Page 65 of Mason

Kade’s black eyes turned their full attention to Mason. “Thank God. Mama said you woke up, but that was yesterday, and you haven’t since, and I…fuck, I was scared.”

“Yesterday?”

“You’ve been out for almost a week now,brat.” Nikoli looked somber.

“Where’s Jo?” He’d think she’d be here with him. Maybe she left to go find coffee? But she wasn’t here earlier with Mama either.

“Mason, we’ll talk about Jo later. How are you? Do you feel sick to your stomach?”

“No. My head hurts. Hell, I hurt everywhere.” He tried to raise his arm but could barely move it. “What the hell?”

“Calm down,brat,” Kade said, resting his own hand on Mason’s arm. “You took a hard hit to your noggin, which caused some bleeding and swelling. The doctor said your motor function was involved.”

“What do you mean?” He tried again to move, but his arm shook with the effort.

“He means there was a lot of damage. You might have to relearn to do some things.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” He heard the monitors start to go off, alarms sounding, and a nurse came rushing in, shooing his brothers away. She put something in his IV, and Mason blinked, trying to fight the effects of whatever sedative she used.

Relearn to do some things?

What the fuck?

But he had no answers, as he was once again pulled under the dark, murky depths of unconsciousness.

Jo’s fingers were numb, and she tried to warm them by putting them against her bare skin under her shirt, but since she was so cold anyway, it didn’t really help. She’d been here for two days. With no food, no water, no heat.

Forced to use one corner of the room as a bathroom. She shuddered at the grossness of it. But one did what one had to do.

She stayed awake as much as she could. She knew going to sleep when you were cold was a sure way to freeze to death.

So she walked the room, only sitting down when she had to. She had no idea how long she’d been out that first day, or if it had been a full day. Her best bet was counting from the moment she woke up.

Her stomach grumbled, and she grumbled right back at it. She went to the window and opened it, even though that made her room even colder. She stuck her hand out and caught some snow. This, she ate. It at least provided water. You could go without food for a while, but not without water. She knew that much from all the survival games she played. Several of them were as close to reality as one could get. Those games also taught her to keep moving to stay warm. Being a gamer was paying off right now.

She looked down. The same broken driveway greeted her. There didn’t appear to be any houses for miles around. There weren’t any streets she could see, so she assumed the house was away from the street. The driveway ended at the edge of a dirt road. Wherever she was, it was so far out of the way, no one probably even came this way anymore.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and she spun, running to the door, but she tripped. She didn’t fall, though. She caught herself and continued to the door.

“Hello? Is someone there? I need help!”

There was a grunt from the other side of the door. She heard a scraping noise and looked down. A part of the bottom of the door slid away, but not enough for her to get through. It was tiny. A McDonald’s bag was pushed through along with a note.

“Hey, let me out!” She tried again, slamming her one good fist against the door. “Let me out of here before I freeze to death!”

He walked away and back down the stairs. Jo slumped to the floor, frustrated.

The food called to her empty stomach. She hadn’t eaten in days. The last thing she had was the cupcake Mason bought her for her birthday. She took the bag and opened it. Nuggets, fries, and a chocolate milk. A kid’s meal. It was better than nothing.

She gobbled the food and sucked down the chocolate milk faster than a two-year-old with cake.

This had to be her unknown caller or texter or whatever the hell you wanted to call him. Why wasn’t he talking to her? Why had he left her here to freeze to death?

Her eyes grew heavy, and she blinked. The room started spinning, and she realized too late what he’d done. He’d drugged her food.

There was no fighting the darkness that came for her.

The next time she woke up, she was in the bed under heavy blankets. She smiled, thinking it had all been a horrible nightmare. She was back in Dimitri’s comfy guest room, Mason probably somewhere downstairs making breakfast for her. He always looked after her, better than he did himself.

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