Page 8 of Saving Her

“Fine,” she grumbles. “You don’t think if I squawk like a bird, they’ll figure out we’re doing something we shouldn’t?”

I get down on all fours and start crawling toward the window. I look at Gabby over my shoulder and give her a dirty look. She doesn't see because she has her back turned toward me. Still, it makes me feel better. I reach the corner of the room and spot an old folding card table. Slowly pulling it down, I glance to make sure Gabby is still standing in front of me. She’s swinging her arms back and forth while looking around.

I get to work on the card table and eventually get one of the metal legs off. It won’t do a lot of damage, but it’s the best I can come up with. With some effort, I also remove the other three. Finally, I stack them up under the top of the table. Standing up, I walk back over to Gabby.

“Let’s drag the mattress over to that corner. There’s sun coming from that tiny window up top. It’s not much, but it makes me feel as if I’m not suffocating, at least.”

Gabby looks at me like I’m insane. “I don’t want to touch that filthy thing,” she says, her features curling up in distaste.

I know my eyes go wide. The feeling of needing to kick her is intense. “Gabby!” I growl, hands on my hips. I stare at her pointedly, hoping she gets the silent message.

“Fine,” she says eventually, clearly not happy.

We tug and tug. The damn thing feels like dead weight. I’m pretty sure tugging on a dead body would be easier. Eventually, we get it in place. Everything in me hurts. My back hates me right now. Gabby huffs as she lets go of her corner of the mattress, then proceeds to look at her hands in disgust.

“Stand in front of me,” I order.

“Again?” she barks. “I hate this place. I hate being here. I hate all of it. This place is disgusting. We should at least have some antibacterial wipes or something supplied to us. We could catch an infection and die. What good would we be as hostages then?”

I just stare at Gabby in disbelief and shake my head. At least she gets in front of me as I move the legs of the table, hiding them under the mattress. I know if we are being filmed, they can see some of what I’m doing, but I don’t think we truly are. I’m just being overly safe. Plus, it’s annoying Gabby and I take pleasure in that after the way she hurt my boys. Apparently, I can be a grown-up and still be petty. Who knew?

I stand up, letting my hand trail over the walls as I walk the perimeter of the room. I’m searching for anything that might help. I’m not really finding anything, but I’d kill for a secret passage right now—one that leads straight out of this hellhole and back home.

I freeze when I hear heavy footsteps heading our way. Gabby crowds in behind me as we wait for the door to open. I try to prepare myself for the worst. I don’t know what to expect, but I know I need to be ready. I need to survive this, if only to be there for Dragon. When he finds out King was part of all of this, it will kill him. He’s already raking himself over the coals over all of this. I admit, I left because I wanted him to face the mess that he created. I’m sick of him trying to keep me in the dark.

I give King a dirty look as he walks through the door. For a minute, I think I see his lips turn up as if he is fighting a smile. Does he really think there’s anything funny about what’s going on here?

“Dinner time,” he says, reaching in a white plastic bag and pulling out two of those horrible sandwiches they keep in a freezer at a convenient store. He holds one out to me and one to Gabby. We both stare at him like he is insane. “Take it. You both need to keep your energy up.”

“I’m not touching that. For all I know, you slipped something into it,” I mutter.

“It’s still factory sealed,” he points out, seemingly annoyed. I have a newsflash for him. If he thinks I’ve been uncooperative so far, wait until he sees what I do the rest of the time I’m here. King can go fuck himself.

“I’m not touching it,” I repeat.

“Me either,” Gabby adds.

He lets the sandwiches fall to the floor with a shrug. “Suit yourselves. It’s no skin off my nose if you starve.”

“Dragon will be here soon. You know that, right?”

“You have a lot of faith in the man, considering you left him.”

My stomach burns. It feels like I’ve just been gut punched. I don’t like people knowing my private life. That King knows, and he’s with these men to hurt Dragon, makes everything worse. “I haven’t left him,” I deny at once.

“Whatever you say,” he says with a smirk that I’d like to wipe off his face.

“You done in here?” I look around King to see another member of the Feral Kings MC standing by the door.

“Just having some fun. Eyeball okayed it,” King responds. “Me and Dragon’s bitch are going to have some fun tomorrow night.”

“I’m goin’ to get me another taste of that pretty blonde. Had a small taste on the ride here but I could only watch. Eyeball said I needed to wait for my turn. Lookin’ forward to round two. Eyeball said I needed to wait, though.”

I feel Gabby tremble beside me, and I move my body more in front of her trying to protect her as best as I can.

“I’ll join you in a bit for a beer,” King yells, not even looking back at the other guy.

“Sure enough,” the guy says and then walks out.

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