Page 6 of Fury

“Ouch.”

I let out a dry laugh. “Yeah, I got to watch that too.”

“He gets off on it, huh?”

I wiped my hands up and down my legs. “Hmm.”

“Sorry.”

“Thanks.”

“What the hell for?” he asked.

I shrugged, my skin tightening. Was it stupid to want things from him? Things like understanding, compassion. Kindness. I thought I’d shut that off, dammit. If I exposed myself in the tiniest degree, let anything through the cracks, I was fucking doomed in here. I had trained myself to cut that off. Now what was I doing? Suddenly, I couldn’t stop talking.

I licked my lips, biting down on the edges. “Thanks for getting me, I mean.”

He propped his head up on his hand. “You stay cool to survive, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I felt I’d have better luck getting free one day if I stuck it out with him than if I got tangled up with some other asshole. So I got to know his buttons, his habits. He hates the word no, so I avoid it. He wants dedication, enthusiasm. I do my best to provide it. For now at least.”

“I do a lot of that myself. Doing what I’m told.”

“I don’t like it much.”

“Me neither,” he said on a sigh.

“You’re a prospect, right? Doing what you’re told is what it’s all about.”

“Hey, I’ve been around this shit almost all my life. My dad was a member, and so was his dad. My grandad was an original founding member of the Flames of Hell, in fact.” He was proud, but his voice seemed distant, far off.

“Wow. Do they know that?” I gestured toward the cell door. “They must. Shit, they scored big with you.”

“Yeah. Real big.” His tone was flat, ironic even.

Our eyes held each other’s in the dim streak of light. We held on, all right. There was nothing else in this room, in this world right now. Nothing but me and him.

“I hope you make it out of here alive,” I said.

“You do?” He wasn’t convinced.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Hope you make it out, too. If that’s what you want.”

“That’s what I want.”

“Yeah? How bad?”

“Real bad,” I whispered roughly.

His leg pressed against me. “You feeling better now, about being in here in the dark?”

I took in a tight breath. “A little.”

“I’m edgy. What the fuck did they shoot me up with? I can’t relax. I can’t—”

“One of their special brews.” My hand touched the hard, smooth planes of his chest, and we both sucked in air at the contact.

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