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When he kisses my forehead and then settles in as if we’re going to go to sleep, I relax against him.
We aren’t lovers, but when he holds me like this, it’s easy to imagine we are.
Chapter Fourteen
Hallie
When my eyes open the following morning, a faint fog hangs over me. It feels like I had a little too much to drink last night, but since I know I didn’t, I assume I’m feeling the effects of being drugged.
Even more disturbing, the strong arm locked around my waist and the hot, hard length pressed against my backside? All parts belonging to the man who drugged me.
I’ve gotta get out of here.
I feel like Alice waking up in Wonderland after a night she either doesn’t entirely remember, or one she wishes she could forget. All I want to do is gather my things and run as fast as I can back to that rabbit hole. I’ll claw my way back out of it if I have to, I just need to feel my feet on solid ground again.
Hoping he’s a heavy sleeper but not knowing for sure, I take my sweet time very carefully lifting the blanket underneath his hand and slowly moving out from under it, inch by inch until I can ease myself off the bed.
If he stays asleep, I can find my clothes and my cat and get the hell out of here without having to face him again.
That seems impossible. He seems too present in this room that smells like him and feels like him, that chokes me with his presence and seems utterly inescapable.
And yet, I’m able to slip out unnoticed.
When I get on the other side of the door, I pause because it doesn’t feel right.
Last night when I tried so desperately to escape, I couldn’t. This morning all I have to do is slip out while he sleeps?
But I don’t waste time questioning my good fortune. I’m too busy searching all over the place for my clothes. Marie was easy, she is snoozing peacefully in the little blanket bed he made for her, but as I move carefully through every room but his bedroom, I realize he must have brought my clothes in there.
I stop and look at the door, the thick mahogany with its perfect, gleaming ridges. I can’t shake the feeling that he’s awake on the other side, even though he hasn’t come out yet. Perhaps it’s paranoia, but I don’t want to miss my chance to leave.
I can’t very well leave naked, either, so I do the only thing I can think of—grab Calvin’s coat out of his coat closet. It’s long and black, thick wool that can easily cover my nakedness if I pull it closed. I do, and I’m absolutely swimming in it, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not trying to make a fashion statement, I’m just trying to get out of here before I’m caught. Closing the coat around me tightly and snatching Marie from her blanket bed, I make my way to the door as quietly as I can. I still feel like I’ll get caught before I manage to leave, but when the elevator doors close and I’m inside, I finally breathe a little easier.
Snuggling Marie close and kissing the side of her face, I tell her, “We made it, girl.”
She tilts her head to look up at me, not remotely convinced that leaving was an emergency.
I ignore that and pretend she’s totally on my side.
I won’t feelentirelylike I’m able to relax until we’re out of his building, but when the doors open to the lobby, he’s not standing there—somehow dressed in a suit already—with his arms crossed over his broad shoulders giving me a very unimpressed look as I attempt to flee.
I’m in the clear.
It feels too easy, but I make my way to the door. A different doorman is on duty today, and to his credit he doesn’t even blink seeing me rush out with my hair all a mess, a cat clutched in my arms, and a man’s jacket hanging off my body. I must look stark raving mad, but he simply smiles and opens the door for me.
I thank him and pass through the doorway urgently, lending even more evidence to the appearance that I’m mad.
I stop on the sidewalk, aware of the sudden—almost reassuring—noise of the bustling city. It restores a bit of normalcy. People cross the sidewalk in front of me, not seeing or not caring what I look like.
Moments ago I felt like I was one wrong move away from being a rich man’s captive, but out here on the busy New York City sidewalk, I’m a normal person again, and Calvin Cutler is just a really bad dream I need to finish shaking off. I’m awake. I’m free.
It was too easy.
Getting a cab probably won’t be. Not only because I look like I’ve just escaped an asylum and probably can’t pay, but I also have a cat with me.
Marie looks around at the sights. I don’t usually bring her outside unless we’re going to the vet, so she side eyes me like I’d better not even try it.
“We’re going home,” I tell her.
