Page 25 of All The Way Under
One guards and one unlocks, like usual.
“No, baby, they’re letting me out.”
Saylor shakes the bars when they let me out and go to put the lock back on. She nearly yells.
“I’m a software engineer. I can improve any computer systems or GPS devices you have here. I helped invent the high-tech software that was on my sailboat. I can show you how to use it. I know you’ve stripped my boat, and I know you probably don’t have any clue how any of it works. I can help you. I won’t hurt anyone…else. I promise.”
Her blue eyes flash to mine. Ah, so I’m excluded from that little promise then.
“I can also work on engines and build anything you can come up with.” She said it all in Portuguese, so it sounds like she means it. I wonder if she did that on purpose.
I smile at her as she pours her heart out not only to me, but to our captors. She’d rather do it the hard way, then. Noted.
“I do think she’d be of help,” I add, then smile when she looks at me like she’s trying to strike me down dead.
Ravelo lets her out, and she looks like some sort of cave-dwelling animal seeing the sun for the first time. She shields her eyes and looks up at the sky.
“Thank God,” she says, wincing against the heat as she takes in her surroundings.
It’s the typical tropical climate. Hot during the day and cold at night, but the cave always stays a little cooler because it’s semi-underground.
“Thank God,” she repeats, taking in her surroundings, immediately eyeing the roads and paths. “I’ll do anything,” she says, looking at me, dark circles more apparent in the sunlight.
They lead us in a different direction from where I was this morning, and we walk side by side.
“Anything?” I ask, smiling.
“Anything,” she replies.
I whisper, “How about trust me?”
She lets out an exasperated breath.
“Yes. Yes. I trust you,” Saylor whispers.
CHAPTER SEVEN
saylor
If this wasany other circumstance, this would look like the beginning of a porno.
Brody lifts his shirt and tank top over his head, tosses them, and his abs—damn near ten of them—flex and glisten as he stoops down.
“Pass me the mallet,” he says, holding out his hand. I stare at it for a few seconds, unable to look at anything else without feeling scandalized.
Brody is not like the men in my circles. He doesn’t look like them, talk like them, or act like them. I can’t help it. I look once more at his torso, and he chuckles.
“Do you know what a mallet is, or did they not teach you that in school?”
I shake my head and hand him the mallet. It would be weird if I didn’t bring up my insane behavior.
“My dad has a garage filled with tools and can fix practically anything in the world, so I know what all the tools are. I just have a question. Do you live in a gym? How do you look like that?” Another head shake to clear my mind. “I don’t know if I’ve seen that many abs on one person. Don’t flatter yourself. It’s likelooking at a weird zoo animal or something, not like a physical attraction.”
He laughs again. It sounds like velvet coated with honey, the expensive kind, but maybe that’s because I haven’t been in the real world in a while. I’m jaded. His biceps bulge with each whack of the tool. Definitely don’t see that kind of show in the real world.
We’re repairing a bamboo bridge that crosses over to a stunning waterfall. Hence the porno thoughts when they mix with Brody. Not that I’ve seen many, but the ones I watched with Archie always begin in a lavish destination with the couple trying to accomplish something other than sex. It’s always an unsuccessful quest, so they just do it instead.
“Do they not have gyms where you’re from?” he asks, holding out his hand for another nail. I drop one in his palm, careful not to touch his skin.
