Page 34 of Fervent

“We need to get to the office. It’s our best shot out of here. But getting down the tunnel is gonna be tricky. I need you to pass yourself off as Cleft.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?”

Jax shrugged out of his jacket. “He wears a hoodie just like this. Can you pull it off?” he asked. “Once we break Alex out, she’ll have to crawl down the hall. It’s the only way we’re getting out of here.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes.”

With a nod, Jax pushed the hoodie into my hands. I shoved my arms through the sleeves and flung the hood over my head, burrowing my face into the soft lining.

“Got a smoke?” I asked.

Jax aimed the flashlight at my face. “You’ve never smoked.”

“No, but Cleft does.”

“Quick thinking.” Jax pulled a pack from his pocket and passed it to me. I pulled out a cigarette as he sparked a lighter to life.

Hopefully, the stench of tobacco, along with the hoodie and the leashed girl, would be enough to convince any passerby that the man at Jax’s side was one of them. Since Cleft and I were about the same height, this might work.

I put the nasty butt in my mouth but didn’t inhale. “What about you?” I asked. “Is anyone gonna question you roaming the tunnel?”

“I learned a long time ago how to put up a good front. The old man thinks he put me in my place.” He turned his head away for a moment, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “It’s back to business as usual. He’s a fucking heartless bastard.”

“Why’d you go along with this then?”

“We’ll get into all of that shit later. Let’s just get the fuck out of here.”

“It’s about time,” I muttered, stomping the cigarette with my bare heel. I prayed to fuck no one would notice how I wasn’t wearing shoes. The jeans were on the long side and would hopefully hide the barefoot problem.

“Ever since your escape attempt, the guys have been on high alert, and today the clients are visiting the underground to sample the goods, so keep an eye out.”

A sense of smothering fear overcame me. “What about Alex? Is she safe?”

Jax reached for the handle. “She’s the old man’s pet. No one’s touching her but him.”

That didn’t make me feel any less sick. “She doesn’t deserve this.”

“You used to feel differently,” he said.

“I’m not the same guy. Shit, I don’t even remember that guy.”

But I put too much effort into convincing myself it was true. Even now, with my memories gone and a drop of decency careening through my bloodstream, I’d wanted to own her in this dark cell, had thrilled at thrusting my cock down her throat in their torture room.

How long before I snapped and let the monster possess me?

Could she handle it if I did?

Could I?

Jax wrenched the door open, taking the lead. I walked at his side, vigilant of every sound, which left me with no time to question or war with myself. If we didn’t get out of here, none of it would matter anyway. A man entered a room down the tunnel, and the faint pleas of a woman drifted to me. She wasn’t a willing participant in whatever he was about to do to her. None of them were. If we got out of here, I vowed to take this place down and free these women.

Jax halted a few doorways down and inserted a key. The room was dark and nearly identical to the one they’d held me in. At the soft pads of our footsteps, Alex sat up, grasping the blanket to her chest. Jax’s flashlight lit up her face.

God. She looked like hell. She’d been through too much, seen too much, had experienced too much.

For years. She’d been going through this shit foryears.

I was about to hurtle the distance and crush her in my arms, but she shrank back at the sight of our towering forms, her eyes squinting against the light.

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