Page 102 of Dead Serious with Benefits
“Have you ever heard a bone break before? The sound is far louder than that, and incredibly distinctive.”
“I’m well aware,” I told him with a roll of my eyes. “I know I ended up having what many would consider a sheltered childhood, but bear in mind I have also been an adult for several years. If you think people got through all my parties without breaking something, you have more belief in people than I do.”
“And here I thought we had already established that,” he said with a chuckle, and I jerked when I felt a hand on me.
“Oh, holy hell, youdidget free,” I said as I felt him tug at the bands. “I don’t think you’re going to manage to hulk your way through that.”
“Clearly,” he said, and I heard him moving around in the dark. “It’s too dark for me to see anything, but I don’t want to turn on the light and risk them knowing one of us is free.”
“You could check outside the door to see if anyone is there.”
“And get shot?”
I sighed. “We’ve been talking for ten minutes, and no one has come to yell at us. I assume they wouldn’t want us talking.”
“I assume they wouldn’t have left us together if that was the case,” he said in a low voice, and I tried to peer around the pillar, which had about as much effectiveness as it had the first dozen times I’d tried.
“You were also out cold,” I said as I tried to scoot around the pillar, but again, I had already tried that several times, and it hadn’t worked. “I have to admit, I’m not a fan of this kind of bondage.”
“I’ll bring out the scarves if we get through this,” he said. “Now, shh.”
I thought about saying something and kept my mouth closed as I heard a soft movement, and a crack of dim light entered the room. Once again, I tried to turn, but had to settle on waiting for him as the thin shaft of faint light grew wider. After a moment, it opened even further before it began to close, and I heard the latch.
“I’m guessing the coast is clear?” I asked in a low voice. Only to be met with silence. “Arlo?”
Oh God. My attempts to make him fess up to wanting to live and not die here must have compelled him to move into the house. If I had known he was going to do that, I would have told him about the security system and the silent alarm. We needed to work on our communication skills if we made it through this in one piece.
The seconds ticked by as I sat in the dark, wondering what Arlo was doing and if he was getting away with whatever he was doing. God, I hoped whatever he was doing wouldn’t get him hurt or worse. I was beginning to regret pushing him. Though I hadn’t been pushing him to go out and put himself in danger, I had just wanted him not to give up on life as easily as he had sounded. I needed to work on moderating my inspiring speeches because my last one had resulted in me being stuck in this room without a clue as to what was happening in the rest of the house.
Fear crept into my heart. I didn’t want it to, and tried to fight it, but it was inevitable. It curled around my heart and squeezed. I had told him I was sure everyone was probably fine because I hadn’t heard any gunshots, but it didn’t take a genius to know there were other ways to hurt or kill people. All it required was a blunt object or a knife; if they weren’t close, we wouldn’t have heard a thing.
And what if Arlo had just...left? If whoever was here was confident they could control us like they had so far, Arlo could find a way out and get going. But to where?
I sighed at that last thought and shook it from my head far more easily than I had shaken the previous fear. If Arlodidget away from the house, there wouldn’t be many options for safety or help, if that was his idea. He would never leave his parents behind anyway, even if it were to get help. I couldn’t exactly swear on my life that he would never abandon me, but I knew he wouldn’t leave Matilda and Marcus to their fate.
A heavy thump against the door surprised me, and I fought to twist around again as the door opened with more force than before. Another thump, this time reverberating through the floor, and accompanied by a heavy groan. I knew that noise anywhere. “Arlo?”
“In a manner of speaking,” he muttered from the floor as I heard heavy steps come closer.
“Shut it,” the new voice said. “Stay there or I’ll cave your skull in.”
“I won’t move,” Arlo assured him calmly.
“Good,” the voice said, and the lights came on. The blast of light left me wincing as my eyes protested from the flash.
Blinking rapidly, I peered up through the achingly bright light into the face above me. If I had hoped for some recognition, I was doomed to disappointment. The face was...plain. Not too handsome or ugly, just the sort of person you would pass on the street without noticing. It was so plain, in fact, that I wasn’t confident I’d be able to identify the guy later. There wasn’t a single identifying thing about it.
“Good evening,” I said dryly. “Are you one of the goons or are you the brains of the operation?”
“Get up,” he said, bending down, and relief flashed through my wrists as the zip ties were cut, “and come with me.”
“Sure,” I said with a grunt, pushing myself up and ignoring the ache in my wrists and arms. The ankle was less easy to ignore, but I put some weight on it as I got to my feet and lookedat him. He was a little shorter than I was, but I had no illusions about my chances of overpowering him if this one was anything like that last man I’d tussled with. There was the knife in one hand and the pistol in the other, to bear in mind as well.
The man glanced toward the doorway where another man stood. “Take that one too. He said both of them.”
“Right,” the second masked man said, reaching down to grab Arlo by the shoulder and yank him up. “Let’s go.”
Arlo shot me a look as he was dragged to his feet. “Oops.”
