Page 87 of Brutal Savior

Quinn

“So, what’s it reallylike, living with Jacob’s grandad?”

Eve smiles as she asks, leaning over the table we’ve snagged outside the coffee shop. It’s mid-morning, so the little place is packed. Worrying about what is happening at the hospital was driving me crazy, so when Eve suggested a coffee, I jumped at the chance.

At some point during the last two weeks, the coffee shop stopped feeling like a prop from a creepy movie set and started feeling like a friendly place to grab coffee and a muffin. Rhonda, the Ward who runs it, is in her sixties. She’s been here so long she remembers when the Compound was a bare place with little in the way of entertainment.

It must have felt much more like a prison back then. It’s so easy to forget what it is when you’re sipping a cappuccino and gossiping with a friend. We’re conditioned to picture captivity as cramped rooms, locked doors, shitty food, and misery. Cheerful green spaces and luxury don’t factor in.

I snap my wandering mind back to Eve’s question. “He’s great, and I’m not just saying that. He can put Jacob back in his box with one fucking word, and it’s glorious. And the stories from when he was little…”

I shake my head, smiling. Eve sips her drink, then wraps her fingers around the cup, brows rising. “You have to share. He’s my boss, after all.”

Fifteen minutes later, our cups are empty, and all of Jacob’s most embarrassing moments have been described in great detail. Eve’s eyes are damp from laughing. “No way. He peed in his own wardrobe?”

“Yes! He was sleepwalking. Now, every time he moves at night, I shriek and hide under the covers. It’s driving him mad, but with Grandad there, he can’t even punish me properly. He hasn’t spanked me once.”

Eve shakes her head. “If I know Jacob, he’s writing down every tiny infraction in a book, and you’ll pay for them all once you’re back in your own place.”

I shrug. “That’s future me’s problem. I’m having too much fun to care.”

“You’re braver than me.”

I snort. “Please. As if Gabriel would do anything to upset you. He’s the most besotted man I’ve ever seen.”

“You’d be surprised.” Her lips curve up, though. I’ve made her happy with that comment, and making Eve happy is always a good thing. If it hadn’t been for her, everything would have been ten times harder.

I wasn’t some sad case with no friends on the outside, but since Marlowe’s accident, I pushed all my close friends away. I wanted people to party with, who either didn’t know about my heart condition or didn’t give a shit about it. Girls to do coke in nightclub bathrooms with, not to meet for coffee and gossip.

I’ve missed this. Missed having friends just to chat with, who actually care about me. The past six months are starting to feel like a bad dream, hopeless and full of misery. Like I was dead, and being here is bringing me back to life.

As if she’s sensed my shift in mood, Eve lowers her voice. “So, how are you feeling, really? I don’t mean with all this crazy stuff. I mean about Jacob. And about being here.”

A captive. A slave.

She’s slipping into the Wards’ habit of beating around the subject, but I don’t hold it against her. The shop is full of Wards all trying to make the best of their lives. She doesn’t want to upset them, and, I realize, neither do I.

Tact, from me. I can’t wait to tell Jacob about this momentous occasion later.

I take time to consider my response. “He’s controlling as all hell. But…” It’s hard to say the words, but they’re true. “I’m really starting to like him.”

What a weird, schoolgirl thing to say about the man who is holding me captive. As if he’s a boy who asked me to prom.

Eve’s smile is radiant. “I knew it! It’s obvious in how you talk about him.” She taps her index finger on the table. “I know it feels wrong to say it, to even think it, but don’t beat yourself up. It’s a good thing. Can you imagine being…kept…by someone you didn’t like?” She shudders. “It would be hell. The best possible outcome is you fall for each other, so don’t feel bad about it.”

Because in Eve’s mind, there is no outcome where I end up free. It’s not even on the board. Before I can sink my teeth too far into that thought, though, she throws a molotov cocktail into the conversation. “He’s definitely falling for you. No question. I’ve never seen him so happy.”

I laugh. “No way. I’m a royal pain in his ass.”

“And he loves it. I’m right. You’ll see.”

I make a noncommittal noise, then jump when I glance at the clock and notice the time. “Shit. I was supposed to meet Candice twenty minutes ago.”

“Right. I’ll walk you there.”

She says it in a diplomatic way, but I know full well she’s still tasked with babysitting me. In theory, I’m allowed to roam the Compound now, but in practice, Eve, Sebastian, or Gabriel always seem to be there whenever I leave the apartment.

It’s a five-minute walk to Hadrian’s lab. Eve asks, “Candice and the other CIs really don’t freak you out?”

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