Page 47 of Trapped

“You will.”He sniggered.“If you want to save this Erin, then you’re going to have to work for it.”

Smiling, I lifted my face to the ceiling.Not for the first time, Baron was right.I’d helped to free him, and in return, he’d cover my back until I could defend myself.It was almost like old times.

“I’m not afraid of hard work.”Resolve settled over me as I met his eyes.

“I remember.”He paced toward the door and assessed the cell’s security.“It was one of the things I most admired about you, Rosen.”

“Oneof the things?”I probed sardonically.“What kind of locks does this place have?”

“Standard shit.”He blew out a breath.“We’re going to need one of the fuckers to open the door for us.”

I’d guessed as much.“I could lull them by playing dead on the chair when they arrive while you take them by surprise from behind the door.”

“Good thinking.”

I swore I saw the old twinkle gleaming in his gaze as he rose to his full height.“They’ll never know what hit them.”

“They could be armed,” I warned.

“But not smart,” he reminded me.“I’ll disable one and have his weapon before the other one has time to call for his mummy.”

These paid gun-for-hire types were all brawn and no brains.

“We’ve got this.”The assurance in Baron’s tone washed over me.“We’ll be out of here soon enough.”

With my old boss on his feet, a length of rope in his hand and his old confidence returned, one thing was obvious.Hawkins had underestimated us, and together, we were easily a match for him.We knew it, and I suspected deep down, Hawkins did too.He was just too arrogant to be so self-aware.

The only thing left to settle was how long we had to wait for company and how precisely we enacted our supremacy.

I prayed Erin could hold on until then.

Chapter Nineteen

The Resistance

Erin

The walls were closing in on me, pulsating like a conscious, brutal rhythm playing out in my head.The scent of my antagonist’s cologne loitered by my nostrils, stirring the nausea swelling in my belly.His smell was the opposite of an aphrodisiac, a sickening blend of sweat and old, musty cologne.

“It’s just me and you.”He straightened on the chair he’d pulled up to sit opposite me, revealing the same crooked, off-putting grin he’d flashed before.“Time to get to know each other.”

“I think I know enough about you already, thanks.”

Lowering my head, I tried to pull in fresh air, but the air in the room seemed stale and polluted by him, appalling earthy notes meeting at the back of my throat as though they were designed to taunt me.

“Don’t be ridiculous!”He snorted, edging the chair even closer.“You don’t know me at all.”

“I know you swooped in to take Eli and me from the cabin.”

My head snapped up in anger, disgusted that he could be so cavalier in the face of everything he’d ordered and overseen.What on Earth made him think I’d even consider ‘getting to know’ a repellent snake like him?I didn’t have to be a genius to know he was no friend.

“Tosaveyou.”He gestured toward me, employing that same pompous tone that had riled me earlier.Men like him were all the same.They thought they had all the answers, and they never wanted to listen to anyone else’s opinions.“I received Eli’s message, and I wanted to help.”

“Eli didn’t message you.”I was sure that was what Eli had said, and based on his stunned reaction to Hawkins’ arrival, it didn’t seem likely he’d have reached out to the guy.“He clearly loathes you!”

“We have a… complicated relationship.”He snickered.“But we’re all on the same side at the end of the day.”

“Oh, yeah.”I wished I could gain some space from the cretin, but every time I leaned back and struggled for breath, he inched the chair nearer.There was no escaping him.“Which side is that?”

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