Page 24 of Suspicion

The space was open and murky, so dark in fact that she couldn’t even see the edges of the building. All she could make out, thanks to the limited glare of the flashlight he’d angled in the doorway, was the looming tower of Tucker before her. Anything else could be lurking in the corners, just waiting for her to be left dangling as prey. Her heart rate accelerated at the terrible thought. To wake up in the forest had been horrendous, but this was a step too far.

“It’s perfectly safe.” He scoffed as though she was a child who needed mindless reassurance. “I’ll lock the door behind me.”

“That’s even worse!” The protest burst from her lips before she had time to consider the words. “You’re locking me in when anything could be in here.” Wide-eyed, her gaze extended about the place, looking for any evidence of movement in the gloom.

“Nothing’s in here,” he scolded. “Except perhaps the occasional rat looking for a warm bed in the hay.”

“A rat!” She hopped from one foot to the other as she contemplated the horror of what that meant. An oversized and hungry rodent could soon be running around her feet in the almost darkness—there was no way she could deal with that. “Oh, God. I hate rats!”

“Have you ever seen a rat?” His right eyebrow arched to reflect his skeptical tone.

“No, I mean… I don’t know.” She shivered with disgust. “But I don’t want to, though!”

“Just as well it’s so dark, then.” His lips curled. “It’s not likely you’ll see much of anything until the morning.”

“The morning?” She was practically hyperventilating. “You can’t leave me alone in here until then. Just let me down! Let me go.”

“You keep telling me what I can and can’t do.” Closing the distance between them, he glared down at her. At that moment, he commanded every fiber of her attention, his face the very center of her world. “I want to make one thing clear… you don’t get to tell me anything.”

Her already parched throat somehow dried further at his glower. “Okay.” She loathed the tremble in her husky tone, not wanting to show any sign of the fear pinballing through her body, but for once, she had to be sensible.

What choice did she have but to concur with his declaration? She was hardly in a position to counter him, and whatever happened next, she needed Tucker to take pity on her and let her down from the rafter, or the inside of the barn might be the last place she ever knew.

Cold dread bled into every part of her outstretched body at the chilling prospect, but as catastrophic as it sounded, it was all too real a possibility. He’d already shown himself to be a man of little conscience. Who else would even consider holding a human being as a warranty?

“Okay, what?” His hands rose to his hips as he demanded she parrot back his terms.

“Okay, I don’t get to tell you anything.”

It was possibly the most humbling and feeble thing she’d ever admitted, but her weakness made it no less true. Like it or not, until she could break free of the damn ropes, the unknown quantity who was Tucker was most certainly in charge.

“Better.” His expression softened as he nodded, the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes relaxing to reveal the deep blue eyes she’d noticed earlier in the forest. Even in the shadows, the azure shade was startling. “Now, how about that water?”

Staring at him, Ella wondered whether he truly was clinically unstable. How could a man treat her like this, then offer her a drink as though he were an honorable and respectable person?

“You’re still thirsty, I assume?”

“I am.” She couldn’t recall being thirstier at any time in her life.

“So?” One arm fell flat to his side. “Do you want the water?”

“Yes, please?” She phrased the reply as more of a question than a statement, painfully aware that she now required his approval for just about everything.

“There.” His face lit up with a broad smile. “I knew you could be polite if you tried.”

Polite? She would have been happy to throttle the arrogant oaf, but suspended in ropes in his barn didn’t give her many options. In the short term, at least, she had to play nice.

“Wait here.” He sniggered as though there was anything even vaguely amusing about her predicament. “Not that you have much choice! I’ll be back with the water.” He spun on his heel, pacing toward the open doorway.

“But I can’t see!” Her heart pounded as she acknowledged the most perturbing truth of them all—she might actually feel bereft without the man who’d taken her and made her his captive. “Please don’t leave me like this.”

She stiffened at her imploring tone, detesting how pathetic she sounded, yet standing by every word. The only thing worse than being left alone in an unused barn was to be left in the darkness in a hay-strewn barn.

“Be brave, Ella.” Standing in the doorway, he turned back in her direction. “I have an oil lamp next door that I’ll bring, but you’ll have to hang in there for a few minutes.”

Hang in there? Her brow furrowed. Was he trying to be fucking funny?

The unspoken question remained unanswered as he stalked away, leaving her to her thoughts and the swirling shadows.

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