Page 25 of Ruthless Beasts

“Why did you come?” We were still standing at her door, and a part of me wished she would invite me in, tell me all her secrets she’d been hiding. But I wouldn’t beg for something I hadn’t earned.

“I brought you this.” I handed her the box in my hand.

Her eyes lit up for a moment, then dulled at the realization that it could be used for only limited communications. “Thanks.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat that I felt lodged, preventing me from speaking. “It’s got our numbers programmed in.”

“I figured.” She nodded.

“No other numbers can be called that aren’t programmed, and everything is monitored. I’ve preloaded it with every game you could want too,” I offered, hoping that would please her.

“Thank you. That was kind.”

I ran my hand through my hair, knowing she was upset and I didn’t know how to fix it. “You can text or call any of us at any time if you need something. I’ll add Drew and Max’s numbers to the approved list later.”

“I won’t need anything,” she promised.

Why was it so damn hard to communicate with her? Every time I tried, I somehow screwed it up. “If you do…”

“I won’t.”

“Okay. Well… dinner will be here shortly.” I stepped back, took three steps away from the door before I remembered. “Oh, and call Hannah before she has every government on this planet searching for you.”

Her breath caught. Her voice was hopeful. “Hannah.”

“Yeah. I put her in there too. She seems to care about you. Don’t forget what I said about monitoring. Don’t make me remove her.”

She held the box to her chest. “I won’t, I swear.”

Then I walked away to the sound of her door shutting, followed by an echoing squeal. It wasn’t until I was back in my office that I remembered I never asked her about the appointment.

It was seven o’clock in the morning the next time I stood in front of her door and knocked. My nerves had me wired; my skin felt like it was crawling. When she answered, her hair was tousled, her eyes squinted as she looked me over, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Nothing is wrong,” I blurted out instantly. But was that true? I still didn’t know the reason for her appointment, though one could guess. And I didn’t know how I felt about this guess.

She sighed her relief, and that made me fight a smile. Was she worried about us? “It’s still early. I thought it was something important.”

“It is important,” I stated. “I wanted to ask you if you’d like to go out to breakfast.”

Her breath hitched. “Like, leave this place?”

I nodded. “Can I trust you enough for that?”

I had thought that maybe I could, but the way she seemed ready to bolt at the mention of stepping off my land made me a bit wary. “Of course, you can trust me. I mean… I will not run away.”

“Yet.”

She smirked. “Yet.”

“That’s good to know, because Ace and Mercer will join us for security reasons.”

Her brows furrowed. “Not just us?”

“Did you want it to be just us?” I wondered. Maybe she didn’t hate me as much as she let on?

“I don’t know.”

“I need them along,” I clarified. “We’ve got an appointment with Dr. Stevens.”

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