Page 66 of Fatal Attraction

Tie up?

“It’s nothing that concerns you,” he said as he observed me connecting the dots in my head, shoveling more eggs on the spoon and offering it to me. “But if you must know, a little birdie was nice enough to inform me about your grand plan to expose me. He intercepted me when my guard was down, so I had no choice but to intercept him. Ensure he wouldn’t go running his mouth to the wrong people.”

“Oh my God,” I muttered in horror, glaring at him like the monster he was.

Felix.

He was talking about Felix.

“Tell me you didn’t kill him.”

He shrugged, then presented me with another disgustingly evil grin. “Hide and seek has always been my favorite game, Charlotte. I wonder how long it’ll take them to find him. Felix doesn’t have much time left.”

His words made me sick, so fucking sick that I gagged, puking up a tiny bit of the eggs I just ate.

Perry huffed as he got up, placing the tray down on the end of the bed before he angrily stalked out of the room. He returned moments later with a drenched washcloth in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He cleaned me up and then tipped the glass to my mouth.

I drank what little he gave and whimpered when he took it away, my stomach in knots.

“I still have more questions.”

“And we have all the time in the world for me to answer them.” He plopped down in his seat and pulled the tray back into his lap. “Now, finish eating. I have somewhere else I need to be.”

Twenty Seven

Spike

Istood outside Carter’s room, nervously bouncing on my heels while Phoenix, the hungover fucking idiot, sat on the bench beside me, chugging down another large coffee he’d snagged from the cafeteria on our way in. I couldn’t believe he’d fallen downhill so rapidly. That I’d found him and his apartment in such irresponsibly despicable conditions. It had been years, over four long years, since he’d binged like this, and I fucking refused to go down this road with him again.

Not again.

“Fucking finally,” I tiredly snipped when Dr. Giles stepped out.

I wished Phoenix had taken a shower before we left, because this god-awful boozy odor shadowed him when he got up and tossed his empty plastic coffee cup in the trash beside me. It was so rank you’d have thought he’d bathed in the shit from how badly it was radiating out of his pores. “Is he awake?”

The doctor frowned. “I’m sorry, boys. I’m afraid you’ll have to come back later.”

“What?” said Phoenix, his shoulders drooping low in disappointment. “Why?”

“He had another episode. When he woke up this morning, he thought he was back in Iraq again. He attacked two of my nurses and I had to put him under immediate sedation.”

“Another?” I reiterated, my brows crumpling. “When did the firstone happen?”

“Last night. First thing when he woke up.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me this, why?” I bit out in anger.

“You two already have enough stacked on your plates as it is with Charlotte’s disappearance. I didn’t want to worry you.”

“But Carter’s okay, right?” Phoenix asked.

“He’ll live, if that’s what you mean. His injuries have improved but I’d like to keep him here another week or two for observation.”

When Carter was admitted, he’d suffered significant head trauma and had fallen into a coma. He had five broken ribs and there was a deep gash along the side of his forehead that had taken almost forty stitches to seal. Dr. Giles and his team truly couldn’t make heads or tails whether Carter would wake up or not, or if he’d even remember what happened that night if he did. Carter was our last and only hope we had left to find Charlotte, and I seriously had no fucking idea what I was going to do if he couldn’t remember anything.

“Does he…” I started, straining to swallow around the lump growing in my throat. “Were you able to speak with him at all about that night?”

“I was.” He kept his face serious as he moved the clipboard he was holding away from his chest and blinked down at it, taking his time as he began flipping through pages. “I asked him if he remembered what happened to him. He managed to rasp out three words before the sedative knocked him out.” He handed me a sheet of notebook paper with the words:Man, Gold,andAntlersscribbled down on it.

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