Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

GRACE

I couldn’t hide in the room all day. No matter what the plans were. The only reason I’d come back in here at all was to keep from crying in front of them. I wanted to scream that every minute could be a minute Am was in danger.

She’d never give up on me.

I was never going to give up on her.

The inescapable problem came in the facts as Bones and Voodoo laid them out. Calling Am’s place to see if she answered might only betray our location without proper precautions. While he didn’t make it sound like an impossible task, it just wasn’t something they were willing to do— right now.

Apparently, it was something we could do later, when we left this place. I slung myself down onto the bed. A place we weren’t leaving because they had decided I needed to rest.

I scrubbed at the tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. Crying only made me blotchy, turned my nose red, and had my eyes swelling. It was a terrible look. It was also like admitting defeat.

Yes, I cried. I cried when Maman died. I cried when our old ginger cat passed away. I cried the first time a photographer screamed at me for eating in the middle of a long shoot because I was already too fat.

He was a dick, but the point was I did cry. I just hated crying. I hated the feeling of loss. I didn’t want to associate it with Am in any way. It felt too much like betrayal. So did staying here to rest when we could be looking for her.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I snapped awake when a hand touched my ankle. Adrenaline spiked in my system and I jerked away, barely swallowing a scream as Lunchbox raised both of his hands to show me his palms.

Oh.

Not a stranger.

My breath came in fast, shallow pants.

“You with me?” Lunchbox asked in a calm, rational voice and I stared at him. Was I?

Yes. I closed my eyes and tried to take a deeper breath before I sat up and met his gaze. “Yes,” I said aloud. “You startled me.”

“So I gathered.” He lowered his hands, his grim expression arresting me. “You were talking in your sleep.”

I was? I pushed a hand through my hair. It was still damp since I hadn’t used the blow dryer. My hair could take forever to dry.

“Sorry if it bothered you.” I had no idea what time it was.

Lunchbox canted his head. “Never said it bothered me, Gracie. Just heard you through the door when I came to check on you. I knocked, but you were muttering.”

That could be embarrassing. I fumbled for something to say, but what could I say? I wiped a hand over my mouth, checking to make sure I hadn’t drooled.

“Do you know what time it is?” The lack of a clock or any structure wore at me. There weren’t even any windows in here.

“It’s a little after two,” he said, then added a belated, “in the afternoon.”

“Oh.” I glanced at the bed and then back at him. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“You needed the rest.” Everything about him was careful, contained, and gentle. Like he was handling someone volatile. “I’m glad you got some sleep. Are you hungry?”

I debated the internal question, but then shook my head. “Not really. I ate a lot at breakfast.”

“Not really,” he said. “I don’t think you ate a combined six hundred calories.”

“That’s a lot when you’re inactive.” Not that it mattered right now.

His skeptical look was almost humorous. “Right. You could probably handle something light and it would be good for your system.”

“Water, maybe.” I ran my tongue over my lower lip. There wasn’t a lot of moisture in my mouth.

“I’ll grab you a glass,” Lunchbox offered. He didn’t wait for a response, just detoured into the bathroom. The water running echoed out briefly before he returned with a glass. It was a medium sized tumbler and he’d filled it three-quarters.

A part of me wanted to ask if it was filtered. The rest of me just didn’t care. There were far more problems than whether the water was filtered or had lemon or lime with it. His fingers brushed mine as he handed it to me.

“It’s not super cold,” he warned. “But cold enough.”

“Thanks,” I managed, though it came out croakier. My eyes were still sore and apparently my throat wasn’t much better. I drank about half of it in one gulp, thirstier than I realized.

Lunchbox folded his arms as he stared down at me. His fierce expression gave me pause.

“Something wrong?” Maybe that was a stupid inquiry right now. I had a lot of questions, and what few answers they’d been willing to share were ones I didn’t like.

“You’re upset,” he told me. “You were crying.”

I shrugged. “Stress relief.” I downed the rest of the water, then scooted off the bed. If we were going to keep talking, I didn’t want to be craning my neck to look up at him.

The room felt too small with him in here. I hadn’t noticed that with Bones earlier. But when I woke up, he’d been seated in the chair and not looming over the bed. Empty glass in hand, I headed to the bathroom.

“Gracie…” Lunchbox trailed off as I closed the door. Leaning against it for a moment, I stared at the bathroom. Pushing off of it, I put the glass aside before I took the time to empty my bladder.

After I washed my hands and splashed some water on my face, I gave myself a once over. I didn’t have any cosmetics to hide the pallor or the reddening around my eyes. For a brief moment, I could picture Am leaning against the bathroom door making faces at me via the mirror.

“You’re beautiful just as you are.”

I snorted. “You’re just saying that because you look better than me right now.”

Am rolled her eyes. “We look exactly alike. So if I look better then so do you.”

“Maybe.” But I’d hidden a grin. “You’re still my favorite sister.”

That earned me another set of rolled eyes before she gave me a playful shove .

The memory faded and took with it my smile. Shaking off the melancholy wouldn’t be easy. Focus on how to persuade these guys to let me call Amorette sooner rather than later.

Had I merely traded one set of captors for another?

It wasn’t a thought I was comfortable with, particularly after how nice they’d been.

The skeptical part of me wanted to turn that whole thought process over. Were they only nice to make sure I stayed compliant? Then, they weren’t the people who pulled us out of that truck. Or brought a doctor to look after us.

No, they’re the guys those guys called to see everyone to safety.

Everyone except me, which was also not fair. They had taken me home. It wasn’t their fault more strange men broke in like they’d been waiting for me to arrive. Looking at every single person with suspicion could drive me insane.

My mouth went dry all over again. I refilled the glass with water and drained it once more before leaving the bathroom. Lunchbox remained where I’d left him.

“I’m sorry that our taking you home didn’t work out,” he said. “I’m not sorry that we were there to prevent whatever those assholes were there for.”

“I don’t recall asking you for an apology.” I folded my arms as I studied him. He’d found a shirt, but the cotton clung to his chest, illustrating his musculature. The deep blue color of it though did pull my attention to the tattoo on his arm. I’d seen it earlier, but I hadn’t really studied it.

“No,” he said slowly. “You didn’t. You’re upset.”

“My sister is missing. I was kidnapped. Then kidnapped from the kidnappers. Then freed by a third group and just when I thought I’d be home, I’m not.” I unfolded my arms and spread them wider. “I don’t know what to do with this. The one thing I really want right now, none of you are willing to let me do.”

“You want to call your sister.”

It wasn’t a question. At my nod, he raked a hand through his hair. But it was too neatly cut to do more than ruffle it before it settled right back into place.

“Soon as we relocate,” he promised. “If Voodoo doesn’t get you a phone, I will. You have my word.”

It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. “What if…” I didn’t want to even finish the thought.

“Well, let’s assess it this way,” Lunchbox said, his gaze steady. “If she is or was also a target, chances are, she ended up in a similar place as you.”

That made me sick to think about it. Am would not do well. She would never stop fighting.

“Stay with me,” he ordered in a gentle tone. “The people who took you wanted you. They wanted you alive and in one piece. Right?”

That was true. The man in charge wanted me far more specifically, but it hadn’t been abuse he rained down on me.

“The five-man team at your place also wanted you alive and whole. They were going out of their way to not hurt you. Because it probably would have been a lot faster for them to take you if they hadn’t cared about your condition.”

“I’m not sure that’s as comforting as you might think it is.” Because it meant if they’d taken Am, she could be suffering right now.

“I’m not trying to be comforting at all.” Direct, no softening the words or his tone. I appreciated that. “I’m laying this out. If they have no reason to kill her and every reason to keep her alive, it gives us time to find her and rescue her.”

Time for her to suffer. I folded my arms again, needing self-soothing. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because that’s what we do.” He said that like it was the most natural thing in the world. “For now, all you can do is take care of yourself. We’ll find her.”

“I want to believe you,” I said. “I really do.”

“But you don’t know us well enough to trust our word.” Again, it wasn’t a question.

“Let’s be honest— Lunchbox —would you believe me if I gave you my word about something important? Like, would you believe me if I said I’ll help you find Alphabet?”

He canted his head to the side, his sober expression deadly serious. “I don’t know,” he said, finally.

For some reason, that answer, helped . Because understanding seemed to kindle in his eyes. “So, you see my position?”

“I do. I can’t change your mind with a word, only with actions. Right now, we can’t do anything more than make sure you continue to feel better. That means you need to eat and hydrate.”

“I’m not really hungry,” I admitted.

“Then you don’t have to eat very much. I think you should try to eat something .”

Since the other option was stay in here and stare at the walls, I nodded. “I can try.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He opened the door for me and I snorted.

“Don’t push your luck.”

“Alas, Gracie,” he said, putting a hand over his heart. “I live to push my luck.”

The corners of my mouth twitched. I almost wanted to laugh at the very dry, and very droll way he delivered that sentence.

Once we were in the kitchen again, the only other person present was Voodoo. He wasn’t in the kitchen but in the living room, sprawled back on a sofa with one arm tucked beneath his head.

I thought he was asleep, but his eyes flicked open to track me. Bones and Alphabet were absent and, to my disappointment, so was Goblin.

“Making food for Grace,” Lunchbox said. “You want anything, Voodoo?”

“Sure,” he said, but the weight of his stare stayed solidly on me and I tried very much not to notice it. Of the four men, he was the only one I hadn’t had a conversation with beyond the few words at breakfast.

Frankly, he seemed almost as stone cold as Bones. So I’d rather skip deepening the experience.

“Have a seat,” Lunchbox said, pointing to the table. “Did you actually want some coffee? We have juice now. There’s a couple of cans of soda.” He opened the fridge. “We’ve got some energy waters—weird. Also regular water with some of those extra hydrating packets you can flavor them with.”

“If fruit juice is orange juice, that would be great.” There was something endearing about his puzzlement over the drinks.

“OJ coming up.” After he set the glass in front of me, he gripped the back of a chair and gave me a hard look. “Tough question time—are you a breakfast in the afternoon or evening kind of person? Or do your meals need to match the time of day?”

The intensity in his eyes suggested he was dead serious about the question. “It’s five o’clock somewhere in the world. Which means it’s also morning somewhere.”

“That’s not an answer.” The twitch of his lips betrayed his smile.

“Well, then I guess you’ll have to just trust it and surprise me.”

Straightening, he nodded. “Game on, Gracie. Game on.”