56. Cassidy

There"sa warm weight at my back when I wake up, and I swear I just had the worst nightmare of my life. A heavy arm"s slung over my waist and I take a few seconds to stretch before snuggling back into it. I don"t open my eyes, not yet. I don"t know what stops me, only that I know I"m not ready. I want a few more blissful seconds with Hayden before I have to face the day.

Except it hits me that the person behind me in this bed isn"t my husband.

And that"s when my whole body goes cold and my stomach rolls so hard I think I might throw up. My eyes fly open and I dig my nails into Roman"s arm hard enough to draw blood as I breathe through my nose and swallow down the burning in the back of my throat.

He groans in his sleep and pulls me closer to his body, but I shove him away and scramble out of the bed. The room"s spinning around me, and I can"t get enough air into my lungs to keep from passing out.

And for some goddamn reason, I don"t have on pants.

Where the fuck are my pants?

Roman sits up and looks at me like he"s confused as to why I"m not still in bed with him. "What"s wrong?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I ask, my voice shaking so badly it"s almost unrecognizable.

"Is this one of those mornings where you wake up so hungry you turn into a massive fucking bitch?" He scrubs his hand through his dark hair and his accent is thicker when he first wakes up.

I hate that I know that about him.

"Yes. Yep, that"s it. I didn"t eat dinner and I need you to go make me something to eat." I find my jeans halfway under the bed on Roman"s side. Knowing he took them off me after he knocked me out—and yes, my head"s throbbing like a bitch now that the shock of everything else is fading—makes me want to scrub my skin down to the very last layer to get rid of his touch.

Roman"s eyes narrow as I step into one leg of my jeans and he wastes no time whipping out the gun from under his pillow and pointing it at me. "Don"t you dare put those on. I"ve got big plans for you today, so you"re going to crawl back into this bed and wait here like a good girl while I go get you food." His icy eyes are locked on me and I really don"t like the glint in them.

"Saylor!" he bellows and I hate that I flinch. I hate that he notices more. I loathe that he smirks at me like he knows he"s in my head.

She steps into the room with a scowl on her face. "What?"

Roman kicks off the blankets and stands up. I breathe out in relief when I see he"s got boxers on. "Watch her while I make breakfast."

Saylor scoffs. "I"m not a babysitter. I"ll make breakfast."

Roman chuckles. "So you can poison us all? I don"t think so." He gestures toward the bed with the gun and she rolls her eyes, stepping further into the room as he walks out into the hall.

I debate whether or not I should pull on my jeans while Roman"s certifiable ass is out of the room, but I"ve got to play this smart. Pissing him off over something small might hurt my chances of getting away later. And I don"t want to push him too much and risk having him hurt the baby by getting physical with me.

"Why are you helping him?" I eventually ask Saylor as I sink down on the floor with my back against the wall and wrap my arms around my knees, ignoring Roman's demand to get back into the bed.

She sighs as she flops down on the bed and starts scrolling through her phone. "He promised me with you out of the way, I could have Hayden."

I can"t help it, I laugh. And not quietly. I throw my head back and fucking cackle. This chick actually thinks my husband would just, what, forget about me and hook up with her? I sober when I realize how far I"ve come with trusting Hayden. The damage that Roman and the guy who killed my family caused has mostly healed over, thanks to my husband and his smothering ways.

Damn, look at me growing as a person.

"What"s so funny about that?" Saylor sneers down at me in all her delulu glory. "You think he won"t want me once you"re out of the picture? I"ve got so much more to offer him than some trashy bar owner."

"Oh, sweetie," I say, shaking my head like I feel bad for her. And I do. She"s got some serious issues if she thinks this is going to work out the way she wants it to. "Hayden will never want you."

She scoffs. "I guess we"ll see, won"t we? Oh, wait." She mock gasps and covers her mouth. "You won"t." She rolls over on the bed so her back"s to me and I assume she starts typing on her phone again.

I don"t bother arguing with her anymore. She"s too far gone and I need to focus on getting out of here before Roman comes back and tries to force feed me whatever shit he"s made.

I glance at Saylor again, considering my options. With Roman and his gun out of the room, I think my best bet to get out of this situation is to try to overpower or outsmart her so I can get her phone. Then I can send a message or call Hayden.

Should I call the cops? Probably, but I want Hayden here more. I know he'll fix this in a way no police officer would, and I'm so very tired of having to deal with or think about Roman. If the cops come, it'll only mean facing him in court.

All I want is for this to be done for good.

I briefly consider climbing out the window and making a run for my car, but my keys are missing from the pocket of my jeans and my head"s still fuzzy. Sometimes I"m seeing double and driving in the condition I"m in seems like a colossally terrible idea.

I"ll do it if I have to, if it means surviving Roman, but it"d be better if I didn"t.

I take a deep breath and stand up slowly, hoping she doesn"t notice me. She"s still scrolling on her phone, so I figure she"s distracted enough for me to make my move. I tiptoe toward her, trying not to make any noise on the tile floor.

How the hell am I going to get her phone and send a message without her realizing I"ve done it?

She must hear me coming, because she sits up and tosses her phone onto the bed before turning to face me with her arms crossed over her chest. It"s still unlocked and in a long list of things I need to go my way right now, it"s a relief something"s going right. "What are you doing?"

"Just getting back in bed," I say as I move toward the mattress. "My head"s killing me." The last thing I want to do is climb back into this bed, but I"ve got a plan—a bad plan—and I need to see if it"ll work. "Could you please get me some Tylenol or something?"

"Ugh," Saylor wrinkles her nose. "I"m not the help."

"Seriously, I might throw up."

"Gross." She jumps off the bed and rushes toward the en suite bathroom. I have probably thirty seconds max to send a message, so I waste no time grabbing the phone she left behind and sending Hayden a text. I"ve never been more thankful for my dad"s paranoia when I was a kid insisting that I memorize all the important phone numbers I might need, something I still do to this day.

Unknown Number: ??

Unknown Number: I'm at Saylor"s house. Roman"s here, he has a gun.

Unknown Number: Hurry

Saylor"s slamming things around in the bathroom and I hear the pill bottle shake, so I delete the messages as fast as I can and toss her phone back where it was. My pulse is racing as she comes back into the room with two pills in her hand. She tosses them toward me on the bed and I pretend to swallow them dry. No way in hell am I taking anything these two give me.

I hold my breath when she picks up her phone, but if she notices it"s not in exactly the same spot she left it, she doesn"t say anything. She just goes back to scrolling like nothing happened.

And that"s when Roman decides to come back into the room with a plate of food in one hand and the gun in the other. He flicks his disinterested gaze at Saylor. "Leave."

She stands up and puts her hands on her hips, her phone clutched in one of them. She looks like she"s about to have a full-on tantrum, and I hope she does. I hope they get into it with each other and forget I"m here long enough for Hayden to show up.

But I"m not that lucky.

"You could at least say thank you," Saylor says in a snotty voice and Roman rolls his eyes.

"You"re getting what you want just as much as I am. Don"t act like it was some hardship to sit here for fifteen minutes doing nothing. Now go away. I"ve got some things to discuss with my girlfriend." His gaze moves back to me while Saylor heads for the door.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I do not want to be alone with Roman. Nothing good can come of that.