Page 17 of Preying Game

Chapter 7

The door of Alice’s cell slammed open, and Hayward stepped in, his eyes blazing. He was holding her breakfast tray, the tray he brought every morning. But he had never stepped into her cell before.

His gaze flew around the room. “Now what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Is someone in here with you?”

She stared at him as though she thought he’d lost his mind. “Someone with me? How could there be?”

“You tell me?”

She could only shake her head. There was obviously nobody else in the room except her captor.

“What was that I heard?” he pressed.

She improvised quickly “Well maybe I cried out or something. I think I was having a nightmare. You woke me up.” Struggling to keep her expression neutral, she didn’t lower her gaze.

Hayward had never risked getting close to her without a barrier. She tensed, wondering if she had a chance to take him down. He’d been forcing her to get into the best physical shape she could imagine. She was stronger and faster than she ever had been in her life. Maybe that would make a difference.

Then he shifted the tray, and she saw the gun in his hand. If she lunged at him, she’d be dead before she could make it across the room.

Perhaps a week ago, she might have done it anyway. It would be over quickly—all the torture and the threat. Now she had a reason to hope she could get out of here alive.

“What does that look mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe the isolation has finally made me crack up. Or you could be driving me crazy with your infernal routine.”

He seemed shocked. She’d tried to think of little ways to defy him, but she’d never challenged him before.

His gaze turned speculative. “You’ve changed. Why?”

She shrugged. “Why do you think so?”

He took a step back. “I’m not going to share my thoughts with you.”

She knew he was shaken, but he kept the gun pointed at her as he set down the breakfast tray on the table, then backed out of the room and locked the door behind him.

She moved to the table and picked up the glass of orange juice on the tray, sipping as she thought about Hayward and this telling encounter. He had so enjoyed being in charge of this whole scenario. Yet it hadn’t taken much to jack his confidence down a notch.

It made her think that, in reality, he was a coward who enjoyed exercising power over people who couldn’t challenge him. Perhaps she’d stumbled on the truth when she’d come up with that emasculated stuff.

As she alternated juice with scrambled eggs and dry wheat toast, she switched the focus of her thoughts.

Hayward had come in with such a menacing posture that he’d captured all her attention. He’d been her nemesis for weeks. Not only that, he’d been the center of her universe. But no longer. That role had switched to Jonah Ranger, the other man who had been here this morning.

She’d been asleep, dreaming of Jonah—of his lying beside her in bed, holding her and kissing her and telling her everything was going to be okay. Then she felt a change in the air in the room, opened her eyes, and saw someone standing by the door. Him.

He looked the way he’d described himself, with dark hair and blue eyes. Bare-chested, dressed in a pair of faded jeans.

He hadn’t been exactly solid, she thought, as she brought the image back. Knowing it was Jonah was more than a question of his appearance, though. She sensed it because she felt a connection between the two of them that was almost supernatural.

She couldn’t hold back a small laugh, and wondered if Hayward was listening for her to say something in here. What did supernatural mean exactly? She knew Jonah wasn’t a ghost. But at the same time, it was impossible for him to be here in reality. The mental link between them had brought him. Well, not just that. She suspected he had put out some kind of superhuman effort to get to her cell. That knowledge was like the warmth of the sun finally shining into this underground room. He had cared enough to somehow reach her. And she prayed that he could do it again.

She wanted to lie back down on her bed and open her mind to him—inviting him to return. Surely that would make the process easier. But at that moment a bell rang, and she knew that her breakfast time was over. She had to get ready for the day. And she had to be alert for anything that could help Jonah get her out of here.

As she dressed, her thoughts switched back to Hayward. He’d told her he’d gone to Africa and hunted big game. And he’d said that hadn’t been enough of a challenge for him. He’d told her he wanted to hunt the ultimate prey. And without worrying about the morality of taking human life, he’d done it. In cold blood. With a lot of preparation.

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