Page 7 of Captive Heart

When he looked out, Micah didn't see anything amiss, but he was damn sure going to keep his eyes open. That, at least, should be fairly straight forward, since he had temporarily moved into the club after a fire in a neighbouring flat had caused structural damage to his apartment building and he was having to look around for somewhere else to live.

Any other time, he would have bunked in with one of his friends. But with Joel's wife, Desi, on long term bed rest after an early miscarriage scare, Jake and Charlotte being new parents, Logan and Luanna trying for a family of their own, and Connor and Laurel in the midst of buying their first home together and getting ready to move, he was pretty much out of options.

Of course, there was still Trinity, but considering she was newly settled in a relationship with her ex, he wouldn't even dream of asking her to put him up… especially in light of their own history as fuck buddies. That would be sure to put unwanted pressure on her budding relationship.

He could have moved into a hotel, of course. The insurance would have covered it, but not for the length of time he wanted to take to make sure he found the right place.

And who the hell wanted to live in a hotel for months? Not him, that was for sure.

Nope, his stuff was all in storage but for a few clothes and necessities, and the club had enough basic facilities for him to slum it for a little while.

Hell, there were over a half a dozen themed playrooms here, all with a huge, luxury bed. He could sleep in a different one every night of the week if he wanted to, though, in reality, he was sleeping on the sofa bed in the employee lounge since it had a kitchenette and bathroom attached. That was all he needed for now.

Micah wanted his next move to be his last, and that meant taking the time to check out the real estate and not rushing into making a decision. With what might well be a prowler lurking around the club, even if it just turned out to be kids messing about, his presence here might actually be a benefit right now.

3

Crawling out from beneath the haphazard pile of cardboard boxes, blankets, and the tarpaulin in the defunct goods recess, she felt her stomach cramp and gurgle noisily.

She was still lethargic from a lack of proper food and her joints had become stiff and achy from sleeping outside in the cold. She was almost tempted to try to find a refuge or women's shelter, except that those would surely be the first places Master would look.

He knew she had nowhere else to go.

Besides, how would she ever go about finding one? She had no idea where she was or what direction to go to find anything.

After two nights on foot, she had come to the end of the agricultural belt she’d been wandering through and had found this building on the other side of the trees. That had been three days ago.

She hadn't planned to stay here, but the ankle of her injured foot had become so swollen that she could barely walk, and she knew she finally had to rest it. Plus, now that things had become more built up, it was difficult to remain inconspicuous. She couldn’t risk drawing attention to herself with her painful limp and homeless appearance.

This warehouse on the edge of the woods had caught her eye because of the people she’d seen coming in and out. It hadn’t taken long to work out it was some kind of kink club and she had felt oddly at home glimpsing the odd little bit of fetish wear worn by the few who weren't completely bundled up in their cosy winter coats.

She'd spied the recessed doorway, protected from view by a solid, high fence, as she'd been crouched in the woods, considering her next move. It had seemed like divine intervention when she realised that the doors were unused, with the added bonus that the area leading to them was undercover, sheltered, and shadowed, as well as little used. Almost too good to be true.

Certainly, too good to overlook.

The big man came out once a day with trash for recycling, and occasionally, a couple of other people. But she could sleep the night in relative safety and obscurity in the deep alcove, and she'd also found a glass in which she could catch rainwater to drink.

There was even a beautifully soft blanket that had been thrown out, which she snuggled into at night. It just had the tiniest hole and it smelled so lovely.

Plus, there was always a plentiful supply of boxes to keep her warm, and she'd even found a couple of half-eaten bars of chocolate while she'd been searching through the bins.

She had slowly sucked each and every piece. It had been like tasting a little slice of heaven. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had any; it had been years since she'd deserved a treat like that.

As her stomach cramped up again, enough to make her wince and groan, she wondered if there was maybe some more, since last night had been a business night.

She decided she would look first, before she crept over to the baked goods factory that she had discovered a few units down. They often threw away overdone or stale pastries, but she thought something there might have been bad, because she had thrown up last night and her stomach still felt decidedly delicate.

Or maybe that was just because she was starving. She'd known hunger before, but never as bad as this.

She needed water first, though. She knew enough to guess she was dehydrated since she hadn't had to pee for a long time, but it had been raining, so her glass should be full this morning.

She tried to sip at it, but the desire to gulp was too great despite the slightly weird taste the water had. She was already used to that, but it only seemed to make the gurgling and cramping in her stomach worse this time, so that even the thought of the fairly short walk to the bakery warehouse was just too much right now.

Yes, better to try her luck here, instead, and see what she could find.

Her movements were sluggish, and the feeling of nausea quadrupled now that she'd moved.

It seemed to take all of her strength to lift the huge bin lid and she was aware her arms were trembling.

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