Page 4 of Cruel Ice

“And then I’ll come back.” She began to pull his arm off her shoulders.

“No.” He tightened his hold.

Her head turned toward him. More of her scent flooded his nostrils, making his already foggy head feel even foggier. “If you’re with them, I’ll kill you.” A warning she needed to hear. To hear and understand to the depths of her soul.

“Uh, I’m not with them.” Rushed and hushed. “No need to kill me. Promise, there is absolutely no need. I’m really, really not with them. I’m Marley Jones. I’m a PI. A new PI, granted, but I’m?—”

His hand clamped over her mouth because Declan thought he’d just heard the snarl of an engine. Someone coming back?

Her eyes stared at him. Again, too dark to see clearly, so he didn’t know the color. But her eyes were big and deep.And scared.

Probably because of the knife he’d just put to her throat yet again. Or the threat to kill her. Or the hand that he had over her mouth so she couldn’t scream for help.

She could have screamed plenty before I covered her mouth. And she cut me free. Hell, if she really is playing Good Samaritan, I have to be scaring the shit out of her.

He didn’t hear the snarl of an engine again. His fingers slowly lowered.

“I get that this is scary for you,” she said softly.

Was she reassuring him? Worrying abouthimbeing scared when he could feel the fear practically pouring from her body?

“But I’m on your side. I’ll help you get out of here. I hid my car close by. If we get to it, we’ll be home free.”

Why was she bobbing and weaving? Wait. Maybe she wasn’t bobbing and weaving. Why was the room spinning?

Oh, dammit. That’s me.Dizziness spiraled through him, and all he wanted to do was shut his eyes and sleep. Declan shook his head, hard.

“Wewon’tbe home free? You think the bad guys will come after us?”

He didn’t think someone had gone to all the trouble of abducting him just so he could walk off into the night. When he wasn’t weaving on his feet, Declan would figure out which bastard had done this to him. Then Declan would burn the bastard’s world to the ground.

Which enemy did this to me?Because his little PI had been right before. An enemy was definitely at work. Declan had an extremely long list of enemies.

“So, I don’t like to tell you your business but…if we’re making a run for it, we should do it now. It’s really quiet, and I think this is our best shot. Only I’d like to make that run for it without a knife at my throat.” A pause. “You can trust me.”

He could not trust anyone.

“I’ll help you get out of here. I’m not going to leave you.”

His chest burned. Probably because of the stupid drugs he’d been given. Not because of what she’d just said. Certainly not because this was the first time in his life that someone had promised not to leave him.

He moved the knife from her throat.

She exhaled. “Thank you. Let’s keep it away from my neck, shall we? For good this time. I, um, really don’t like knives.”

They tended to be his weapon of choice. He always had a knife at the ready. When he wasn’t, oh, say, drugged and tied to a chair in a damn basement. Declan kept the knife gripped in his right hand. “I’ll go first.”

“Um, again, not to tell you your business, but you’re weaving, and I think I’m the one who can maneuver better. Let me go up the stairs first and make sure the coast is clear. I’ll be right back.” She reached for the doorknob. Twisted it and… “Dammit, it’s locked.”

He’d expected that to be the case. “Can break it down.” His slurring had definitely gotten worse. Those four words emerged as one.Canbreakitdown.

“On a normal night, sure, I bet you could. Probably with minimal effort, big guy. However, this isn’t normal.” She bit her lip as she seemed to consider options. “I’ll go through the window. Find a way to sneak inside on the first floor. And come back down here for you.”

He shook his head.

“Or I can go back to my car. Get a crowbar and bring it in through the window. We can pry the door open with it. Either way,I’ll be back, I swear.”

What the fuck?

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