Page 89 of Reckless and Rooted
felicity
“Oh God, Didi! Are you okay?”I strain against my ropes. The circulation cuts off, but I don’t care. The woman who raised the man I love is sprawled on the floor, her cheek starting to bruise.
“Now,” Keith says from the doorway, smirking at the woman who gave me the man I love and gave the man standing before us more than he ever deserved. “Are you going to behave, or do I need to tie you both up?”
“Didi,” I call, my voice cracking as she doesn’t move, her eyes barely fluttering.
“Yeah, I don’t think you’re going anywhere,” he says and turns, slamming the door behind him and leaving us be.
“Didi,” I whisper, tears falling down my cheeks. “Come on.”
For long moments, there’s nothing but the sight of her chest moving up and down, and I frantically search for something to cut me loose. I have to get out of this fucking house.
I search the bed, finding its metal frame is put together with screws, and I inch closer, hoping that I can reach and twist onefree. I lean against the chair, losing hope as my arm gets pulled taught.
Then, one of the chair legs wobbles, and I stop, trying not to fall. But my hope reignites as I wiggle again, thinking that if I can break my chair, then I will have more leverage to get the screw.
The trick is not to make too much noise, thus drawing the attention of the men in the other room. I wait, knowing there will be a burst of laughter any second, and when it happens, I push my body in the direction I want to go, feeling myself nearly fall as one of the legs gives out underneath me.
“Ow,” I say, feeling my hands pulled even tighter. My legs are still tied to the legs of the chair, but my feet are at least on the ground, and I’m able to use their leverage to bend my body until I’m facing away from the screw, my hands twisting in their ropes to try to reach it.
“Shit,” I whisper, realizing that I can’t reach anything. I twist my hands, sweat beading at my temples and my heart hammering in my chest.
A slight moan has me turning my head, and I breathe a gasp of relief when I see Didi move for the first time.
“Didi?” I can hear the stress in my voice, and twist my hands harder, my body held at an awkward angle.
“I’m fine, honey,” Didi says to me, making tears of relief fall down my cheeks. I was terrified that she wasn’t going to wake up, and the thought of that happening, after everything we’d all been through, was too much.
She starts getting to her feet. Her eyes blink, and she looks over at me, her eyes bright and clear, and I realize she really isn’t hurt, aside from the red cheek.
“You’re fine?” I ask, looking her over. She comes to me, hands on my cheeks and looking for signs of damage.
Despite the rough way I got here, they haven’t touched me at all, and the relief on her face tells me that whatever thoughtswere running rampant through her mind are finally at ease. At least somewhat.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She looks me in the eyes then. “And so is Law. He’s safe with Thea and Bonnie.”
I sag in relief. Thinking about my little boy has tears streaming down my face harder. “Where’s Jax?”
She shakes her head, looking me over before working on the ropes tying my hands together. Her nails scratch against my skin, but the relief at her being here, at having someone here to help, makes it easy to push aside whatever pain it will take to get out of here. “If I know him, he’s probably out there watching this house somewhere.”
“What are we going to do?” I ask her, feeling defeated. “They’ve leaked it to the press, but I have no idea if they’re negotiating anything.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” she says, getting my hands free and helping me awkwardly from the chair, then realizing my legs are tied too before going to work on one while I untie the other. “All I know is waiting around for negotiating doesn’t suit me. We need to get out of here.”
“Keith is a monster, Didi,” I say, just needing to say the words out loud. I’m sure I’m not saying anything she doesn’t already know.
“He sure is, and I’m mad as hell that Jax never told me what was happening.” She shakes her head before looking back at me. “But there’s nothing I can do about that now. I can just be grateful everyone is alive and well when we all get home.”
“He’ll just keep coming,” I say, not sure I’m arguing with her because I’m more than ready to get out of this hellhole. But I don’t want the threat of him hanging over us forever.
“Once you tell your people he is the one who kidnapped you, there will be nowhere he can hide.”
She isn’t wrong, but I’m not sure it is going to be that easy, either.
Once I’m finally untied, we move toward the one window in the room. The moon was going to bed, leaving room for the sun to start to rise, but it was early dawn, with a blue hue covering the area around us. Enough dark to escape in, but not too dark so we couldn’t see.
The window squeaks loudly as we open it, making us move faster, finally wrenching it all the way open, and Didi practically shoves me out of the window. I fall out, thankful it’s not a far drop, and Didi falls out behind me, landing on top of me.
