Page 24 of Tell Me Why
“Two days,” I reply. He starts to say something, but I cut him off. “In the meantime, get the fuck off our lawn before Andre and his guys will start using you and your crew as target practice.”
Sin’s angry string of expletives follows me into the house, and I smile. He may not like it, but he’ll stand down. Sin didn’t get where he is by being an idiot. He knows when he’s outmanned. Still, he won’t be placated for long. I’ve bought us time, though, and that’s all that matters right now.
As the front door closes behind me, muting Sin’s expletives, I let myself savor this small victory. I’d better enjoy it while it lasts…
CHAPTERTEN
Eve
Waking abruptly,air caught in my lungs, my body is pulled upright of its own volition, like an exorcism. The room is pitch black, and my heart is pounding. I glance around, but my anxiety is only heightened when I don’t recognize my surroundings.
Then it begins to slowly trickle back. I’m in Rush House. And after Sara came to my room with the hamburger, I couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up for hours, studying. It helped to have something to focus on…
What time is it now? It’s dark outside, so it must still be early…or maybe it’s late? Man, I’m so disoriented.
Reaching for my phone on the nightstand, I remember it was never given back to me. The security guy still has it. Or maybe one of the Sacred Sons…
Throwing the covers off, I push out a long sigh and twist to get off the bed. Something shifts in the darkness. I freeze, breath held. What the fuck? I don’t move, waiting to see if it happens again.
My mind races. Is it one of the guys from downstairs, finally come to “claim” me? Sara’s warning floods my mind—the guys at Rush House are horny, rabid beasts on agoodday…
Long seconds pass and nothing happens, but there’s a heaviness in the air that I just can’t shake. “Is someone there?” I whisper, praying there’s no response.
More silence.
Thank God.
My muscles are just starting to loosen when a familiar baritone fills the room. “No one here but the big bad wolf…”
My heart jumps into my throat.
Christian.
Sitting up, I pull one of the pillows into my lap to use as a shield. A shitty shield, but still. It’s something. “Is this what you do for fun—sit in the dark like a fucking creep and scare women?”
He chuckles, my insult rolling right off the scales on his back. Doesanythingbother this guy? “I’m here to get you ready for the hunt.”
What? I’m super confused. “That’s tomorrow. How long was I asleep?”
“All day,” he responds.
How? Never in my life have I sleptall day.Not that my aunt would have let me. She always insisted I be “useful,” which meant being pulled out of bed at seven in the morning, even on a weekend. How else would the housework get done? She sure as fuck wasn’t doing it.
“I don’t do that,” I say. “I don’t sleep all day.” But even as I say that, I notice the muscles in my shoulders are less tense and I feel more rested than usual. Oddly energized.
“You needed it.”
Something in the way he says that trips an alarm in my brain. Did he slip me a sleeping pill somehow? Would he do that?Yes,my mind immediately supplies.He would absolutely do that.
But how? When? Then I remember—when Sara brought my food, she also brought me water from a refillable bottle. The water was probably laced with something.
“You drugged me,” I say, a statement of fact.
“You needed it,” he repeats.
The motherfucker. He doesn’t even attempt to deny it. My teeth clench, anger burning in my chest. “What if I were allergic to the drug you gave me? You could have killed me.”
“And yet, here you are—alive and well-rested.”
