Page 23 of Back In the Shadows

“You’re safe now, Xavier. I’m here for you.”

I couldn’t believe how convincing my performance was becoming, but I had no other choice if I wanted to escape.

“Why did your boss choose me? What does he want from me?”

“You’re full of questions tonight.”

I caught on to what he said—it must be nighttime outside, and I estimated that I had been here for around twenty-four hours. However, it was impossible to determine the exact time.

“I’m sorry. I’m not very good at small talk.”

He chewed on a short thumbnail, then his attention traveled to the wall. “My pets are coming out to play.” Xavier clapped his hands, clearly thrilled with the idea of the only friends he seemed to have, the spiders.

“Please protect me. Don’t let them …” The hair rose on the back of my neck as I felt multiple legs crawl over my skin. “Please get it off me. I’ll do anything you want. Please.” My body trembled as the creature crawled in my hair, and I slammed my eyes closed. Realizing the unknown would be worse than seeing the creepy crawly, I opened them again.

“Anything?” Xavier stood slowly and reached his hand out.

“Anything. Please hurry.”

He placed his palm against the side of my head. Seconds later, the brown little bastard crawled up his arm. Before I realized what happened, he bent down and pressed his mouth to mine. Fighting the urge to jerk back, I kept my eyes open and watched the spider crawl farther away from me. My breath halted in my lungs and my nose stung as I struggled to hold back tears and nausea, horribly repulsed by his touch, but I couldn’t allow myself to break down. I had to remember that survival was the only thing that mattered, and I had to play his sick and twisted games.

Instead, I focused on the fact that Xavier had just kissed me, but he’d also saved me. What the hell was I supposed to do with that? I already knew the answer. If I ever wanted to see Sebastian and the twins again, I had to reach him on an emotional level and pretend to fall for him. It was the only way I might make it out alive. Until then, I would learn everything I could about Xavier and his boss, then fucking kill them myself.

12

SEBASTIAN

“I should go after her. It’s my fault, I’m the one that she’s terrified of.” I scrubbed my face with my hands, exhausted. My wife was missing, plus my friends had revealed a dangerous secret that could not only destroy Ryan but all of us. And now Cami knew the truth, putting her in grave danger as well.

“She can’t turn us in, man.” Dope stood and paced the small space, staring at the floor.

The high pitch of Cami’s voice reached us from the living room. “You’re fucking kidding me. This happens and you’re feeding me a line of shit?”

All three of us stared at the door to the office, and once again I debated if I should talk to her.

“I know you think you’d be helping Cami understand, but you’re the wrong guy for the job, dude.” Kip grimaced, but we all knew it was the truth.

“I’ll go.” Dope reached into the front pocket of his black T-shirt and produced a joint. “I’ll see if I can get her to relax and then talk to her. Maybe she’ll understand that we’re not the enemy.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “If anyone can, it’s you, Dope. Give it your best shot. You’re the most levelheaded out of all of us.”

“Probably all the pot,” Kip added.

“I’ll keep an eye on the kids while she’s with you. We need to make sure she’s not going to run straight to the cops. Even if she says she won’t, we have to keep a close eye on her. She knows where we live, our schedules, she’s Ella’s closest friend.” I rubbed my stubbled jaw, hoping for a quick resolution with Cami, but I understood it wasn’t likely.

Kip blew out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, and maybe that will work in our favor. If she understands that Ella chose to be with you … both sides of you, then Cami might see a good reason to be on our side.”

“I hope you’re right, mate.” I glanced at Dope. “Do your best, but I’m not expecting miracles. I gave up on those a long time ago.”

Ryan’s usually composed expression was replaced with a grim, tormented look. He ran his trembling hands through his messy brown hair, making it stick up in every direction. “I hate myself for what I did to her,” he muttered, his voice laced with self-loathing. “God, I hate myself for hurting her. I hate that I couldn’t tell her sooner, and that she found out like this. The look in her eyes … it was if I was a total stranger to her.”

A deep sense of regret radiated from him, filling the room with an oppressive weight that hung in the air like a thick fog.

I approached him and placed my hand on his shoulder. “This wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t protecting me. I’m sorry shit went down like this. Give her some time, and let her calm down, process what she heard. I’m sure everything will turn out.”

Ryan’s shoulders sagged. “Sorry, Bass. I’ll have to deal with my mess later. I think we’ve got another problem, but she said she wouldn’t go to the cops until we found Ella.”

My gut fisted into painful knots. “Then we have to have a plan to get the hell out of here as soon as we find my wife. We all have to disappear.”

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