Page 23 of Holiday Hostage
“Payton?” I brushed her hair off her forehead. “I need you to wake up. You’re safe now.”
“You think she can hear us?” Reed leaned in closer, anchoring his elbows on his knees.
I shook my head. “Probably not, but I’d like her to wake up knowing we’re not going to hurt her.”
She’d knocked herself out before we were able to convince her we meant no harm.
I could only imagine how terrified she’d be when she woke up. If there was any way to mitigate the impending damage, I had to try.
She moaned, her mouth pulling to one side. Her eyes flicked side to side beneath her closed lids.
“That’s it. You can wake up now. It’s all going to be okay.” I stayed close but tried not to hover.
The intensity of Maverick’s gaze never moved away from Payton. He rested his chin on his clasped hands, his elbows on his knees in a pose like Reed’s.
I ignored them in favor of Payton. In most situations, I’d take her hand, giving her a point of contact to wake up to.
The sound came again, a kind of mewling keen that spoke of pain when her face crumpled.
“What’s wrong with her?” Reed stood and moved behind me. “She’s hurting.”
“I’ll find out when she wakes up.” His temperamental moodiness swung hard into concern with such ferocity that it lifted the hairs on the back of my neck.
Payton shifted, then sat bolt upright. Her brilliant blue eyes shot wide, her lips parting in a scream that never emerged.
Before I could do more than take a breath to explain, she lunged to the side and grabbed the bandage scissors from the table.
Her gaze swept the room in a rapid assessment Maverick would be proud of, all the way up until the frantic fear took hold of her expression. “Stay back.” She aimed the scissors at my chest.
Her arms trembled, but her grip on the scissors held firm.
I doubted she’d be able to do any damage with them, but I wasn’t going to increase her fear by trying to disarm her.
7
PAYTON
Where was I?
I caught a glimpse of a moose head on the wooden wall before the world stopped, and all I could see was the three men who’d taken me.
My heart thundered so loud and fast that it felt like it might leap out of my chest.
I tightened my grip on the scissors, raising them when the blonde man sitting on the table shifted to the left.
He looked at his two friends, and all three of them watched me with what looked like a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
Where were the others?
The man who’d taken me from the river was nowhere in sight.
That didn’t mean anything.
If these three had taken me away from the others, they couldn’t have any honorable intentions.
I shivered, and the scratchy wool blanket fell from my shoulders to pool in my lap.
They’d taken my coat.
