Page 151 of Double Bucked

“It feels like fate, doesn’t it?” he says.

Hmm, not really. It feels like you killed my father just to bring me back home.

I play along. “How so?”

Those blue eyes glitter with a strange intensity. “We grew up together. You were best friends with my sister. Seemed like we were always…slipping in and out of each other’s lives.”

I was slipping out. You were slipping in.

He nearly steps on my feet. I have to dance two steps back to avoid him.

He grabs me suddenly, yanking me forward. We’re just a hairsbreadth away from each other now.

“You were always too busy playing with those rough Sooter boys,” he says. “Down by the lake.”

I try to pull away, but his grip is too tight. “Loren?—”

“It’s okay.” He grins. It’s a terrible sight. “I knew. I saw. But I kept your secret. Because I knew eventually, you’d come crawling back. You’d find your own again.”

He pushes my hair back under his thumb. He tilts in, and I can feel him inhaling me. There’s a shudder in my breath, and my stomach curls. “I’ve been waiting all night for this.”

My jaw clenches. “So have I.”

You have no idea.

He twirls me, but instead of twirling back to him, I keep spinning. I pretend to trip on my own feet and stumble backward. I aim my body off the dance floor and bang right into the buffet table.

There’s a couple of quick gasps. My elbow is sticky with cream puff. I feel someone grab my arm, trying to help me up.

“Sorry,” I say. “I’m so clumsy…”

I’m only half-faking. The room is, in fact, tilting. Spinning. I find myself tightening my grip on the other person to keep myself from falling backward again.

Come on, Claire. Get it together.

I focus my vision long enough to grab a serrated knife off the table. As they help me up, I manage to slip the knife under my dress, fitting the blade under the elastic of my stockings.

51

EVERETT

The guard leads me through the back entrance. We enter through a narrow reading room. He stops, stands in front of me, and demands, “Look at me.”

I do. He lifts a finger. “Follow this with your eyes only.”

He moves his finger slowly to the side. I follow the motion with my eyes, then with my head, and then my whole body follows. I find myself tilting and stumble to keep myself upright.

Shit. Whatever drugs they put in me are working fast. I don’t like not being in control of my body.

He seems satisfied with my reaction and drops his hand. He reaches for a device on his belt—a small, blocky thing with a handle. “This’ll pinch,” he warns me. I feel him line the device up with my earlobe. There’s an intense pressure and then a brief, throbbing pain, and then it’s done. When he pulls back, my ear feels heavy.

He moves behind me and starts to undo the rope around my arms. “So here’s the deal,” he says. “While the men have their fun with the Belleflower Queens, Mr. Dagney hires local boys to come entertain the wives and ladies in the library. Rules go like this. Don’t try to escape. Don’t hurt anyone. Obey the ladies and give them what they want. Follow those rules, and you might actually enjoy yourself.”

“And if I don’t?” I hear myself say, though my voice feels foggy and distant.

“Then we kill you and your friend.”

Ransom. The rope falls away from me, and I flex my hands. It’s just me and this guard. Even in my intoxicated state, I imagine I could take him. Easily.

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