Page 28 of Too Safe

I close my eyes, mentally scrambling for a way out of this. I know better than to try and reason with them. My pride won’t allow me to beg.

Shit on a crumbly cracker.

Opening my eyes and exhaling, I regroup. Surely my uncle will be able to help me. Except he’s out of town, and the guys somehow knew that when they showed up tonight. Sam has made it clear from the beginning that I’m allowed to come and go as I please and that he’s not there to keep track of me.

There’s Hunter, but she’s only known me for a week. There’s no way I’ll involve her in this. Or ask her to put her neck on the line for me.

I don’t have anyone else. I don’t know anyone else here.

Every part of me hates the idea of relenting to Decker’s demands. My survival instincts are screamingrun. But I have nowhere to go. I don’t even know how to get off this damn isle unless it’s on one of their boats. Maybe that’s an option. Or maybe I could swim for it? Either way, that isn’t going to happen right now.

I need to know what I’m up against. And I need time and information to gain that knowledge and formulate a plan.

So I close my eyes and ask, my question coming out whisper-thin.

“How long?”

Silence follows.

And it just keeps going. The tension in the room is sharp, crackling with every inhalation. Finally, when I open my eyes, I’m met with Decker’s most pointed look yet.

He stares down his nose at me, pupils blown out and indistinguishable against the dark onyx color of his irises. Blinking, he gives a subtle shake of his head, as if snapping himself out of some sort of reverie.

Finally, he smiles. It’s not a cruel smile, but it’s smug and full of self-righteousness.

He thinks he’s won, but the games haven’t even begun.

“Until the end of the season.”

Confusion has me searching the guys in the room. But then the meaning of his announcement strikes me. He means football season. Because, apparently, the world revolves around Decker Crusade and football.

“Then, if you’ve proven to be trustworthy and we haven’t had any issues, we’ll revisit our arrangement.”

Our arrangement.

As if he asked my consent or gave me any semblance of choice. It’s the word choice that does it. Without conscious thought, I’m mouthing off again.

“Fuck you, Crusade. I may not be able to fight you right now, but I refuse to lie down like a doormat and let you walk all over me. I’ll make every moment of cohabitation as hellish as possible. You’ll rue the day you kidnapped me and forced me onto your stupid island.”

Decker rolls his lips and arches one eyebrow. “Rue the day?”

He’s teasing me. After all this, he has the fucking audacity—

“It’s an isle,” Kylian murmurs without looking up from the device in his hand. As if he can’t resist correcting me.

But his little correction is just the reminder I need. This glorified prisonisan isle. It’s not completely surrounded by water, just mostly. And that means there has to be another way out of here.

I made a promise to Alice.

The reminder of how far I’ve come, along with the tiny taste of freedom I’ve experienced over the last month, is all it takes for the pressure to build up behind my eyes again. This time, it’s so intense I worry that if I blink, the tears will flow.

I push past Decker, ignoring the other men behind him, and beeline for the door. No one moves to stop me, which makes me feel even more pathetic and weak.

They know they’ve got me. I’m trapped. Backed into a corner. Stuck on this godforsaken isle.

Storming into the hall, I squint against the intense sunlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows. I know my way around well enough from the party, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to explore in the coming days. Hell, the coming weeks if Decker gets his way. But I can’t stop moving right now. I need air. I need space. I need to be alone.

I rip open one of the sliding glass doors, letting it ricochet on its rubber runner, not bothering to shut it behind me.

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