Page 48 of Gatling
“There’s plenty of food to eat. Warm blankets. I’m still ironing out a few kinks, like the shower system and sewage.But soon—very soon—we won’t have to bother with the outside world anymore.”
A knot tightened in my chest. I needed to stall for time. Ryker already knew I’d been taken. By now, Noah would have heard the news. They were smart, skilled, trained men and they would be looking for me.
Although, getting trapped in an underground bunker would make it infinitely harder to track me down, they wouldn’t give up. For years, I had been sandwiched between them, and I knew from personal first-hand experience that they were the most stubborn men I’d ever met.
So I scrambled for ways to keep Olson talking and distracted.
“Why?” I asked.
He frowned.
“Why what?”
“You said we won’t have to bother with the outside world anymore. Why?”
His eyes darkened and he turned away.
“Society,” he said. “It’s getting worse these days. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a good, obedient wife?” His voice grew darker, menacing, spittle flecking his lips. “They’re just unfaithful whores now. Nasty little sluts who sleep with all the men they want. They have no idea what fucking loyalty means.”
He was nearly shouting now. I recoiled, pushing back until I bumped against the wall.
Olson began pacing the length of the bunker, gesturing wildly.
“That’s why I had to save you. I had to rescue you and bring you here. To protect you and keep you safe.”
“Safe from what?” I prompted.
Olson stopped, with his back facing me.
“That biker,” he hissed. “The way he looks at you…the way he touches you…”
I pulled my knees up to my chest, sliding my arms around my middle protectively. Olson whirled around with fire in his eyes, jabbing a finger at me.
“And you—I know what you did with him. I know you invited him into your apartment. I know he stayed the night.”
Olson stepped closer, his voice trembling with barely contained fury. If he thought women were whores and sluts for sleeping around, I didn’t want to find out what he thought of me—pregnant out of wedlock by a man he loathed.
“You belong to me,” he spat. “I have to cleanse his influences from you first. One day, you’ll forget all about him and you’ll be very happy with me. I’ll prove it to you. Now eat.”
He nudged the bowl of soup closer to me. Wariness churned in my stomach.
Trust your gut,Noah and Ryker always said.
Well, my gut was screaming that I shouldn’t touch that soup if I wanted to get out of here alive. When I made no move to take the bowl, Olson grabbed it and shoved it in my face.
“I said,eat it—”
I turned my head aside and knocked the bowl away. It clattered to the floor, spilling steaming soup across the cement. Olson swore so loudly that it echoed off the bunker walls.
“Ungrateful bitch.”
I flinched and my shoulders tensed, braced for whatever came next. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood to prevent myself from crying.
“I’ve done all of this—everything—for you,” Olson ranted. “A little gratitude for my effort would be appreciated. That biker was a bad influence on you. He taught you things that an obedient wife would never do.”
I watched him pace back and forth, back and forth. My teeth chattered from the cold and fear. This man was unstable. Trying to predict his behavior or how he would react was impossible.Anything could set him off. Judging by the hatred he had for Ryker, and his obsession with obedient wives, I had to keep my pregnancy hidden somehow.
Then Olson stopped and an eerie calm settled over him with a placid expression.
