Page 14 of Oh, Hell No

If Perry had done this, then why? He hated breaking rules, and this was one of those ultimate rules you did not break. Piss off the United States government and psychos who would lock your sister up and starve her to death.

Oz appeared inside the glow of his phone light. I studied him to see he had a large bottle of water in one hand and a plate of food. If I’d had the energy, I might have jumped up and tried to tackle him for it. I didn’t care what it was. I hated carrots, but I’d even take a bag of those at the moment.

As he drew closer to me, I began to stiffen and press my back against the wall. What was he going to do? Had my time run out?

He stopped in front of me and bent his knees as he lowered himself to the ground, then placed the food and the water in front of me. My eyes immediately dropped to the items. Bacon,eggs, two slices of toast, and some fresh berries filled the plate. My mouth instantly watered as my stomach made loud noises. I snatched up both slices of bacon and shoved one in my mouth in case he was teasing me. I was getting a bite before it was taken from me.

“Not so fast. You’ll get sick,” his deep voice said.

Those eyes of his met mine, and there was some concern there—or I was hallucinating from dehydration, starvation, and little sleep.

I chewed quickly and swallowed.

“Are you gonna take it away from me?” I asked.

He shook his head, then stood back up.

The relief was so powerful that I wanted to weep. Picking up a strawberry, I began to eat it, not taking my eyes off Oz as he reached for the lantern and turned it on. Then, he walked over and took the chair, pulling it a few feet in front of me before sitting down.

Before I ate the other piece of bacon, I decided I needed water. Grabbing the bottle, I opened it and took a drink. The first long gulp I had allowed myself since realizing the tiny bottle was all I would get each day. God, nothing had ever felt as good as the cold liquid coating my throat.

“Slow down on the water, too, or it’ll come back up. Your stomach has shrunk from not eating,” Oz stated.

In theory, I knew this, but I was terrified that this was going to disappear at any moment, and I wanted to get all I could before that happened. But throwing up down here and being left to smell it would be an unpleasant outcome.

I took a piece of toast. “I know all about that, trust me,” I told him before breaking some off with my teeth, unable to hide the small moan as the warm, buttered bread met my tongue.

“You get starved often?” he replied.

I finished chewing and swallowed. “It’s been years, but yeah.There were times in my childhood I went without. Then, when I was given food, I ate it quickly and too much of it, only for it to come right back up,” I explained before taking the fork to scoop up some of the scrambled eggs.

“Why did you go without food as a kid?” he asked.

I didn’t exactly want to chat. I had food to eat, but if I had to stop and answer his questions, then perhaps that would slow me down. It also wouldn’t hurt to talk some. If I told him truthfully what I knew, then he might bring me more food and water.

“We had an alcoholic mother,” I started. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been around someone who is a severe alcoholic, but all they care about is the liquor. Our money went to it. She couldn’t hold down a job because of it. She went missing for days, often on a binge with some man who supplied her with it. Until I could get a job, it was up to me to make sure my brother ate. When we didn’t have much, then that meant I went without.”

I didn’t enjoy walking down memory lane, but I preferred it over no food.

“She’s dead.” He said it more like a statement, but I nodded anyway. “Drink herself to death?”

I lifted a shoulder. “More or less. She was drunk and fell down the stairwell at our apartment building in the middle of the night. Broke her neck on impact.”

I watched his face while I ate another berry. I wondered if he’d let me save the food for later. If this was going to be a once-a-day thing, then I wanted to be sure I could eat again before I went to sleep. Without the hunger pains, I would sleep better in these conditions.

His hair looked damp, as if he’d just had a shower. I was envious. I wanted a shower, to be able to scrub my body, brush my teeth and hair. Heck, to sit on a toilet instead of squatting over a bucket. I was sure I looked like some savage animal while he looked as perfect as always. Another reason to hate him.

“How long have I been down here?” I asked him, unsure about the time. It all seemed to be one long, endless existence.

He glanced down at his phone. “Fifty-eight hours and eleven minutes.”

That was it? It’d felt much longer than that.

I took another forkful of eggs and put them in my mouth. I’d gone a week without food before. I was spoiled now if two days had me thinking I was on the brink of death. Hewasn’t going to let me starve down here if two dayswas all he’d been willing to let me go without eating.

I licked my lips, making sure nothing was on my mouth. Why I cared about that I didn’t know. My hair was probably a rat’s nest, I had to smell bad, my teeth…ugh, I didn’t want to go there. A little egg on my face couldn’t make me look any worse. Not that my appearance mattered.

Okay, that was a lie. I was a female, and Oz—albeit a criminal who had abducted me—was gorgeous, sexy, hot, all the things that made a woman very aware of how she appeared and where she lacked. Because I doubted that man had ever lacked a day in his life when it came to anything. He’d still look good with dirty hair, unbathed, having slept on a basement floor for two days. Me? Not so much.

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