Page 35 of Master of Lies

I didn’t understand why I was having these feelings. As if I cared what he thought of me. Was it some freaky psychological process I couldn’t control? Something inside me wanting to bond with him just because we’d had sex?

Please, please, let it not be that. I absolutely had to make that shit stop.

Because oh, dear God, that would not end well.

I finally got the sobbing to ease down, and rinsed my face in the sink. Yesterday’s mascara stubbornly resisted every effort made to get rid of it. I was going to need an industrial solvent to get it off. I made another halfhearted attempt to deal with the hair, but there was a gray knit cap in the bag. I shoved my hair into it. Problem sorted.

But when I looked at myself in the mirror, oh, God help me. I looked like a ragbag on legs. My pallid, scared face with smudgy, shadowed eyes peeked out from under the oversized gray cap. I looked like a war refugee, fleeing terror and trauma.

Looking bad was dangerous on a psychological level. If I had to face the powers of evil, I preferred to look like a bad Bond girl while doing it.

But Jed was the boss right now, so no.Suck it up, Masters.

No, goddamnit. Suck it up,Sandee.Keep your personae straight, girl.

My next challenge was to work up the nerve to open that door again. After my sob-fest, I still felt raw. Not ready to face the intense energy emanating from that man.

When I finally pushed open the door, Jed turned and looked at me.

He didn’t say a word. But the look in his eyes made my breath catch, and my heart speed up. As if I’d walked out and displayed myself in a slinky sequined gown.

The outfit was hideous, but he knew every detail of what was underneath those baggy clothes. He’d touched and stroked and licked and fucked it. He’d claimed it, repeatedly. And I’d loved every minute of the experience.

The way he looked at me was making me wet. I almost hoped he’d just rip all of it off me and fuck me again right this minute. Or maybe I’d rip off his.

The microwave dinged, which broke the spell. Jed grabbed a plate from the cupboard, tossed a couple of paper wrapped things onto it, and set it on the table.

“Breakfast burritos,” he said. “And coffee. Come eat.”

Food. What a concept. My first reaction was a nasty flop of nausea, and then my common sense kicked in. This stuff was hard, scary, extremely dangerous. It burned calories. I had to eat something if I wanted to keep going.

I sat at the table. Jed poured out a cup of coffee and set it on the table in front of me. “You do look different,” he commented.

“I’ll say,” I muttered sourly. “Like shit, you mean?”

“That’s what I was going for. I don’t want you to shine. I don’t want anyone to notice how fucking pretty you are.”

I blushed at the compliment, which I absolutely was not braced for, and hid my confusion by unwrapping a burrito. I forced myself to take a bite, and Jed got right to work, hauling boxes out to the Jeep. That was interesting. Maybe we were on the move.

When he came in for another load, I spoke up. “Are we leaving? Where to?”

He gave me an “are-you-kidding-me-bitch” look, grabbed another armful of stuff, and went back outside.

I guess that should have put me in my place, but I was raised by two bossy, overbearing brothers, and I am stubborn to the point of idiocy. So when he came back in, I tried again.

“What is this place, anyhow?” I asked. “Did you stock it beforehand? It all seems so well organized, you know? I mean, for a jailbreak hideout. The electronics, the clothes. Breakfast burritos in the freezer, even. Like, what gives?”

“Not interested in talking about it.”

“But I just wanted to know if we—”

“You don’t need to know shit. Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.”

He grabbed a couple of black molded plastic cases that looked like they could contain guns, or some other sort of weaponry, and toted them outside.

I just sat there, freshly seething. I knew it was totally illogical. I had invited the guy to see me as a bubbleheaded ding-a-ling, so I shouldn’t get huffy about being treated like this. I was getting Sandee and Freya mixed up again. So dangerous.

A shrill beeping from one of the machines on Jed’s security setup started to drill at my ear. I circled the table before I checked out the monitors. In one of the viewscreens a big black SUV was going by, wallowing in the snow. Another identical one followed it.

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