Page 31 of Pierce

“Your bedside manner leaves something to be desired,” I groaned.

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with my bedside manner yesterday,” she muttered before turning me in place and pushing me in the direction of the bed.

“Thanks for reminding me. I would rather not think about yesterday, if you don’t mind.” I settle back in, though I didn’t want to. I wanted sunlight and fresh air. I wanted movement. I didn’t want to lie in bed—even when it was almost sinfully comfortable.

“Maybe it’s better if you give yesterday a little thought, even if you don’t want to.” She tucked me in absentmindedly, talking as she did. “You’re the one who insisted on driving around when you knew it was going to rain buckets all day long. You shouldn’t have been out, especially not in that tiny little excuse for a car.”

“Ugh. My car.” I rolled my eyes and let my head drop onto the pillow. “It’s gone for good.”

“I can’t pretend I’m upset for you.”

“No, and I wouldn’t expect you to,” I muttered.

“Papa never wanted you to drive that thing.”

“I’m sure Papa would have been glad to know it’s a snarl of twisted metal now. It’ll probably make a nice little home for a family of skunks.” I had to chuckle, even though the thought of being without my car made me miserable.

It was my only connection to something real, something beyond the world I had been raised in. The world that had always held fascination for me.

“I’ll sleep better at night knowing you’re not on some dark, unmarked road in that rusty old thing.”

“No. I’ll be here. In this cave.” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “When can we leave?”

She grimaced. “I don’t know. Not until you’re better, at any rate.”

“When will that be?”

“I can’t tell the future.”

“You’re evading the question.”

“I don’t know what to say.” She whispered, too, leaning in close. “I don’t know if they’re going to let us go. Or when.”

My heart froze for a second before beating again. Just the thought of living here forever… “No. That can’t be.”

“Tell them. They make it sound like we’ll be here forever. And they’re not happy about it.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I were.”

I pushed her away with surprising strength, considering what I had just been through, and stormed over to the closed door. “How do I get out of this room?”

“Jasmine, you shouldn’t—”

“How?” I looked at the screen beside the door and finally noticed the button labeled OPEN. I jabbed my finger against it, and the door slid open.

“Jasmine, you should be resting.” Alina closed a hand around my elbow which I shook off.

No way was I about to allow them or anybody to keep me prisoner.

“I’ll rest later. Where are they?” I marched barefoot down a long hall, warmly lit by electric lights the way the room and bathroom were.

Where did they get power from? The walls were the same carved rock as back in the cells, not like the bedroom. I passed several closed doors before hearing the deep, male voices which carried down the hall.

I headed straight for them and soon found myself in what looked like a game room.

Smoke and another brawny man with thick, dark stubble covering his cheeks were deep into a video game—judging from Smoke’s groans and curses, he was losing.

---