Page 27 of Love Bleeds Red
Besides being allowed to share a room with Cat, it’s been quieter here. We haven’t had any visitors since we moved. And King hasn’t shown up. A reprieve I don’t trust. My stomach churns, remembering his cruel voice in my dream. His body hovering over me. His vicious touch. I keep waiting for the moment he’ll walk through the door. His heavy footsteps announcing his arrival before that suffocating cloud of expensive cologne fills the room.
I’m always listening for those footsteps, always dreading the moment his scent invades my nostrils again, sharp and nauseating and wrong. I know Cat feels it too… We all do. The dread of what’s to come. The sliver of hope that still remains.
The mattress creaks and Cat groans. “Jesus, B, it’s barely dawn.”
“Sorry! I couldn’t sleep.” I cross the room and flop back on the bed beside her. “Don’t be mad at me.”
“Mad? Nah.” She rolls to her side and stretches her legs. Her dark tangled hair partially covers her face. “I thought I heard you talking in your sleep earlier. Whimpering, maybe.” Her voice gets softer. “Was it about him?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
She doesn’t push, only nods. That’s something I’ve grown to like about Cat and the others. They don’t pry.
I slip out to use the bathroom down the hall, and when I get back, she’s crouched by the bed, one hand shoved under the mattress. The door hinge gives me away with its jarring creak, and she yanks her hand back like it was bit.
“Checking your stash of crushed crackers and granola bars again?”
“And cash,” she says, standing and brushing off her knees. “Don’t forget that little detail.” She heads for the door, probably to take her turn in the bathroom. “And keep your damn voice down about it. They find my shit and I’ll have to kill you.” She pauses at the doorway, glancing back with a smile. “And I’m starting to like your annoying ass.”
I smirk and mime zipping my lips as she closes the door. She hasn’t shared exactly how much cash she has stashed under the mattress, just that she ramped up her scavenging after Jasmine was taken. Dropped coins “forgotten” on the kitchen floor, a few bills slipped from “visitors” wallets while they were distracted—she even managed to snag a twenty from one of Yuri’s new guys, Erik. What she had to do to get that twenty, she wouldn’t tell me, but I’m assuming it didn’t come easy.
The floorboards in the hallway groan under someone’s footsteps, so I crouch on the side of the bed, holding my breath.There’s a small knock before the door swings open, revealing a half asleep Lydia and Elise. I release a breath.
“Erik came in our room a few minutes ago, requesting a pancake breakfast. What the hell are we? His personal housewives?” Lydia yawns as she perches on the edge of the bed. “Why are you on the floor?”
Elise does a sideways flop next to her and scoots up to the head of the bed, wrapping herself in the blanket Cat and I share. She rubs her eyes and adds, “Could be worse.”
“You’re right. He could have asked for eggs Benedict or some shit.” I can’t help but snort. She picks at her nails, the three of us quiet for a few minutes. “Imagine us on some reality show—the real housewives of Shitville. Pancake breakfasts by day, tied up and fucked by night. We’d be celebrities.”
Elise lets out a dry laugh. “What are you smoking this morning?”
“Nothing. That’s the problem.” She huffs and lays on her back. “Where’s Cat?”
“Bathroom,” I say. “She should be right back.”
But if Erik is awake, who knows how quickly that could change.
Lydia seems to be reading my mind. “Speaking of Erik, he seems to really like Cat.”
“And I think she knows it too,” Elise adds.
I join them on the bed, careful to avoid Cat’s snack stash. I’ve picked up on the way Erik seems to favor her, but I’m curious what the others have seen. “Why do you say that?”
Lydia raises a thin brow and holds up her palm. “One, he’s always staring at her, and not like the others stare, like they’re thinking of all the nasty shit they want to do. He’s got those obsessed heart eyes. Of course the moment she glances his way, he’s back to the swaggering tough guy act. Two—” She holds up another finger. “—he brings her little things. Extra food,cigarettes, even gave her that hair tie she’s always wearing. And three—” A third finger joins the count. “—yesterday I saw him slip her something when he thought no one was looking. Money, maybe? Or a note?” She shrugs. “Either way, it’s dangerous. For both of them.”
She’s notices so much more than me, but that’s not surprising. Lydia still has the eagle eyes of a mom, even though she’s been away from her kids for almost a year. That kind of superpower never leaves. I remember my own mom being the same way.
Elise blinks at her, and says through a yawn, “Shit.”
“What?” Lydia asks.
“I never noticed all that.”
Lydia gives her arm a caring squeeze. “That’s why you have me.”
“Maybe we should get dressed, see about this pancake situation,” I say. “Cat can’t still be in the bathroom. I bet she’s already downstairs.”
Lydia smirks. “See? Told you.”
