Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Imogen

"But you're paying me ? —"

"To do as I ask."

I replayed that little exchange over and over in my head as I went to eat, barely tasting the burger. It was bad enough that I was having sex dreams about my new boss, but on top of that? He said that to me in this low, raspy voice that had every nerve ending tingling.

What else would he ask me to do? My mind couldn't seem to leave that alone, able to see more and more scenarios. One's where I found out exactly what it was like to touch that huge, hard body, not just dream about it. I'd pulled away damn quick, ostensibly to do what my new boss told me to, but… It was just as much to get the fuck away from Asher, to stop myself from seeing that damn dream replay for the umpteenth time. When he got up to leave the courtyard, it was almost a relief, but then Kyle and Lucas did the same.

"We've gotta…" Kyle watched Asher way too closely.

"Go." Lucas said that with a warm smile. "But we'll be back. Those burgers…" He looked almost mournfully at them, which had me smiling.

"I'll put some aside for you so you don't miss out."

"Could you?" Lucas was like a dog drooling for treats and that had me smiling, getting up to put some on a plate as the two of them followed Asher inside. For some kind of meeting, I rationalised. To work out how to help more women and children, to do their taxes, something.

Something that was none of my business.

They didn't owe me an explanation, I told myself that over and over as I went to go inside and stash the burgers in the kitchen fridge for later.

"Immie!" I looked down to see Kaleb running over. "There's no sauce."

Tomato sauce (never ketchup) was the condiment of choice in Australia, so I smiled and took the empty bottle from him.

"I'll get you some more."

That's why I went inside, I told myself. That's why I walked down the eerily quiet halls. Towards the kitchen, obviously, but as I went, the sound of muffled voices had my feet slowing.

"Stay here." That was definitely Asher. The note of command made that clear.

"We're not staying here while you do the one thing our hearts tell us has to happen." That was Kyle, but his usually warm tones had transformed right now. There was a growly strength to it. "He… hurt her."

I wanted to be that her I realised in a hot rush, to be the one who turned Kyle from that easy going guy into whoever this was. Someone intensely protective. Jealousy flared in my heart, burning all the way through my chest like an attack of heartburn. It didn't even have to be him. Just some guy, any guy who'd put me first, be ready to protect me.

Not be the one I needed protecting from.

I went to walk away then, realising this was a private conversation that I had no business overhearing. My resolve held until I heard Asher's reply.

"I know he fucking hurt her. If you hadn't held me back, if all of you?—"

"Killing a guy in a public place in front of witnesses was never going to be smart," Lucas reasoned, but even his voice held a rough edge. "No matter how much he might deserve it, but what have you got planned…?" I heard a ragged sigh. "You're going to hunt him."

"My beast says I have to."

Beast? I frowned at Asher's words, seeing that damn dream again. Not the hot, sexy part, but this. That massive polar bear lumbering through the forest, ready to smack Phil down. That made sense when I was asleep because you could walk on the ceiling or drink broken glass in dreams without even a second thought, but I wasn't dreaming. I fought the urge to pinch myself, my fingers twitching around the sauce bottle.

"And so do ours," Lucas replied. "She belongs to us as well."

Us? My brain felt like it was racing at full pelt, trying to decipher their words and failing every time. They shared… Nope, that was it. I hit the wall, unable to parse their meaning any more, and it was just as well, because apparently I was no longer alone.

"Did you get lost?"

I spun around, stifling a yelp to find Ursula standing there with an amused expression on her face.

"No," I said, then recovered, "I mean yes."

"This place is huge. We're always having to rescue people from the maze when they first come here. Were you headed to the kitchen?"

She nodded to the sauce bottle in my hands.

"Um, yeah, we're out of sauce apparently."

"Can't have that."

She helped me find my way and I played along, not giving away the fact that I knew how to get back to the kitchen, but when we passed by, I looked down a corridor and saw the three men standing there. Lucas and Kyle were still dressed in the same clothes, but Asher had pulled on something dark blue and form fitting.

Like a SWAT officer or something.

I met his eyes as I passed, catching the moment they narrowed and his lips parted, as if he'd explain, but I couldn't break my stride. Right now I had to pretend to care about sauce and burgers. When we reached the kitchen, Ursula stopped and stared me down.

"You know you're safe here, right?"

"Right."

But the jury was still out inside my head. It was gathering all the information it could, evaluating and judging it in record time.

"The guys…" She didn't specify who, though I'd since discovered that other men worked here as well. "They'd never do anything to hurt you."

But she couldn't say that about others. That statement rose, begging to be said, but I just pursed my lips and nodded. Hunt, kill, hurt, him, her, each remembered word echoed around in my head.

"Gonna need some more sauce," she said, filling the squeezy bottle.

"I'll put it on the list."

I scribbled that down on a piece of paper we were using to record the details for the next order, but as soon as the pencil was between my fingers, it moved of its own accord. To record the fact we needed sauce in looping script, but then… My hand moved down the page.

I used to draw eyes in the margins of my exercise books all the time. There was something about the shapes, the details, and my growing proficiency that had me repeating the exercise. Because each time I recorded one, I felt like I connected with them, some nebulous character that existed only inside my head. And each time I drew one, two, ten, I created an audience inside my book, one that saw me, each gaze soft, kind.

I wasn't a teenager anymore, and it wasn't some anonymous eye I drew right now. It was those bright blue ones I saw in my dreams. I stuffed it up several times, my pencil slashing through one attempt, then the next, rejecting them until I began again. This, this was right, my hand making the shapes my mind's eye saw. His eyes, Asher's eyes, I realised, but also the bear's… Ursula finished with the sauce, putting the big bottle back into the pantry before looking down at my drawing.

I wanted to hide it from her, but that wasn't anything new. Mike always sneered at my artwork, only allowing that old painting to be hung in the lounge room because it conformed to his personal taste. She reached out and pulled the piece of paper closer, nodding at what she saw before grabbing another pencil. ‘More sauce bottles' was written at the bottom of my list.

"Did you feel like coming back to the barbeque?" she asked.

No, no I did not. I wanted to hunker down in my borrowed room, or find the art room and steal some paper, drawing that eye over and over again. Because when I stared into it, I felt like I could do what I didn't dare in the hallway. To interrogate that eye, the bear, the man, ask it all the questions I kept down. Instead, I swallowed hard and smiled.

"Sure. I better start the clean up."