Page 24 of Lose Me In The Shadows

“Hell no,” Luke argued. They werenotleaving him behind.

“We don’t have time for this,” Conor exploded. Luke suddenly wanted to punch him—there went their moment of peace.

“Luke can come, but he stays on the plane,” Micah said. To Luke, he added, “If we’re worrying about you blacking out, we won’t be able to do our jobs. Do you want us to fuck it up? It could cost us Kara.”

Well, that took the wind out of his sails.

“Fine.”

“Good. Pack a bag. We leave in fifteen,” Conor said.

“Yes, Boss,” Luke said, and meant it. They were going to go get their girl back. Regardless of how angry he was at her, his number one goal was to keep her safe.

No matter how cynical he was about their future.

7

Head pounding, Kara groaned. She lay on the dirty cement floor, staring at the ceiling without blinking. Her eyes burned. Her ribs ached. Her whole body was bruised and beaten all over. She’d given up on closing her eyes, what, hours ago? Days? How long had it been, since she’d been left beaten, broken, and bloody on the floor, and they’d turned on the lights and cranked on music to drive her insane?

She had no idea, but she knew one thing: She was. Fed. The fuck. Up. She’d told herself to endure, and she’d been enduring. So far, no one had come to save her. Instead, she’d been treated to the soothing sounds of dub step and techno for an interminable amount of time. The lights had stayed on, too. She’d only been able to mark the passage of time by the door briefly opening and one of the Tweedles sliding in a tray with hard, stale bread and staler water before closing it again. She was dirty, cold, hungry, exhausted, in so much pain she’d gone numb by this point, terrified about what came next, and angry at herself for letting her fear overwhelm her. She just wanted to go home.

Wherever home was.

Your home is with us,Luke said in her mind.

It’s surprising you feel that way,she told Imaginary Luke.Do you really want to make a home with the woman who shot you?

Eh, you weren’t trying to kill him, just maim, Imaginary Micah chimed in, sounding amused.A few blowjobs and a rough titty fuck should do it.

Imaginary Conor interrupted, bossy as ever.What I want to know, lost girl, is what you want?

I want to hurt him, she admitted to her imaginary…captors? Tormentors? Lovers? Boyfriends?

Boyfriends?!

Shewasgoing crazy.

We know, Micah said in her head, and she wasn’t sure if the gentleness was in response to her confession, or realization.

You need to get in his head,Imaginary Micah said.

Oh, I know,Luke piped up.Appeal to him sexually!

Imaginary Conor growled.

Gross,Kara thought, and then laughed. It ended in a hacking, painful cough.

Imaginary Conor growled again, this time out of concern.

That’s interesting, isn’t it, sweetheart?Imaginary Micah remarked.You had no problems using sex against us, but it’s repellent when it comes to him. Wonder what that really says.

Kara knew what it said. She couldn’t blame it on her former captors being attractive and her current captor not being attractive; she’d been attracted to Chris once, intensely so. No, this was about feelings.

You have feelings for us?Luke teased.Should’ve said something before you shot me.

Conor spoke up next.Besides revenge, what do you want? What will make Kara Blum happy, once she’s free of Chris Johnathan and free of us?

The question stymied her. What did she want, besides making Chris pay and escaping this hellhole? When the men had kidnapped her, she’d told herself she wanted freedom…but once she was free, what did shereally want?

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