“What?” His expression remained still. Shit, he was serious. He was going to lock me up. “It’s illegal. I’m over eighteen and—”
“Do you think laws matter to me, Georgie? I kill for a fuckin’ living.”
Shit, there was no doubt he could lock me up and throw away the key. But this was why he’d given me this cover story when Deck came back when I was eighteen … because he couldn’t lock me up. “Deck, please. Don’t do that to me.” The webs began encasing me in their sticky substance as fear gripped me. Everything was unravelling and it was happening fast. Too fast. I was losing control here.
“You drank until that shit poisoned you.” His tone hardened. “You have fuckin’ cuts on your back. From a knife. How did you get them, Georgie?”
I’d never tell him. “I don’t know.” He knew I was lying. It was the first time I think he suspected something. Shit, I totally screwed up. “I drank too much yesterday and I was—”
“How?” he shouted.
I looked at my hands.
“Look at me.” When I didn’t, he punctuated each word. “Look. At. Me.”
I couldn’t.
“Fuck this.” Deck strode over to the window and looked out into the street. “And it’s every fuckin’ day.”
“I’ll sober up.” Damn it, I went too far.
“It’s too late.”
I yanked off the heart monitor and then the intravenous, scrambled out of the bed, and darted for the door, making it into the hallway. I had no idea where I was going except the word run kept pounding into me like I was that sixteen-year-old girl again.
I heard Deck swear and I was grabbed from behind. I kicked and struggled, but to Deck, I was a flimsy piece of foil. No chance was I going to rehab. The second that happened, he’d find out the truth and then …
I panicked at the thought and reacted by dropping my weight then jerking my elbow back to hit him in the head. He let me go as he staggered back a step, his hand going to his cheek where my elbow hit. It must have throbbed because my elbow sure hurt like hell. It was a classic defense move when someone grabbed you from behind, one of the several I’d been taught. Except he wasn’t supposed to know that.
We both froze.
I saw his face, showing the surprise at what I’d just done and then the suspicion. I shouldn’t know how to do that move. I surprised myself that I managed it with Deck, of all people. But it didn’t last long. He launched for me, and my breath hitched as his arms locked me down and held my back to his chest. This time, I didn’t attempt to move.
His voice was a low whisper as he growled into my ear. “Where the fuck did you learn to do that?”
I had to calm down, get myself back in control here. Deck was my biggest challenge over the years, because he knew me. Hiding who I was took talent, and I think the only way I got away with it was because he was gone most of the time. But Deck knew damn well I’d never taken self-defense, never been a fighter and never been able to get off a punch on him.
“Answer me.”
I didn’t have an answer. For once, there was no sassy comeback.
“Answer me. Damn it.”
I was slipping. I knew how to keep my mouth shut. And this was one of those times, but feeling Deck’s pulsating fury and hearing the confusion in his voice … it made everything I was doing worthless.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you, but I’m finding out. In the meantime, you’re being locked down. Bullshit has ended.”
“Deck!”
“No, Georgie. I’m done.”
Oh, God. I need my phone. I had to call him. “Don’t do this.”
“Everything okay here?” A nurse came running over and looked from me to Deck and back again.
“Deck. Please.” I resorted to begging. I’d have no access to a phone, no way to contact Tanner to get me out. Shit, would he even know where Deck was taking me? Well, he would, but the question was how long would it take and by then …
“Sir, she should be in bed—”
Deck ignored the nurse. “You drank so much you nearly died. You have cuts on you that you say came from a tree but a doctor says are likely caused by a knife. You snuck out on Vic and disappeared for hours only to be found convulsing in front of Connor’s grave. And you executed a defense move when you’ve never been to a single class. What the fuck do you want me to do, Georgie?” His voice was that of a drum, pounding through the room so loud it made my head vibrate.
Then Tyler was there. “All okay, Boss?”
The nurse touched my arm. “Miss. I’ve alerted the doctor. Come back to your room and lie down.”