Page 20 of Wayward
“He’s going to be okay. He has to be.” Haley wraps herself around me. My stomach tenses. The world around me darkens. I shake my head, clearing away the doom. I have to believe that my dad hadn’t gotten involved with guys like Z. That’s not the man I thought he was?is. No fucking way I’m letting this take me down. There’s enough other shit to worry about. What the hell is one more thing?
“I’m good,” I say before she can ask.
“No, you’re not, and it’s okay. None of us are. And you’ve got it doubly so. The thoughts of your father.” She’s right, but what my dad did or didn’t know . . . I can’t let it matter. Though with Calvin’s odd little plan, or at least I think his plan . . .
I glance up and Sam’s the first person I see. With his arms crossed over his chest, he looks just like himself. There's a crease in his forehead.
“Nope, I’m fucking not fine either. None of us are. Haley’s right.” Sam cocks his head at me, and for a second I wonder ifthis is part of Calvin’s big ruse. But he stares at me and it’s not. I sink to the side of the bed.
“I just want Zane back here.” Haley sits next to me, her thigh against mine. She lays her head on my shoulder and stretches her arms around my body.
And then the waiting begins. And continues. My head’s spinning with the idea of how we get off the Rosewood alive. How to make them believe we’ll do anything. That we’re not going to fight. Which we haven’t been doing, anyway. We’ve been good little hostages.
Haley’s stomach rumbles loudly.
“You hungry, Sassy?” Dante crosses the room and sits on the floor in front of her. It’s close enough to dinner that I wonder if they’re going to give us anything. Another hour passes. Even Penny’s not moving. Pepper hasn’t come out from under the bed since we got back. Calvin has checked on her a couple of times. Shadows move across the floor after another hour. A fast knock vibrates the door. It opens, and a guard drops a paper bag on the floor, then slams the door shut.
Dante opens it. “It’s sandwiches, if you could call them that.” He pulls out two slices of sandwich bread with some cheese in it. He flaps them from side to side.
“Guess the chef heard about the canned sauce comment.” Sam reaches into the bag and takes one out. “Haley?” He holds it out to her.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You should eat, Haley.” Sam holds the sandwich in front of her.
“Okay.” She takes it and perches it on her lap, while Sam passes the rest out. “Is there one in there for Zane?”
“Yes.” Dante hands one to me and sits on the other side of Haley. “This is delicious,” Dante says to the mike in the wall. “So good.” He eats it in three bites and dusts his hands off.
“Eat.” Calvin looms over both Haley and me, and I’m not sure who he’s talking to, but it doesn’t matter. We both follow orders. And shit, this might be the last straw for me because normally when Calvin tells me to do something, I want to do the exact opposite. It’s bland, and the bread is stale, and for a half second, I wonder if Z would poison us.
We wait as the sun goes down. No one starts foaming at the mouth. Someone turns on the bedside light.
Haley stands and stretches. “I could shower.” My dick jumps. Even now, I want her. The idea of some thug watching her shower on a grainy surveillance screen has me wanting to punch the wall. She settles back down on the bed between me and Dante. “But I’ll wait until Zane’s back. He’ll be back soon.”
“Sassy.” Dante pulls her feet onto his lap.
“That feels nice.” She moans, and her head slides down my chest.
I’m holding Haley tightly to me when the door opens and Zane staggers in.
“Holy shit, Zane. What happened?” Sam grabs him by the shoulder and tilts his head up to face him.
“I’m good, mate. I’m good,” Zane says, his voice low and strained. “I’m just really, really tired. Z is trying to get me to duplicate the whole code in hours when it took me, what, six months before?” His eyes dart around the room, avoiding ours. “And cherry-picking the data to make it take as long as possible . . .” Zane lets out a bitter laugh. “It’s draining on the soul.”
There are so many things I want to ask him. So many things he hasn’t said. Like why he didn’t tell me about my dad knowing about the money laundering. Was he involved in it? Why didn’t he report it? And why didn’t Zane speak up at all? Did he really think I’m that weak? That I would just fall apart?
Haley moves to Zane’s side, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.
“Hey there, Little Bird.” Zane pulls her into a big hug. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” His words are meant for himself as much as for her, but it seems to comfort both of them.
Her blue eyes lift to meet his. “Do you think he’s really going to let us go?”
Zane shakes his head, a pained expression crossing his face. “I don’t know, Little Bird. I don’t know.” He exhales slowly, straightening his posture as though gathering strength. “But maybe . . . maybe. I’m confident about one thing.”
“What’s that?” Haley asks softly.
“He won’t be able to crack the code with a computer, even with what I’m giving him. That much is true,” Zane says, his voice rising slightly as he glances toward the ever-present cameras and microphones, the surveillance equipment that has infested every corner of our lives. “I’m giving him the absolute truth?data that’s accurate?but not in any order that would make me disposable. That would make any of us disposable. The second he lays a hand on any of you, I’m done. I won’t tell him another thing. I’ve given him enough to prove I can read the book and enough to keep him guessing. But the couple of big things he really wants?the things that would actually be useful? He’s not getting them. Not until we’re safe. Out of his hands, out of his grasp, and far, far away from his world.”
