Page 53 of Hyde

As she’s lying by my feet, gloriously twitching, I look over to the bathroom door—which luckily for me opens out into the room. Istep over Trinity and grab the chair that’s tucked under the desk, wedging it under the doorknob.

I pause for a moment, standing to the side, but there’s not a sound from whomever I just locked inside.

Looking around the disaster of the room, I pick up a reusable shopping bag and shove whatever clothes I see into it before grabbing her purse. It’s one of the twins who’s standing in the doorway, who solves my next problem.

“Finn, help her walk to my SUV, please,” I ask him.

“I’m Aiden,” he murmurs, sounding like he’s in pain. “Finn’s calling Dad from the front office. We have to let Flint know immediately or I doubt he’ll even let us be prospects.”

“That’s fine, just grab her and follow me,” I respond with a sigh as Trinity starts to sit up on her own.

“Bitch,” she slurs the word out.

“Come on, Aiden. I mean, did Flint tell you that you couldn’t help me, or did he just tell you to let him know where I was?”

“You better not get me arrested, Leslee,” Aiden whines even as he leans down to help Trinity to her feet. Before I lead the way out of the room.

“She was on a bender,” I explain to the cleaning lady, meeting her wide eyes when she sees Trinity—who is walking but leaning heavily on Aiden. “I’ll make sure she gets the help she needs.”

“Help me,” Trinity slurs, her eyes on the pavement in front of her as if she’s coaching her legs to hold her weight.

“Poor thing. She’ll thank you some day,” the woman responds, and it takes a significant amount of willpower to maintain my innocent expression.

Finn is exiting the office, and starts gaping like a fish out of water as he watches us approach.

“What’s going on?” he asks, but I don’t have time for that now.

“Aiden, get her in the back. I still need your help,” I instruct him, clicking my key fob to open the doors and wondering how long it’ll be before the boys have reinforcements. “Finn, did you get a hold of your dad?”

“Yeah, he was going to call Flint. What are you doing?” he responds.

“What needs to be done,” I answer, slamming the back door behind his brother, I cross around to the driver’s side. “I’ll give your brother your phone before I drop him off back here.”

“Since you’re technically kidnapping me,” Aiden hesitantly speaks up before we’ve gone a block. “I hope your Ol’ Man will back me when the time comes.”

I shake my head at his words, annoyed that he’s speaking in front of Trinity. I know she’s overcome the shock of the taser at this point.

“Ol’ Man?” she whispers in question.

“Hyde,” Aiden answers her just as I shout for silence.

“Christ, don’t talk about shit in front of her,” I lecture him, shaking my head at him for not thinking things through.

Trinity lets out a shrill laugh, at least I thought it was until it continued on, getting louder and louder.

“Oh, baby girl!” Trinity cackles. “You gonna be happy with my scraps? You think he’ll ever love you as much as he loved me? That’s why you’re getting rid of me now? You remember how he panted after me, don’t you?”

I keep my mouth shut as I turn into the depot and pull up across from the bus. There’s no sense in riling her up when I need her to get on the bus without too much of a scene.

“Alright,” I say, releasing my seat belt and turning to look at Trinity. “Now, we’re going to board the bus. I’m going to pay the driver for your fare to Denver. From there, there’s plenty of money in this envelope for you to buy a ticket back to Indiana. And a little something extra for behaving.”

So, I might have used a bunch of ones that I had to make the envelope look more enticing, but with a little luck she won’t notice until the bus is well on its way. She reaches out for it, but I hold it back.

“Yeah, after I get you tucked in, princess,” I growl. “Let’s go.”

Taking her bags, I slide out of my SUV and stay close to her as we cross. If the driver thinks it’s weird that I’m paying for her, he doesn’t let on. Regardless, I keep a close eye on her as she walks to the back.

Once he’s given me the ticket, I make a show of having to give her her things as I head down the aisle to her seat—thankfully, she’s not sitting near anyone else.

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