Page 128 of The Midnight Order
My life has turned upside down.
I have a business back home that’s probably on fire right now because I’ve been unreachable, but that doesn’t feel like a problem I need to focus on. Not anymore.
“What do you know?” I ask shakily, popping a bite of steak into my mouth—the flavors dance on my tongue, salty and rich. The butter complements the tang of the medium-rare meat, and I moan as I close my eyes.
Jasper clears his throat rather huskily. “I know if you do that again, we won’t finish this meal.”
My grin spreads across my lips as I open my eyes to look over at him. Still, there are visages of the drugs someone slipped me looming in the dark edges of my body, waiting for adrenaline to flood me so it can ride the high right back to chaos.
“This is very good.”
“I’m glad you like it. I haven’t cooked for a very long time.”
“Well, you haven’t lost your touch.”
He nods his head in thanks, grabbing his glass to drink from.
I notice he hasn’t touched his food, but I leave it alone. We’ve had a trying couple of days.
“I need to have access to the outside world,” I pipe up, knowing I’ve caught him off guard when his brows furrow.
“For?”
“Work? I run a successful brokerage in the city, but I fear the two I’ve left in charge aren’t that bright. It’s been nearly two weeks since I last contacted them, and my cell phone has no reception. I worry about what’s happening in my absence.”
“And that’s the only reason?” he prods.
I try to figure out his meaning by dissecting his tone, but fail.
“Yes. Why else would you think I’d ask?”
He shrugs, but the way he looks down at his food immediately sends another wave of worry tangles through my belly.
“Jasper, I’m always honest with you.”
“Well, I wondered if you left someone behind. Someone we took you from.”
I snort a laugh, sipping a mouthful of wine to calm my racing nerves. “Like you cared?”
“I didn’t… before.”
“Before?”
He sighs. “When you were just a potential key to the curse that would get tossed right back out the door, what mattered if you went missing for a few days? But now… you’re more, Silver. Now that I know that, I feel guilty. I hate what this process could do to you. You must leave everything and everyone you love behind for us.”
It’s hard to swallow my sauteed veggies as a lump of emotion forms in my throat. I hadn’t thought of that at all.
Why hadn’t I thought of that?
Perhaps because the company is all I have to fall back on. Sure, I have friends and associates here and there, but I have nothing tangible in my life.
Nothing that feels likethem.
“I don’t have anyone back home. I have nothing, if I’m honest.”
“I find that so hard to believe. Look at you.” He sits back in his chair, setting his hand on the table as he peruses his eyes over my body.
My nipples harden, gooseflesh causing them to press against my shirt.
