Page 28 of Spy With Me
“Her therapist. Well, that’s not fair, is it? Though I’msure with a name like Kala she probably needs it,” Lacey said briskly. “Now areyou going to be stubborn and run or would you like me to tell you what’shappened? And perhaps give you something to get rid of your headache. I’ve gotsome herbal teas my mum sent with me. Don’t make fun of them. According to her,they come straight from the fairies, and the wee folk know how to take care ofa person.”
She was still dreaming, right? This was… Was that a chicken?There was a chicken staring at her from the side of the bed. It stood therelooking up at her.
“Don’t mind Miss Rachel,” Lacey said, scooping the chickenup. “She’s every bit as curious as you are. So which way are we going? If youhurry, you could sneak past Zach and perhaps get to the back field before herealizes you’re gone. Be careful. There’s a testy bull in that field. Abusedterribly, and he’s easily startled, but then you would be, too, if they usedyou to train bull fighters. Poor Ferdinand.”
The last words were said to the chicken, who clucked asthough she was entirely sympathetic to her bull brethren’s situation.
“Why am I here?” Devi pushed back the covers and thenrealized she was down to her undies and an oversized T-shirt. Although shesuspected it wouldn’t be oversized on Zach Reed. It would fit just right. “Whoundressed me?”
“Well, it wasn’t me. It was the bloke who put his entirelife and work on the line to save you. It’s the reason he’s being looked overby a veterinarian instead of a real doctor, though I will say I would put mylife in Arthur’s hands.” She looked down at the chicken in her arms. “He savedyou, Rachel. Poor baby had terrible stomach issues when she came here.”
Devi was starting to get the idea Lacey wasn’t about to giveup anything. She was going to have to ask. “Can I have my clothes back?”
Lacey gave her a smile as she headed for the bedroom door.“Of course. When they dry. I hung them up this morning. Should be nice and dryin a couple of hours. If it doesn’t rain.”
“Or you could throw them in the dryer,” Devi suggested.
Lacey turned in the hallway, an intimidating look on herface. “Do you have any idea what kind of energy conventional clothes dryersuse? Not to mention how hard they are on actual clothing. Do you care about theplanet in any way?”
Devi was not going into this. “Look, lady, you’re the onewho kidnapped me. Are you planning on lecturing me on climate change fortorture? Because that would be a good way to get me to walk into the sea.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t love the Earth. She did, but thiswoman was irritating her on a base level. And also, where the fuck was Zach?She glanced around the bedroom and noted that his bag was on the floor by thebed and someone’s head had definitely lain on that pillow beside her. Assholethought she was sharing a room with him? That was not happening.
Although she was his prisoner. Was she not being scaredenough? Prisoner. She’d been a prisoner, and Kala had been, too.
“Are you okay? You went pale,” Lacey said, sounding like shegave a damn.
But Devi was stuck because it all flooded back. The night…She’d wriggled out the bathroom window because she didn’t need a damnbodyguard. This Huisman person was coming after Zach, and no one seemed tounderstand that Zach didn’t give a shit about her.
I thought he was in love with Tasha. It’s good to seehe’s moving on.
Careless words. Words she wasn’t supposed to hear. He wanteda Taggart. It wouldn’t be the first time an intelligence officer tried to useher family name to get a leg up. Tasha’s first fiancée had done the same thing.
Zach didn’t give a shit beyond her last name. He’d lost hisshot at her cousin, the twins had their eyes on other men, and her cousin Caryshad recently married. So she was the only female Taggart left for the picking.And she’d been such easy prey. Yes, that had been boiling through her system asshe made her way to The Hideout. And then Lena had been waiting with big guysand guns, and they walked into the club and told her cousin they would kill herif she didn’t do what they wanted.
Again. She was the pawn. She was being used to gain aparticular outcome.
She felt a hand go to her chest as she heard the shot in hermemory. Aunt Eve. Aunt Eve had been with Kala. She’d tried to protect her andLena shot her. Shot her in the chest. Devi watched her go down and knew…
Screaming. She could hear her cousin screaming in pain, andthere was nothing she could do about it. When they brought her back, Kala hadbeen paralyzed and then Lena had been there again and it was Devi’s turn toprotect her cousin.
She failed.
“Devi? Sweetness, what’s going on? You’re safe.” Zach’swords penetrated the horror movie playing through her brain. She could feel theway they tossed her around. How they’d treated Kala like she was a fuckingdoll. They tossed them into the plane like cargo, and she’d held onto hercousin’s unconscious body so she didn’t roll around. She’d lain there holdingon and praying that Zach would find them. That she wouldn’t lose Kala this way,wouldn’t die without seeing him again.
His arms were around her, and she was sitting on his lap inthe same cozy chair Lacey had been in when she woke up. Just for a second, shebreathed him in, let his familiar scent comfort her.
“Kala?”
She felt him kiss the top of her head. “She’s fine. Coopergot her out and I got you out. From what I can tell she’s on her way back toDallas with the rest of the team.”
“My Aunt Eve…she…she…”
He stroked her hair. “Is alive and well. She’s going to pullthrough. Everyone is alive, Devi. Well, Lena isn’t. Kala took care of her. Tellme what he did to you. Lacey and I both looked you over and we didn’t see anybruising except around your wrists. But we both know he doesn’t have to leavescars to hurt you.”
Oh, she felt pretty scarred. It was time to be an adult andnot a clinging child. She had to remember that all this affection was for show.It was to trick her and make her fall further for him. Now he had even morereasons to draw her in. He was AWOL. Her uncle might be able to handle thesituation if she cried prettily and begged him to take care of the man sheloved.
And she did. But that love didn’t go both ways, and shewasn’t going to let herself be used. She sat up.
