it.”
“Itdoes. Those men downstairs might be good-hearted good ol’ boys, but you heard them. They’re here because they drew the short straws. They’re ill-equipped. They’re lax. Protect us? Forget it.”
“Over the burger baskets, you were pumping them for information, weren’t you?”
“You saw through that?”
“Clearly. But you beguiled them.”
“I’m very good at it.”
“I know that too well.”
“Elle, last night—”
“Don’t.”
“Fine. We don’t have time to argue now anyway. Come on, get up, we’re leaving.”
“I wouldn’t go anywhere with you.”
She placed her hands on the undersides of his arms and pushed up, dislodging his hands from her head. He hissed, and she knew the move must have hurt his injured arm, but she used that moment of distraction to scramble off the other side of the bed. She rounded the end of it and rushed toward the door.
He caught up to her before she could open it and sandwiched her between it and him. He crowded in behind her, placing his hands firmly on her waist to hold her in place. His lips against her ear, speaking to her in a rushed, harsh whisper, he said, “Do you want that asshole to get the best of you?”
The shooter. That’s who he was talking about. “He already got the best of me. Charlie.”
“He may not see it that way, Elle. He may want you, too. Just like Perkins said, you’d be a trophy. Think of the fame he would achieve. First the boy, then the mother. Even if he’s caught, he’ll have gotten the last laugh.”
He took her by the shoulders and turned her around, lowering his face to within an inch of hers. “We’re sitting ducks here. You’ve got to trust me on this.”
“I don’t trust you to do anything but manipulate people.”
“I’ve already admitted that I have that talent. I’m a shit. And you don’t know the half of it. Last night, I walked out on you after some rocket-launch sex. Revile me for that. Boil me in oil. I deserve it. But first I’m getting you out of here if I have to drag you. Now, are you going to make this hard or easy?”
She hated giving in to him, but in spite of herself, she was swayed by his arguments. “Damn you.”
“Easy, then,” he said, relaxing a bit. “Good.”
“When should I be ready?”
“We’re going now.”
