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“We saw no such thing,” Mayor Prudent says loudly, his voice filling up the now-empty apartment. “And if there’s any recorded evidence, I’m sure it’s going to go missing. So you have nothing to worry about, Pocus. Not where this is concerned.”
“What about where other things are concerned?” I ask, thinking of everything else we could possibly go down for.
“Son,” he says kindly. “You’ve rescued my daughter and found her kidnapper. You have no idea what that means to me. As far as I’m concerned, the Ruthless Kings are a charitable organization with ties to a very important youth center in the community. If you’re involved in any other activities, that is simply not the concern of my office.”
My stomach tightens as I pick up what he’s putting down.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he says politely. “I need to go check on my daughter.”
He straightens his suit jacket and turns on his heel, walking out of the apartment and leaving me there shocked. I turn to Seer, my jaw figuratively on the floor. He’s accomplished something I never could as Prez. He’s garnered peace with the mayor. At least for the next four years.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
I’m cuddling Bear Bear, which is strange because I haven’t seen him in nearly a decade. He’s just as soft as I remember, and his worn out fur is a reminder of how much I’ve loved him over the years, how much comfort he’s brought me. I squeeze him tightly to me and hear a grunt. I sit up and look at him, confused. He opens his mouth, his face transforming into a real bear. He morphs into a terrifying brown bear, poised to attack me. I cover my face, screaming as loud as I can in hopes that someone might hear me and rescue me. He’s about to bite a chunk out of my face when my eyes pop open.
My heart pounds in my chest and I sit up in a bed I don’t recognize, feeling like it’s some kind of trick. I don’t remember falling asleep. I certainly don’t remember falling asleep here. Blearily, I look around and see that I’m hooked up to several machines, and there’s an IV in my arm. I squint toward the other side of the room and see Bones awkwardly curled up in a reclining chair. It all comes back to me in a wave of dizzying memories and I think I may be sick.
The reality of it is much worse than my Bear Bear nightmare. I look at my wrists to see them bandaged up, and feel the rawness of my skin from where they were bound by handcuffs. My stomach growls angrily and I remember that I haven’t eaten in a day and a half. The air around me starts to constrict and I feel like there’s a bag over my head again. I try to control my breathing, to find my center, but it’s no use. I’m on the verge of hyperventilating when I see Bones wake up.
He looks at me with bleary eyes, then straightens up when he sees the state I’m in. He gets out of his chair and carefully comes to sit next to me on the bed. My body immediately molds into him, relaxing just slightly as he pulls me into his arms and rubs my back.
“You’re safe now,” he whispers. “You’re at the hospital and you’re safe. No one is coming after you now. It’s all over.”
He continues to whisper these encouraging sentiments in my ear as I cry, the terror and panic all hitting me at once. I cling to him like I’m sinking in the ocean and he’s a life raft. When my body has run out of tears, I just sob dryly into his chest, my entire body trembling against him.
“What happened?” I finally manage to ask. “Who did this to me?”
“It’s not important,” he murmurs into my hair. “You’re upset, you don’t need to worry about that now. Just know that he’s gone and you’re never going to have to worry about him again.”
I pull away and look up at him, feeling defiant. My body is still shaking, but now there’s rage coursing through my veins. Maybe he thinks it’s better that I don’t know, but I’ve just been through hell. It’s my right to know who put me through it.
“Tell me,” I demand, my voice firm.
He sighs heavily and gently tugs at me so I’ll settle back against him. I relent, too tired to fight him, but also because I love the way his chest feels against me. He’s a much better cuddler than Bear Bear, real or nightmare version.
“It was Davis Thompson,” he finally whispers. His arms tense around me and I realize that this is just as hard for him to say as it is for me to hear. I pull away from him again to look up at his face. His eyes are filled with tears and so much pain. I reach my hand up to brush them away.
“He wanted to be mayor,” he says. “He thought kidnapping you would be the best way to make your dad drop out of the race. Now he’s sitting in a jail cell, hopefully getting beat up by a drunken cellmate.”
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly, trying to process all of this. I always knew there was something I didn’t like about Davis Thompson. It was more than just his attack ads about my father or his pandering to the press. Something about him always felt insincere and dangerous. I guess now I know why. I never would have believed he was capable of such an awful act, but it does all make a certain kind of sense.
“What about the Grimm Reapers?” I ask, feeling more exhausted than I ever have in my life. His chest vibrates against me with a chuckle.
“The Bayou Reapers,” he corrects me gently. “They’re all in jail. We checked. None of them were involved. It was all Davis and some bad Craigslist ads.”
“Seriously,” I breathe, already feeling my eyes start to close as I rest against him. “And you figured it all out. You saved me.”
“I always will,” he whispers as I feel my body go weightless.
When I wake up again, the sun is bright in the window and Bones is back in his chair, though he’s pulled it closer and he’s slumped over my bed. His face is turned toward me, his hand limp around mine. I watch him, noticing how peaceful he looks in his sleep. There’s something so innocent about him when he’s like this, so vulnerable. In the short time I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him vulnerable.
His eyes flicker open and he smiles a shy, lazy smile. His hands move to his eyes, balling up in fists as he rubs away the sleep in them.
“Good morning.” He yawns. “Or afternoon. Possibly evening? I’ve lost all track of time.”
“Me too,” I murmur. “How long was I gone, anyway?”
He looks up at me and takes in a sharp inhale of breath.
