Page 44 of The Stolen Princess
“One, two, three—”
Myka scowled at him as she frantically started pulling down her pants. She was getting faster at these bathroom breaks. Stage fright had become a thing of the past. She looked down. “Well, that explains why my body feels so achy,” she said under her breath.
“Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty,” he said, finishing counting, and then he started back to the campsite without even checking if she was done.
She lumbered after him as she buttoned her pants. “We have a problem,” she said.
“What’s that?” Drake asked, trudging back to where the horses were.
“I started my monthly cycle,” she announced loudly, eyeing the men circled together, building a fire. She wasn’t going to be embarrassed. This was their punishment for kidnapping a woman.
The men all froze.
“You what?” Drake said, tilting his head toward her.
“I. Started. My. Period.” She enunciated each word.
The men around the fire groaned.
“What do you want us to do about it?” Horseface asked.
“I need some feminine supplies. That’s what I want you to do about it.”
Shaggy Hair straightened. “Don’t you have something?”
Myka kicked her head back. “Why would I have something?”
“I don’t know, maybe because you hadthirtydays to prepare for this,” Shaggy Hair said, rubbing his forehead. “How are you not ready?”
“Hasn’t this been happening regularly for a couple of years now?” Winslow turned to Grady as if asking him.
Shaggy Hair shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seems like she should have been ready.”
Myka folded her arms over her chest. “You kidnapped me! How was I supposed to be prepared for an abduction? Unless one of you grabbed my backpack off of my horse.”
“We didn’t grab your backpack,” Drake said, pulling her away from the other men. “Come on.”
She glared at the men as she passed by. Did none of them have wives or sisters? They all acted like this was the first time they had ever been around a woman before. Drake led her to his horse and opened up the medic kit, handing her a large package of gauze. “I know this isn’t what you need, but it’s the best I can do until tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the supplies. At least one of the men wasn’t a complete jerk.
“And,” he handed her a small tube, “this is for your wrists. I noticed they were red from rope burn.”
He’d noticed that?
She tried not to read too much into it. Captors notice things about their prisoners. That’s what they’re trained to do. And besides that, her wrists wouldn’t be red if he hadn’t tied her up.
Myka looked at the tube then back up at him.
“Don’t worry. It’s not hemorrhoid medicine,” he said with a small smile.
“Thank you,” she said again, grabbing the tube from him. Their fingers touched, and her eyes darted to his. There was a quick moment where they both paused, like the seconds between them had stilled. Goosebumps ran down her arm, making her shiver.
She grabbed the tube and dropped her arm, pulling her jacket over her chest.
She shivered because she was cold.
That’s all.
