He looks at me with concern. “Youdoseem tired. You should’ve slept in the car.”
“I couldn’t. I’m a little… nervous.” I can’t help but add, with a quick glance at Logan, who’s wheeling his suitcase into the tiny living room that connects the two hotel rooms, “After all,someone’sbringing me to my husband tomorrow.”
Logan scowls at me but doesn’t say a word.
“You don’t happen to have anything?” I ask, turning my attention back to Everest.
“Hold on. I’ll check.”
I huff out a relieved breath when I see him take out the big toiletry bag I’d noticed yesterday. He unzips one pocket andfumbles through a number of bottles and pouches.
“Are you a hypochondriac, Everest?” I tease, then kick myself for mocking the guy who’s inadvertently helping me with my plan.
Logan’s deepening scowl, as he sits in the corner of the room typing out messages, is the only sign he’s heard.
But Everest just shrugs off the comment. “I like to be prepared. Aha!” He takes out a small zippered bag. “Ambien! Want some?”
“She isnottaking that,” says Logan gruffly.
“Well, why not? She’s exhausted. Let her get some sleep.”
“She’ll be dead by tomorrow, and ghosts don’t need to be well-rested,” mutters Logan, without a trace of humor.
His words send ice hurtling through my veins, but Everest takes it as a joke.
“Ha, ha. Let the girl sleep, Logan. It’s one Ambien. What the fuck can it do?”
“It’s a prescription drug,” growls Logan. “I’m not having her popping pills!”
Anxiety gives my fear an edge, and I grab the plastic pouch with its single pill. This is my only plan, and I just can’t let Logan sabotage it. “Well, I’m taking it. Thanks, Everest. Fuck you, Logan. Goodnight.”
I slam the door behind me, hard enough that I’m worried for a moment I’ve awoken Aurora, who’s sleeping in her crib. Luckily, once she’s asleep, nothing can wake her.
So I sag against the wall, wondering what the hell is wrong with me. The first step was a success. But could I really not think of a better second step than angering Logan?
I barely have time to get nervous before the door opens, revealing my captor. Unexpectedly, though, he doesn’t look furious. Just… amused.
“Didn’t you get enough this morning?”
“Guess not.” The wince I make as I turn around belies my words, and he smirks.
It’s not a cruel smirk, but it’s not soft, either. Right now, he’s looking at me like… he owns me. And like he’s enjoying that fact.
“I figured, since it’s the last night before you handed me over to my husband,” I say, “that you’d want to get the whole hurting me and making me wish I’d never been born thing done with.”
His smirk deepens as he stares at me, his eyes slowly raking up and down my body. “Come on, Lia.”
He doesn’t give me the chance to say a word before he closes a hand around my wrist and pulls me from the bedroom.
“Iknowhow to walk,” I huff out, but he ignores me.
“Go to your bedroom,” he orders Everest, who’s just settled onto the couch and turned on the TV. “And put your earbuds in. I’m gonna have her screaming all night long.”
Everest raises an amused eyebrow, but his face freezes when Logan adds, “And not from pleasure.”
If he looks worried, I guess I should be too, but my mind is far too focused on my plan to wonder just what Logan’s got in store for me.
The minute Everest’s gone, he turns to me, danger radiating from his every pore.