Page 54 of Captive of Outlaws

As I say it out loud, I realize how stupid my reasoning was. Seizures or not, I was vulnerable as hell with them. I’m no pushover, but I’m no match for four red-blooded specimens of all-American male.

“I should have killed that fucking guy.” That’s from LJ, lurking in the shadows behind Rob and Tuck. His face looks ashen, yet animated with anger like I’ve never seen, not even directed at me, not even back in the shop.

“Okay, whoa,” I say, blood beating in my cheeks. “Let’s not get carried away. Yeah, it sucks to have your ass grabbed by some creep, but there’s no need to commit murder. It’s not exactly a proportionate response.”

“I don’t fucking care aboutproportionate,” LJ says. He folds his arms, looks from Will to Tuck to Rob. “That’s the whole problem, isn’t it? None of you haveanysense of proportionate. You act like this is just a little change when it’s a big fucking ask. And it just keeps getting bigger.”

“Hey,” I say, stepping forward before World War 3 breaks out. “I didn’taskfor any of this. You guys are the ones keeping me here, remember? And I’m sorry if that’s such a huge inconvenience to you, LJ. But again, I didn’t ask you to get all aggro.”

LJ’s jaw tenses, but he says nothing to me. Instead, he looks at Rob again.

“Okay, fine. You want to fucking criticize me for what I did, like you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing in that scenario. So, yeah, fuck this. I’m done.”

LJ spins around and storms out of the game room, stomping so hard that the billiard balls on the pool table clack a little.

I swallow, my mouth feeling dry. Today has gone completely off the rails. And all I wanted to do was fix some fucking cars. At leastthosemake sense. They’re machines, with rules. Not...messy.

Not this.

I scrub at my eyes and try to make sense of things.

“Don’t feel bad, Maren,” Tuck says, after a few beats of silence. “This isn’t your fault. You’re right—you didn’t ask for any of this to happen.”

“That’s the understatement of the year,” I say. The dull throbbing behind my eyes is back, but it’s not the kind of intense threat to take over my consciousness that I experienced in the car. As weird as it sounds, I feel safe here. Safe with all of them. And safer still knowing that they’re this insistent on protecting me, even if it’s just because I’m useful to them, even for a little bit.

“Will and Tuck shouldn’t have let you leave,” Rob says. “That was a bad idea. I would never have let you go out.”

“You did take her shopping the other day, though,” Will points out.

“Yes. And look what happened.” Rob chuckles. “Got the law hot on our tails. Then again”—he throws a piercing glance at me—“lying low doesn’t seem to be in your skill set, pretty lady.”

“Well, forgive me,” I fire back. “It’s my first time being kidnapped. I don’t know all the rules.”

Rob laughs. “Kidnapped?”

“Well, yeah.” I fold my arms. “The whole not being able to leave this property, let alone the forest, without one of you thing, the insistence on protecting me so that you can extract whatever ransom you want? Sounds like kidnapping. Maybe I haven’t read the exact dictionary definition in a while, but I’m pretty sure this qualifies.”

I don’t get it. It’s pretty fucking obvious that’s what they’re doing, right? I’d be one stupid kidnappee if I hadn’t pieced it all together by now.

Also, for some reason, my outburst seems to amuse them.

“Were we in the kidnapping business?” Will frowns. “Didn’t know that.”

Finally lightening a little, Tuck says, “Me neither. Whatgives you that impression?”

What? “I don’t know,” I shuffle from foot to foot, feeling suddenly very stupid and silly, like I’ve just revealed some hidden fantasy from my imagination.

Except...no, they definitely were holding me captive. Weren’t they?

“You really think weneedmoney?” Rob says, grinning broadly now and gesturing around him—at the pool table, the dart boards, the artwork, the record player, the liquor cabinet. “Or is it just that this isn’t to your usual standards? You think we could stand to upgrade a few things.”

I ignore that last part. “I don’t know,” I retort. “Maybe you do. Maybe this is how you make your billions.”

“Kidnapping and extortion?” Rob beams, like he’s enjoying this. “The margins on that are terrible. Barely turn a profit. That’d hardly work to sustain our lifestyle.”

“Well, it’s more of an explanation than I’ve gotten yet!” I cry, throwing my hands in the air. “Did I miss something? Because based on the past few days, kidnapping’s the only thing that makes even atiny, itsy-bitsy piece of sense.”

“Really?” Tuck says. He sounds almost hurt.

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