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“Yeah it was,” I answer defensively.
“Clever girl.” The way he laughs makes me want to pull out each one of his teeth but Garrett keeps a firm grip on my shirt to stop me.
“She was here. I can confirm that. We’ll get security to see where she went.” He still looks impressed by her as he leads us toward the door and opens it.
Garrett looks at me and shrugs as if we have no choice but to follow him, and he’s right, we don’t. So, holding on to my anger, I follow him down to reception with my brother and the Souls, in the hope of getting some answers.
Iblink repeatedly when I start coming back around. My mouth is dry, my limbs are aching, and when my vision becomes less blurry I focus on the man sitting in front of me. I figure I’m not dead since he’s wearing the same clothes as the man who took me, and I’m surprised by how young and vulnerable he looks.
We must be in some kind of shed because the air is stuffy and the walls aren’t far apart. He sits on the floor with his head resting against the door and his knees drawn up to his chest, and I can tell from the way his feet are tapping the floor that he’s unnerved.
“Where are we?” I croak, searching around the tiny space and trying to familiarize myself with something.
“Shut up, bitch,” he snaps back at me, closing his eyes and breathing as if he’s having a panic attack. He’s wearing a black baseball cap with his hood pulled up over it and, suddenly, I’m very aware that he no longer has that mask on. I’ve watched enough episodes of criminal minds to know what that means.
“I’m Savannah.” I do my best to stay calm despite the fact I’m terrified.
“I know who you are. I fucking took you,” he spits back at me, his hands shaking and his breathing getting more and more frenzied.
“Have we met before?” I decide I need to keep him talking. Already, I can see the guy is vulnerable, and although I have no idea why I’m here I have to focus on what’s important… which is getting away from him.
“No, we’ve never met before.” He shakes his head, looking as if he’s gonna cry.
“We must be around the same age. You from round here?” My voice somehow continues to come out friendly.
“Don’t do that.” He points his finger at me. “Don’t try to be my friend.”
The guy is clearly paranoid and when I see the knife lying on the floor beside him, I realize I have to be really cautious.
I doubt anyone has a clue where I am. The only person getting me out of this situation is me, and considering I’m tied to a beam with my arms behind my back, and a thumping headache, I can’t see it happening without some participation from this guy.
“I just figured since we were in this together we should get to know each other.” I force a smile and hope my tactics aren’t gonna aggravate him.
“You don’t wanna know me. I’m a bad person.” He shakes his head and twists up his lips.
“Everyone has a little bad in them. It’s nothing that can’t be forgiven.” I watch him pick up the knife then use the back of the hand he’s holding it with to wipe his eyes.
“I didn’t want to take you. I don’t want to hurt you,” he admits, squeezing his eyes shut.
“I believe that.” I stay calm and start to see some hope. If this guy knows what he’s doing here is wrong, I can work with that.
“Can you tell me why you brought me here?” Of course I fear his answer but I keep a brave smile on my face regardless.
“No.” he shakes his head firmly.
“Did someone tell you to bring me here?” I delve a little deeper and when I get a weak nod in response, my mind immediately starts thinking of suspects.
“Okay, that's okay. What’s your name? You don’t even have to give me your real one. I just want something to call you.” I think about Marston, and how stupid I’ve been. Cole warned me not to dig too deep but I just couldn’t help myself.
“You can call me Joel,” he tells me after a lot of thought.
“Okay, Joel, I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m really scared and I was kinda hoping that maybe you might put that knife down.” I try tugging on the ropes that are bound around my wrists but they're far too tight.
“It’s supposed to be scary.” His knuckles turn white as he grips it tighter.
“Is that why you have it, so you can scare me?” I frown.
“No.” He shakes his head. “I have it, because I’m gonna use it to cut you open.” He stares at the blade and I get a sick feeling in my stomach when he loses his fear and looks excited.
