AllFreeNovel
Share Us
”There,” Victor said. ”Your hands are free.”
I looked up at him, at the black ring around his eyes. He looked like he was going to say something else, but Teo interrupted his thoughts.
”Victor, get her some water,” he said. ”And then, all of you, give us some space.”
Thatwasunexpected. A shiver went down my spine. I didn't really think that he was going to send the rest of them away, and while I knew men were dangerous in groups, I also knew that he probably had an image to project to them.
Privacy scared me. I couldn't discern what kind of person Teo was and there was something in his eyes that I wasn't sure about. He was charming, handsome, magnetic even. But something about the way he looked–nevermind his reputation, which certainly preceded him–made my blood run cold.
Victor placed an unopened bottle of water in front of me. Teo opened it with a click. Victor handed it to me.
”Thank you,” I said. I tried to brace myself to stand up–I wasn’t sure why. Mostly, I guessed, I wanted to ensure that my legs worked.
”Whoa, easy,” Teo said. He got up in one fluid motion and I stumbled over. Despite doing everything I could to steady myself, I stumbled and fell straight into his arms.
He caught me easily. He was unexpectedly lean, his muscles smaller than they looked when I first glanced at him. He was built like a dancer, tall and wiry, despite how much he clearly worked out. His muscles bulged under the fabric of his shirt, thin and slightly shimmery with sweat from the Orlando heat.
My instinct was to bunch my fists around the fabric of his shirt and feel his body under it with my knuckles. I didn’t do that–of course I didn’t do that, I wasn’t insane.
Instead, I tried to pull myself away from him, my hands flat against his chest. I was off-balance and he caught me again, his arms surprisingly warm.
”Are you okay?” his breath was warm against my ear. It sent a shiver down my spine. I smelled the citrus on his skin, the coffee on his breath, the aftershave on his face.
I looked up at him, my eyes narrow.
”Right. Dumb question.”
”Yeah. Dumb question.”
He smiled again, and I noticed a dimple on his left cheek. He pulled up the chair for me and motioned for me to sit, as if it was the most perfectly gentlemanly gesture. ”I’ll make sure you get everything you need,” he said. ”But you should probably stay seated.”
He was right and I hated it.
He extended his hand to help me sit down. I considered slapping it away; I was, after all, his prisoner. But it didn’t seem a good idea to piss off my captor, even if my captor said he was on my side.
So I took it.
He wrapped his fingers around mine. I noticed how long they were, how soft his hands were, much like the rest of him. With cat-like grace, he helped me back into the wooden chair I’d been sitting on. ”Water. Tylenol. Anything else?”
”A cold compress?” I asked. ”My head hurts.”
”Of course,” he replied. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and sent a text, which he did with only his right hand. It was impressive. He put his phone down on the table behind him and cocked his head. ”I’m serious, Sofia. Whatever you need, I can provide it for you. All I ask is that you’re honest with me.”
”I am,” I said. As I spoke, one of the guys walked in with the medicine and a cold compress, which he left in front of me. I didn’t look at him; not because I didn’t want to, but because he was fast and it was clear he didn’t want to be seen. From the little information I had of Teo, I could already make an educated guess that he was not the kind of man who liked to be interrupted. I wasn’t sure, but I thought it might’ve been Jace.
”Okay. So the Orchid Strangler,” Teo said, demanding my attention.
I swallowed as I looked at his face again. ”Right,” I said. ”He doesn’t have an official name or anything, that’s just what I call him.”
He raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to continue.
”It’s just my name for him,” I said. ”I don’t know much else about him.”
”Sowhatdo you know about him?”
”I don’t even know if it’s a guy,” I said. ”I just know that there’s someone who is going around, disappearing people. When they turn up, if they turn up, they’re dead.”
”Strangled?”
