Page 20 of Merciless

I thought—

“Mav,” Sheila sighs. “You need to face facts. She never wanted to be here. You should have let her go five years ago. You’re holding her back, and in return, she’s doing exactly the same to you. Let her go. Let her be free.”

“Mavwick,” Daisy finally complains.

With a sad smile at Sheila, who turns her attention back to the coffee machine, I walk over and lower my ass to the floor, refusing to believe that this is it for us.

Alana might have been mine for five years, but I can’t help feeling like we've barely even started our lives together.

5

ALANA

By the time there’s a noise on the other side of the door the next morning, my stomach is growling loudly and my entire body is trembling due to the cold.

I’ve no idea at what point in the night—I assume it was the night—that that motherfucker turned the air conditioning up, but he did. Every time I woke up, terrorized by the images haunting my dreams, the temperature had dropped. Though it didn’t stop me from being soaked through with sweat.

I’m weak, both physically and mentally. The last thing I need is to face Reid Harris. But no matter how beaten down I might be, there’s no fucking way I’m going to break because of a bad night’s sleep.

He’s going to have to try a hell of a lot harder if he wants any kind of information out of me.

The locks disengaging rock through my body as I push myself to my feet and roll my shoulders back to look stronger than I feel.

I might not have the privilege of a mirror in here, but I don’t need it to know I’m a mess.

My clothes are still damp with sweat. My long blonde hair is like a bird’s nest around my head, from the amount of tossing and turning I did last night, and I can only imagine how my face must look. I probably have makeup everywhere it shouldn’t be, that’s if there’s any left.

The door swings open, revealing a freshly showered Reid Harris. His hair is still damp, his shirt clinging to his torso, giving me almost as good a view as when he was shirtless the last time he graced me with his presence.And he smells insane.

Damn him.

Running my eyes down his dark-fitted, ripped jeans, I go right down to his booted feet before making my way back up.

Well, at least one of us looks presentable this morning.

And from the satisfied yet terrifying smirk I find playing on his lips when I finally get back up to his face, I think he’s happy with his findings too. Only for a very different reason.

“Good morning, Pet. I hope you’re ready to have some fun.”

“Do what you want. I find it hard to believe you’ve got any chance of making my life worse.”

It’s not entirely true. I do have something good in my life right now. Someone who I hope is out there wondering why I never returned home last night.

My and Mav’s relationship might be… unconventional. But he’s everything to me. My best friend. And I hate the thought of him freaking out over my disappearance.

Something that I’m sure Reid gives very few fucks about.

He scoffs. “We’ll see. I want answers from you, Pet. And I’m not going to stop until I get them.”

I hiss when he reaches out and wraps his giant paw around my upper arm and hauls me across my cell and out of the door.

I get a couple of seconds to look at the other locked doors that line the long hallway before I’m thrown toward the chair I was in last night.

Only this time, he doesn’t trust me to sit and remain here because, no sooner have I righted myself, does he begin wrapping tight, rough rope around my left wrist, binding me to the arm of the chair.

“I’m not stupid enough to try running,” I hiss, watching him work with such precision that I should probably be impressed.

Once he’s happy my arm isn’t going to slip free, he ties it in some kind of fancy-ass knot.

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