“Just a little raw from dryness. Suck the ice cubes first. Then try to drink some water. Don’t drink it too fast though. Wouldn’t want you to upset your stomach. We’ll get you some soup sent up to see if you can manage eating something light. Nothing heavy for a few days until you work up to it.”
Drex finally speaks. “No offense, doc, but I don’t trust your cafeteria. Tell Sarah what kind of soup she needs, and she’ll get her anything.”
The doctor frowns but nods. Then he turns back to me.
“No sign of a concussion, but how do you feel? I have a psychiatrist who can come speak to you discreetly. She’s a close friend of mine, and she will be—”
“No,” I interrupt, whispering the word and wincing before grabbing the ice cup and sucking a few crushed pieces down my throat.
He frowns while looking over at Drex like he’s my freaking caretaker and in charge of my decisions.
“She needs to speak to someone. Normally it would be hospital policy.”
Drex looks at me, studying me. “If she wants to speak to someone, she can. If she doesn’t, then she won’t.”
Fairly sure I roll my eyes. I’m being talked about as though I’m not sitting right here.
“Very well, but it’s a standing offer if you change your mind.”
Clearing my sore throat, I speak again. It’s hoarse and strained, but it works well enough.
“I won’t give Ben the satisfaction of thinking he broke me.”
Both men look at me, and Sarah walks closer, smirking as she takes a seat on the bed. She looks over at Drex, crossing her arms over her chest.
“You boys keep forgetting we have to be tough to handle you.”
Drex’s jaw tenses, but he motions with his head for the doctor to follow him out so they can speak in private. The second the door shuts, Sarah turns to me.
“How are you really doing?” she asks sincerely.
Talking hurts, but I make myself. “I’ve seen better days. It felt like I was down there for a long time. Much longer than I probably was—”
“Four days,” she says quietly. “Almost five.”
“Felt like a month or two.”
She nods like she understands, but I don’t know how she could.
“When the nightmares come, and they will, learn to fight back in your mind. It’s the only way to defeat the nightmares,” she whispers quietly. “The nightmares are usually worse than the real thing was.”
My eyebrows go up, and she looks down.
“Really, Eve, you should probably talk to someone.”
“He starved me, kept me awake, and left me to dehydrate. It’s not exactly a few days in paradise, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I’m more grateful than anything that my worst nightmares didn’t come true.”
She smiles grimly while looking back at me.
“The paralyzing fear you dealt with or didn’t deal with… The helplessness of being trapped and alone with nothing to do but pray for rescue… That’s where the nightmares come from, Eve. Not the experience itself.”
“How do you—”
The door opens back up, and in walks Snake, the doctor, and Drex. Sarah bites her bottom lip, like she doesn’t want to continue the conversation. So I let it drop.
“Rush is going to stay here with you. I have to go take care of something,” Drex tells me.
That’s confusing, considering he was arguing with his father about staying here just a few minutes ago. Emotional whiplash isn’t on my to-do list, so I don’t even acknowledge him.
“Sarah, the doc wants to talk to you about what she can eat right now,” Drex goes on.
Sarah squeezes my hand affectionately before walking out with the doctor and Snake on her heels. Rush walks in with Axle, and I tense. I don’t like Rush, and Drex is leaving me with him?
“I should be in on that,” Rush growls at Drex, even though I don’t know what he’s talking about. “You can’t possibly be rational enough in there to get answers.”
Drex tenses as his eyes narrow to slits. “Axle is staying here because I trust him with my girl. You’re staying here because I know you won’t hesitate to fuck someone up if they walk in.”
“I won’t hesitate either,” Axle states dryly.
“Two people need to be in here when I’m not,” Drex orders. “I’ll be back as soon as I have something.”
My eyes stay fixed on Drex, waiting on him to speak to me. He doesn’t. Instead, he turns and walks out, leaving me with one guy I don’t trust, and another who has pity oozing from his eyes when he looks at me. I still don’t know how I got here, and no one is in any hurry to tell me what happened.
From one captivity to another. I hate hospitals.
At least I’m allowed to sleep here.
Chapter 25
DREX
My fist collides with Mikey’s face, creating a satisfying crunching sound that has my sadistic smile turning up. He spits blood out as he turns to face me, fear and terror in his eyes.
He only thought he was scared of Ben.
“Is Benny involved in this?” Sledge demands.
Mike whimpers while shaking his head. “Benny is clueless. He’s over his brother’s death—has been for years. Even said it’s part of the cycle. But we knew we could make you think it was him retaliating. He’s simple-minded and everything he does is done at face-value. He never has a hidden agenda because he’s too stupid for that.”
“Then why send us Eve?” Sledge goes on.
“Because he wanted the fucking file. Herrin was taunting him, hinting that he knew something about one of the guys in his crew being a rat. And he knew about Eve’s old man pissing you guys off. I don’t know how he knew, but he did. To him, it was a simple exchange of each person getting something they wanted. Revenge on a dead man for you guys; a file on a rat—that turned out to be a fed—for him; and money for Eve.”
“Why the gag if the basement was soundproofed?” Sledge asks him, moving on in the line of questions quickly, even though the gag is the least of my questions right now.
“Ben,” Mikey groans, spitting out more blood. “He said he couldn’t handle hearing her scream. The dumbass thinks he loves her.”
All that does is piss me off more, but Sledge pulls me back when I lunge at Mikey.
“I’d stray from all feelings Ben thinks he has for Drex’s girl,” Sledge grumbles, struggling to keep me back even when Dash comes to help him.
“I’m fine,” I growl, shrugging out of their hold.
Mikey looks like a terrified lamb in front of a lion. He has no fucking clue how close I am to losing it.
“You want to know where I keep the cars?” I ask him with an eerily calm tone. “You want to know how I fix them up?”
“No!” Mikey exclaims. “I don’t. I don’t want to know.”
“I plan to tell you all about it,” I go on, taunting him. “I’ll give you every fucking detail.”
“Please. Please don’t. I swear I will keep my fucking mouth shut and leave. You’ll never see me again.”
At least he’s smart enough to know me spilling secrets means a death sentence to him.
“You took his girl,” Sledge says emotionlessly. “Sounds like you wanted to know pretty damn badly.”
Mikey sobs, shaking his head. He’s restrained to the chair he’s in, tied up with unrelenting wire in the same position I found Eve.
“No. Ben took her. Not me. I swear I don’t want to know. I swear! Please don’t tell me,” he cries.
“If you don’t want to know our secrets, then spill yours,” Dash tells him. But he better be fucking bluffing. Mikey is dead. No debate. “Who’s your inside man?” he goes on.
Mikey tries to get his sobbing under control enough to answer.
“I don’t know his name. I just know he’s on your team.”
“What team?” Sledge snarls.
“No,” Mikey says, shaking his head emphatically. “I won’t tell you anything until you let me go. I’m not fucking stupid. Once you have all the answers you need, you’ll kill me.”
I look over at Sledge, and he frowns. He knows damn well I’ll never agree to that. We’ll figure it out some other way.
“In the video, you mentioned he gave you the idea to lean on Cecil,” Dash goes on.
That’s news. No one told me about that. Cecil? Fucking Cecil has been our rat this whole time?
“Cecil owed some money to one of the families upstate. He was two million short on his payment. Either he got a few broken legs and lost his tongue, or he paid it in full. His life was at stake next. He told Ben and the feds everything he knew, and then he left town—after our partner gave Ben the money to pay Cecil’s debts—so you guys wouldn’t figure it out. See? I will tell you all you need to know if you just let me go. As soon as I’m safe and have your word you won’t come after me, I’ll call and tell you everything. Then I’ll fucking disappear. You’ll never see me again.”
Not fucking happening.
“Why the feds?” Dash asks, processing things on a higher level than I can right now. My focus is on blowing Mikey’s brain full of holes.
“I’ll tell you. Just let me go. Please,” he cries. “I swear I’ll tell you.”