Page 75 of Champagne & Handcuffs
Joss was okay with us dating. Joss wasokaywith us dating. Wow.
Seth shoved a bite of toast in his mouth. “I gotta get going. You wanna grab dinner tonight?”
“Yeah, but it might need to be an early night. I need to figure out my flight home for tomorrow.”
“Stay. Give me a few days, and I’ll go with you.” Seth slid off the bed and moved to the closet.
“I have a dental practice at home—patients. My dad needs me back.”
He moved to my side of the bed and sat at my feet. “I know you want to get back to your life, but I’m not ready to let you out of mine.”
I blinked at his words. “We’d break-up if I left? That wasn’t even the plan before all of this shit happened last night.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I mean I’m not ready to put you on a plane and have to worry if you make it home safe. I want to go with you. I can see Grandma, and we can spend more time together.”
“What about your job in D.C.?”
Seth shrugged. “I have vacation time. I don’t need to go back right away.”
“I haven’t taken a long vacation in years,” I admitted.
“Then let’s go somewhere, just the two of us. While we’re gone, we can figure out what’s best for us so we can be together.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Don’t care. You pick the place. It can be anywhere in the world.”
“I need to tell my father. Tell my staff.”
Seth stood and shrugged on his white button-up shirt. “Like I said, we’ll go to Miami, and you can figure shit out. Then, I want you all to myself.”
My belly dipped at his words. I definitely liked his plan.
After Seth left,Paul gave me his laptop, and I logged into Facebook. As soon as Joss returned, he was going into the FBI to give his statement of events. I got the impression no one wanted to leave me alone. I didn’t want to be alone anyway.
As I pulled up myFacebookaccount, I had message after message from my two friends. I also had messages from everyone at work and my family. It felt good to know that I was missed, that they worried about me, though Nathan assumed I was shacked up with Seth the entire time, but I wasn’t ready to tell them anything, especially not on social media or over the phone. I messaged them that I’d decided to stay in Vegas with Seth and Joss.
After I sent the messages and explained how I’d lost my phone, Paul put on the TV for us to watch. I had no idea what was on because my attention was on the days before. I wasn’t scared because I knew I was safe, but all I thought about was sitting on the hard, cold, concrete floor, starving, being forced to strip down to my bra and panties, and then bought. I was bought as if I was property. Then I thought about the faceless man dragging me, and his hands on me. But what made me not have a panic attack was remembering Seth coming into the room and hearing his voice. My entire life he’d always been my savior, even against stupid boys who whistled at me. So I focused on Seth’s face and knowing he’d never let anything happen to me.
Sometime later, Joss came back, a bag fromMacy’sin her hand. After she kissed her husband hello she turned to me. “I didn’t know where you shopped, so I just went to the first store I could think of in this town.”
I smiled and took the bag from her. “Doesn’t matter at this point.”
“Are you doing okay?”
I shrugged as I set the bag down on the floor beside me on the couch. “As well as I can be.”
“I was thinking we should meet up with Autumn for coffee.”
“I’m not really feeling like going anywhere,” I confessed.
“I understand. I’ll text her and have her meet us here if that’s okay?”
“Okay.”
“And that’s my cue to leave.”
I turned to see Paul stand from the couch. Joss wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered something in his ear. He smirked then winked at her. After he grabbed his stuff and headed out the front door, Joss pulled her cell phone out of her purse. I assumed she sent a text to Autumn.
