Page 32 of Oh, Hell No

“Winslet, do you want to starve to death in this basement or go home?”

He hadn’t answered the question. That meant he didn’t want to admit it or lie to me. But he’d done it.

I wanted to go home. Away from the psycho, deadly Greek god.

“I want to go home,” I replied. “Alive.”

Another sigh from him, as if this conversation was annoying him. Well, my sore neck was annoyed, and if I could see it in a mirror, it was possibly bruised.

“You will be returned to your apartment, unscathed. I swear it.” He sounded sincere.

I walked the rest of the way to the bars and looked at him on the other side. Like always, he was perfection. I bet he smelled all woodsy, smoky, and spicy whiskey as well. I wished I could find a candle with that smell. That was the only thing I’d miss about him.

“My car is at Hobby Lobby. Unless they had it towed.”

“Your car has been parked at your apartment complex since Monday afternoon,” he replied. “It’s almost ten, and we have a long drive ahead of us. Would you come out of there, please?”

They had moved my car. Of course they had. They seemed tothink of everything.

Lifting the key up, I stepped closer and reached around to try and unlock it. I couldn’t see it as well, and locking it had been much easier than unlocking it.

Oz snatched the key from my hand, and I had a moment of panic, but then he shoved it into the hole. The click sound followed, and the door opened. Hesitantly, I walked out as he stepped back to let me pass. His eyes followed me, and I wished they didn’t make my stomach flutter because, seriously, the man was so far past a red flag. He wasn’t even a crimson one or a blood-red one. He was a black flag. A coal-black flag. If there were words for his flag, they would say,RUN LIKE HELL!

“You go first,” I told him, deciding I didn’t like the idea of having my back to him.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”

I straightened my shoulders, wanting to appear taller than my five-foot-seven frame. Normally, I never felt short. I had always been taller than Perry. But Oz was well over six feet tall.

“I don’t want to chance you grabbing me by the neck and slinging me backward down the stairs.”

His face morphed into a pained wince. “What the fuck kinda shit have you been making up in your head down here?”

I tilted my chin back and held my head high. “I like crime shows—Law & Order,CSI,True Detective. I know what criminals do.”

The corner of his lips twitched like he was going to smile, but he didn’t. Then, he shook his head and walked to the stairs. When he started up them, I followed. The farther away I got, the more relief I felt that I’d never see this basement again. When we made it to the top and he closed the door behind me, then hung the key back where I had taken it from, he turned to me.

“Do you want to shower before we go? I can fix you something to eat that you can take with us.”

That was such a thoughtful, polite thing for a murderer to say. It was when he was like this that I let myself forget the devil inside.

“I can take a quick shower just to get the basement stench off. Can I take some water to drink up with me?” I was so freaking thirsty.

He walked over to the fridge, and the memory of him holding me against it this morning had me dropping my gaze to the floor instead. I heard him open it and waited until it was closed before looking back up at him. He had two bottles of water.

“Here. Drink both. I’ll pack you two more for the road.”

Again, so very nice and un-psychopathic of him.

I took them. “Thanks. I will be fast. I promise.”

“I washed your clothes and put them in there for you to change into.”

He’d washed my clothes. I just stared at him, about to thank him again, then reminded myself that this man had abducted me and tried to starve me, then kill me. I said nothing, instead turning to go back to the bedroom one more time. Then leave this prison for good. And get home and find out what I needed to do to save my brother.

He had packed me a brown paper bag with two sandwiches, an orange, a ziplock full of berries, and a slice of chocolate cake, along with two large bottles of water. I thanked him before I could stop myself. Two hours ago, we’d climbed into his black SUV with dark-tinted windows and driven away from the house.

After eating a sandwich, two strawberries, and the chocolate cake, I drank a bottle of water.

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