Page 34 of Hunted Innocence

“That’s exactly what I want to do.”

“Fuck,” Theron hisses. “I’m driving. Get in the car.”

Chapter Fourteen

NADINE

Walking into the bar,I look around for any sign of Brody, but he’s not there. Instead, I’m met with stares from half a dozen men and three scantily clad women. A few men are playing pool, but stop as soon as I enter the building, standing with their pool cues in hand and their eyes on me.

“Orion,” I whisper.

He chuckles. “There’s been a lot of talk about you as of late. They’re curious.”

Oh.

Wow.

Well then.

Orion doesn’t make me sit around in the bar area where these people can stand and gawk at me for Lord knows how long. I assume I would get pretty boring eventually, and they would all move on, but who knows? Maybe I’m that fascinating.

“This way,” Orion calls out and turns down a hallway.

I follow behind him, glad to get away from the staring. Except, when he stops at a doorway, he looks over his shoulderat me, and I wonder if this is really where I need to be. Maybe I made the wrong choice here.

“We usually keep this room for people who need to be questioned…” Orion says, his voice trailing off. “Tonight, it will be used for protection.”

He holds the door open and jerks his chin as if to guide me into the room. Looking inside, I suck in a breath as my eyes shift around and take in the room. It’s completely empty save for the bare cot that’s pushed against the back wall.

I am definitely not sitting on that thing. “Is there a chair I can sit on?” I ask.

Orion laughs. “Sure,” he says. “Stay here.”

A few moments later, he appears with a chair and sets it down in the room. Before I realize what’s happening, someone else appears and hands me a bottle of water. “Are you hungry?” Orion asks.

“Ummm, sure?”

I don’t know what to do here, but it’s dinnertime, my stomach growls, and I’m a little discombobulated. If Orion notices, he doesn’t say anything. Sinking down in the seat of the chair, I open the bottle of water and take a huge drink. I’m really parched and didn’t realize it. In fact, my head is starting to hurt, too.

“I’ll get you something to eat. I’m going to lock you in here from the outside, but I’ll be back soon with dinner and hopefully some answers.”

Lifting my gaze to meet his, I give him a single nod. “Okay,” I breathe.

“Just take a few moments.”

Without another word, he closes the door behind him, and then I hear the lock click into place. I don’t know why, but the moment the door is closed and locked, I let out a heavy exhale, and my body relaxes.

I don’t know for sure if I’m safe here, but locked in this room, I know Landon can’t get to me. There isn’t a window, nothing except for this door that is locked from the outside. And I know there is no lock to flip into place. It’s a key-only dead bolt, and I have seriously never felt so safe.

Except when my phone rings in my purse.

Looking down at my lap, I stare at my zipped purse. The sound of the phone ringing sends a chill of dread down my spine. Turning my head, I look toward the door, then down at my purse again. I expect my phone to jump out at me.

It doesn’t, but it does continue to ring, and that’s when I focus on the purse again and expect the phone to actually jump out and attack me. It doesn’t, of course, but that doesn’t mean I don’t envision just that happening, because the odds of it being Landon again are higher than anyone else.

But I don’t ignore the call, because if I’m wrong, then it could be Brody, and I’m not the only one concerned about him, which makes me feel even more uneasy. Unzipping my bag, I reach inside and look at the screen.

It’s not Brody.

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