Page 43 of Trapped

I laughed at his flat refusal to acknowledge my insolence.“I’m not sure it’s your kind of tale, to be honest.It’s about a girl…”

“What a fucking surprise.”Baron winced as he chuckled harder.“You never could keep it in your pants, Rosen.”

“Not true,” I countered.“There’s been no one for years.”

“Until this girl.”

“Right.”I smiled in spite of myself, ignoring the swirling specter manifesting from the corner of the room.I’d been too long without her, it seemed, and Erin’s absence had inspired the return of the memories hellbent on my torment.Without her, my hauntings had returned.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I focused on the image of her face in my mind’s eye.“Her name is Erin.”

Chapter Seventeen

Escalating Peril

Erin

The dark prison of the hood was whipped from me in a heartbeat, leaving me flinching in the stark, peach-colored light that met my eyes.Sitting on a hard-backed chair, I appeared to be at the far end of a large room with a wall of men separating me from the only discernible exit.

My gaze darted down my body, noting I was still dressed in the same ensemble I’d been wearing when I’d gone to bed with Eli at the cabin, though without any footwear, my feet were freezing.The worst part of my predicament, though, was less about where I was and more about how I was.The cuffs I’d been forced into had been unceremoniously removed before the hood, but each wrist had been compelled onto an armrest instead, where they had been fastened with ropes.I’d gone from one type of incarceration to another, with only seconds of fleeting freedom between.

“There.”A middle-aged guy smiled in front of me, conveying the same smug tone I’d heard give the order to take me from the helicopter.He’d given the commands, and based on his conceited demeanor, he appeared to be in control.“That’s better, isn’t it?”

He’s Hawkins.

The guy eyeing me was the same one Eli had identified back at the cabin.

“Who are you?”

I blinked up at him, unwilling to dwell on any of his unimaginative features.A brief glance had told me everything I needed to know.His face was long, his nose pointy and unappealing, and his hair was brown and thinning, despite the way he seemed determined to comb it over his balding head.Worse than that was the sinister air he had about him.Just being around the guy made my skin crawl.

Nothing like Eli.

His name echoed in my head like a prayer while I risked a thought of the man who’d both rescued and restrained me.Where was he?How was he doing?

Brows knitting, I remembered the kicking he’d taken at the cabin.I could only hope his wounds were superficial.

“Aren’t you delightful?”Hawkins’ condescending tone washed over me as he walked closer.His turning toward the minions gathered behind him gave me the opportunity to assess his physique.Unlike the impressive, muscular frame Eli sported, Hawkins’ stomach wasmore ‘portly’ than ‘six-pack’.

“Please.”I didn’t want to beg the bastard, but I had to know something about what was going on.Why had he snatched us from the woods, and, having brought us to wherever the hell we were, what was he going to do with us?Anxiety scratched at my stomach at the final query, cementing how absurdly vulnerable I was.Things had seemed precarious in Eli’s care at times, but those uncertainties were nothing compared to the desolation stretching inside me then.“Wh-where am I?”

After so long deprived of any vision except the black suffocation of the hood, my eyes seemed sluggish to respond to any of my commands to examine my whereabouts.Frustratingly slowly, they perused the mustard décor of the space, revealing a dated and confused style that seemed to match its owner.Hawkins—if that was who he was—wouldn’t have looked out of place on a 1970’s cop show, except I was under no illusions about which side he was on.I’d seen the way his men had waded in to hurt Eli and knew nobody with integrity would have behaved that way.

“So many questionsanda pretty face.”He flung the hood he’d pulled from me at one of his goons.“No wonder he found you so fascinating.”

“Where is he?”

It was clear we were both talking about Eli, although neither of us mentioned his name.

“Ain’t that sweet?”He motioned to me as he glanced back at his men.“She’s worried about lover-boy.”

“I’ll give her something else to focus on!”A younger, more muscular guy clapped his hands together excitedly.“Just say the word.She might be old, but she’s still fit.”

A rumble of laughter reverberated along the line of men as though the moron’s threat was in any way amusing, and I recoiled as far as the chair would allow.There I was, worrying about how Eli was faring, when it seemed I should have been more concerned about my own wellbeing.The parade of excited faces behind Hawkins clearly only came to heel for two things.One was the kind of violence they’d unleashed on my lover, while the other was something I was trying to not dwell on, though tied to the chair, there’d be little I could do to prevent any inappropriate behavior.

“No, thank you, Hadden.”Hawkins shook his head with feigned disgust.“The lady will be busy with me for the time being.”

The trepidation in my tummy twisted at his words, and I couldn’t decide which outcome sounded like the worst threat—the idea of being at the mercy of the mindless pack, or being, as Hawkins put it, ‘busy with him.’

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