Page 48 of Captive Souls

But we weren’t in my world. The painful realization was inescapable now.

We were in hers.

And I was beginning to understand that that was deadly too.

I itched for a way to find out about her past. But I didn’t have one. We were out of range for cell service—purposefully. And though I doubted anyone on Stone’s team was talented enough to track me, I’d kept all my tech at my apartment. I had no need for it. Needing to call for help meant I was morally injured, and I deserved to die anyway. And I had no one to call.

Not a single way for me to dig for skeletons. Except to ask her. Talk to her. No way in fuck would I be doing that.

Silence descended between us, but I knew it wouldn’t last long. Piper did not do well in silence. I’d observed that since I met her, during the drive here. She’d writhed with discomfort, unable to resist making conversation with a man she thought might possibly rape and murder her.

A ridiculous personality trait, yet one I found immensely charming.

“Here is my list,” she said, handing me a piece of paper.

I took it on instinct. Her handwriting was messy, barely legible. But I could see she put little fucking hearts over the “I”s.

Tampons, food requests—gummy bears and pop rocks. What was she, seven?

“Seeds, dirt, planters?” I questioned, once I moved past the candy.

She nodded. “I’m going to start a garden.”

“A garden,” I repeated before I could stop myself.

“Yes, well, I can only hope I won’t be here to see the fruits of my labor, no pun intended since I do in fact plan on planting strawberries.” She winked. My cock twitched. “But there are only so many weeds I can wrestle with and books I can pretend to read, and it’s good for the soul to get hands in the dirt. Grow things. And then maybe your next captive can bake you a strawberry pie or throw together a tomato salad.”

Though I had discovered that Piper liked to joke, she was serious about this. About planting a garden.

“What?” she asked, tilting her head as if to regard the surprise I knew was painted nowhere on my expression. “You think I should rot away inside, trying to carve knives into shanks and plot my escape?”

My lips thinned in an effort not to smile. “You don’t need to carve knives into anything, they’re already a weapon.”

Her face went blank then she nodded quickly. “Thanks for the pointer—pun intended. I’ll stow that away for when I do intend to stab you. For now, it’ll just be that.” She gestured to the list. “And don’t worry, I won’t try to run while you’re gone. I’m not that stupid.”

Again, she was being serious. Though it was human nature to try to break out when you were in captivity, she had seemed to accept her cage without question. Because she was smart enough to understand just how imprisoned she really was.

Though it was rough terrain and a long way to any civilization, I didn’t doubt Piper had the capability to escape if she really set her mind to it. She could get away from me, for a time anyway. And she likely wasn’t stupid enough to alert authorities, knowing Stone had connections to everything. Which meant she’d try to run. With no funds, and no ID. Maybe she had contacts I didn’t know about who could procure her fake identification, money, but I doubted it.

Even if she did have those connections, she was aware of the noose we’d placed figuratively around her sister’s head.

I’d be expected to kill her sister if she did run.

The thought made my throat constrict.

Piper’s sister was all she had. Everything to her. That was plain. And killing her would be inflicting a mortal wound upon Piper.

The thought of causing any harm to Piper’s sister made my insides clench. A foreign reaction for me. I battled against it, denied the power she was quickly wielding over me.

She wouldn’t do it. Wouldn’t run. Wouldn’t force my hand like that. She was going toplant a garden.

It was her way of keeping herself alive, intact. And the quickest way to nip that in the bud was to refuse her. The entire goal of this assignment was to pull her apart, not to give her ways to bring things to life.

Yet I took the list.

Piper

After leaving Knox sitting outside with my list, I stomped inside, first removing my muddy boots then going to the bathroom. I was in dire need of a shower. The thin layer of dirt and grime covering my body felt good, though. Reminded me of the long,sticky summer days with my grandmother. Our hands in the soil, her raspy, patient voice telling me which plants were weeds and which weren’t.

---