Page 32 of Filthy and Dirty with my Captors

Moose swings open the bathroom door and darts to the back bedroom, peeking out the window. “Is that the fucking sheriff?”

“He’s here for Rosie.” Hawk glances toward me with a tight jaw. I don’t think I’ve seen him this stressed before. “Did you check your phone? I guess your friend Jen has been trying to get ahold of you. When she couldn’t, she texted Owen. Apparently, the sheriff bought some missing girl last year onFantasy Driver.Well, she wasn’t missing when he bought her. She went missing afterward.”

My mind reels until I’m bent over with an aching stomach. What is he saying? I can’t be hearing him right. “Why is the sheriff here, though? It’s… I’ve still got hours before my time is up.”

“Owen got the message at work and lost it. I don’t know all the details. Everyone is pretty pissed out there.”

This is insane. “This has to be a mistake.He’s the sheriff. This is a small town. They’d have arrested him for kidnapping or done something, right?”

Moose groans under his breath. “If he can swing three hundred thousand to pay for sex, I imagine he’s got plenty for bribes.” He growls under his breath and lowers his voice as he says, “Stay here, under the bed. Don’t move.”

“I’m the one that—”

“Tell me you understand,” he grumbles, this time louder. His shoulders are tense, and his fists are clenched. I know he’s serious, but at the end of the day, I did this. I caused this reaction, and I’m the only one who can get us out.

I glance toward Hawk. “Can we have just a second?”

He rolls his neck to the side. “We don’t have a lot of time, so hurry, and do what Moose asks. If he doesn’t know you’re here, he’ll leave.” Hawk turns away and jogs down the stairs.

“He’s right,” Moose squeezes the sides of my arms as he says, “I have to move. This is my property.”

I stare up at him, wet my lips, and drag in a deep breath. “I don’t want you guys to get hurt, not on account of me. I couldn’t live with myself.”

His shoulders tense and he looks toward the ground, then up again as his rough hand lands under my chin. With a low, quiet voice, he says, “I love you, little girl. I need you to listen to me.”

A rush of warmth spreads down my arms and up again as I stare at the giant, my heart pounding. Did he just tell me he loves me? That can’t have been easy for him. “You love me?”

He glances away, scrubbing his hand over his beard. “Don’t make me say it again. Now, get under the bed.”

“I love you too,” I whisper, my heart filled to the brim, “but it’s time for me to finish what I started.” I wiggle loose from his grip and take off down the stairs, knowing full well I could be making the worst decision of my life.

Chapter Thirteen

Hawk

“Fuck, sweetheart, get back in the house!” I bark toward Rosie who’s taken to parading out onto the farmhouse lawn in my Harry Potter tee and bare feet. She looks cute as hell, but she shouldn’t be out here.

“I have to do this.”

“No.” I jog after her, gripping her tiny wrist in my hand as Moose steps out onto the front porch with a shotgun in his hand. If I was to guess, that guy is the descendant of a viking, and it’s never more obvious than when you put a weapon in his hand.

Rosie wiggles and squirms against my frame. “Seriously, I’m just gonna scream. The sheriff is gonna see me, anyway. Look, he’s already seen Moose.”

I shrug. “You’re gonna have to scream then.”

She stares toward me, her gaze hooded, her brows narrowed. “Don’t make this harder! I can fix this.”

“He’s a psychopath. You can’t make sense of someone else’s crazy. That’s not how life works. Some people are just gone.”

“Well, fuck me. If it isn’t the prettiest little virgin in Colorado.” The sheriff is a tall, wide man who spends a lot of time in the gym. As a fellow gym enthusiast, I can appreciate the dedication he has to every muscle in his body. A lot of dudes spend time working their shoulders or their arms, but they skiphamstrings and delts. The sheriff looks like he keeps a strict rotation, which tells me a few things about him. First, he likes structure. Second, he’s highly disciplined and focused. Third, he’s intense with a subsect for perfectionism that most people don’t have unless they’re trying to compensate for something else.

I know this because of the people I’ve met at the gym. Sadly, men like this usually lack self-esteem and create a distorted sense of self-worth based on the gifts they believe their bodies are bestowing on those around them.

Thankfully, I’m one of the dudes that forgets about leg day far too often.

I tuck Rosie behind me and step toward the sheriff. “You can leave now, and we can all pretend like this didn’t happen, or I can turn you in. Come on, man. Let’s not do this.”

The sheriff laughs and brushes back his dyed black hair. “Your buddy came over tryin’ to be a hero. Too bad he was dumb enough to let me follow him right back here. Guess you’re a fuckin’ idiot too.” He cocks a stupid ass grin up onto his face. “You’ve got two choices. Kindly give me the girl I paid for, or I’ll fuckin’ take her.”

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