Page 28 of Holiday Hostage
And I was in a cabin alone with them until the storm blew over.
8
REED
“It’s not steak and lobster, but we won’t starve to death.” I winked at Payton as I stirred hot water into the MREs we’d packed.
Maverick, Payton, and Tarron sat at the long wooden table on the far side of the room.
Payton occupied the bench seat in the corner, Mav on the seat to her right, and the two of them were entrenched in a deep conversation about what had happened.
Tarron sat back with his ankles crossed, his attention locked onto Payton.
I knew that look. He was assessing her, checking to make sure she hadn’t suffered any lasting damage.
We all knew the real trauma came later, when the risk of PTSD slipped in during the late-night hours and stole all sense of peace.
“Thank you, Reed.” Payton tried to smile, but the expression fell flat when she looked back at Maverick. “I still don’t understandhow they mistook me for some arms dealer’s daughter.” She shook her head, her blonde hair hanging loose around her face.
A shiver wracked her shoulders, and she drew her hands tight into her lap.
Mav rested his fisted hands on his thighs, hiding the tenseness beneath the table.
To anyone else, he appeared perfectly calm. “We’ve compiled what we know about the group that took you. It’s still unclear who they were attempting to target.”
Tarron stood and crossed to the closet, opening it to retrieve a blanket that he draped across Payton’s shoulders.
She gathered it beneath her chin and closed her eyes.
Fatigue lined her face, but she bore her war wounds with grace. “I kept telling them they had the wrong person. It was probably foolish. They might have killed me once they knew the truth, but I couldn’t sit there and do nothing. I tried to escape a few times.”
I stirred the packets and listened as she recounted one of her escape tactics.
My heart warmed at the way she faced every situation with that same fierce nature.
She’d been terrified, but she refused to let it stop her from trying her damndest to get free.
Her gaze slid to me when I chuckled as she finished her story.
“Something funny?” Her eyebrow arched, the light in her eyes as plain as the heat in my belly.
She’d fascinated me from the moment I laid eyes on her picture.
The way her gaze skimmed over me, lingering and wanting, told me she was intrigued.
I handed her one of the silver MRE packs, making sure our fingers brushed when she took it from my hand.
“Those bastards didn’t stand a chance. You’re hellfire and damnation wrapped up in cotton candy and sunshine.”
Her mouth opened, closed, opened again with a tiny sound of protest. “That’s…” She blushed to the roots of her hair. “Well, hell. That’s the best compliment I’ve ever gotten.”
Mav shot me a look that might have been censure, but Tarron gave me a thumbs up beneath the table while mouthing “smooth” at me.
Payton fiddled with the blanket, her fingers clenching in the material as she ducked her head, but not before I caught the growing interest in her eyes.
She couldn’t seem to stop looking at us with those deeply perceptive eyes.
The interest sparked hotter and brighter the longer I watched her.
