“Thank you,” I mumble. “I’m honestly a bitch without coffee in the morning.”
“Oh, is that what I’ve been dealing with? Shit, who knew all I needed was coffee?”
I glare at him. “Look, I wasn’t bluffing before. People will be looking for me.”
He gets up and wordlessly walks past me into the living room area. He comes back a second later with my purse in his hands.
“Here’s how this is going to work,” he says evenly. “You’re going to make one phone call. You’re going to call a family member, or a friend, and you’re going to tell them you’re taking a little vacation - some ‘me’ time. All right?”
The funny thing is, it’s not even that far from something I would do.
He gives me a sharp look. “No coded messages, no flying off the handle and yelling for help. Trust me when I say help will not get to you in time.”
I shiver.
“And no fucking languages besides English, please?”
“Worried you’ll miss the good parts?”
“I mean so you don’t embarrass yourself with trying to sneak a coded message through. Trust me, I speak more of them than you’d think.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“You’re welcome to test me.”
I purse my lips. “So what do you speak? Neanderthal and frat-boy?”
He arches a brow at me as he slides the phone across the counter.
“What, I’m sorry, should I have assumed the guy who kidnaps girls from bars and shoots people is some sort of scholar?”
I turn my phone on to find one string of texts, from Jayson.
You crazy fucking cunt. We’re pressing charges you psycho whore.
Fuck you, you crazy bitch. Expect a call from our lawyer.
I hope you get cancer.
I blink, putting the phone down.
Well then.
But that’s it. No other texts, no voicemails, nothing from my family out on vacation. I mean, I know it’s been, like, twelve hours but still.
There’s a chuckle behind me, and I whirl to see him grinning as his eyes glance up from my phone.
“Oh, loads of friends and family,” he says in a sing-songy voice that I assume is supposed to be me.
“Shut up.”
I end up calling Stella, even though I know from the time she’s probably dropping my nephew Carter off at daycare before her nursing shift at the hospital.
It goes straight to voicemail, kind of like I imagined.
“Hey, it’s me,” I sigh, feeling Connor’s eyes on me.
“Just wanted to let you know I’m going to be off the grid for…” I trail off and glance back at him.
“A few days,” he mouths.
“A few days.”
I shiver.
“I just gotta go clear my head. Some shit went down with Jayson-”
Suddenly, I realize I’m making the phone call I should have made last night.
“Things got really bad with Jayson, and I- I fucked up pretty bad, Stell, and I just need a little me time.”
It’s not even that I’m following his script, it’s just seriously the exact words I’d use.
“So, call whenever, but I might not be picking up. You can pass this along to Mom and Dad, and Ivy and Silas, and Kyle and Viv, and Rowan and Eva if you want. Okay, thanks. Bye.”
I hang up, and he takes the phone back.
“Did you want to thank the academy too?”
I level a look at him.
“I mean Jesus, anyone else you needed to pass that along to?”
“I have a big family.”
“Apparently.” A smile teases the corners of his lips. “So who’s Jayson.”
“My boyf-” I shake my head. I almost want to lie, but why bother. “My ex-boyfriend.”
“Your ex-boyfriend the reason you kissed me last night?”
I keep my mouth shut. He just gives me a look as he turns to grab some more coffee.
“I have to use the bathroom.”
He turns, raising a brow at me.
I sigh. “It’s not a ploy, I really do have to go. Unless you want this nice kitchen stool all wet.”
“Easy,” he grumbles, coming around behind me again. He undoes the loop keeping me on the chair and steps away as I go to stand.
I stumble, my legs still wobbly from the night before, and I gasp as he darts forward. He catches me, his strong arms yanking me up and against him as my heart leaps into my throat.
“Here we go.”
He leads me to the bathroom and opens the door.
It’s just like when I first saw the rest of the loft. Because I feel like a criminal like him should have this total shithole of an apartment, with some cruddy, utterly disgusting bathroom to boot.
Not the case.
The bathroom is pristine, and elegantly masculine - all dark tiles and silver finishes, a huge, porcelain tub to one side and a separate shower stall next to it.