A door at the far end of a sloping hall boasted a hasp, and a padlock hanging loose. It wasn’t hard to guess their destination.
She balked at the doorway. Entering would truly make her a prisoner.
“No. I—”
They didn’t listen. The shove sent her reeling over the threshold, tripping over a mattress on the floor. She sat down hard enough she knocked her teeth.
For a few thudding heartbeats, she remained still. During that respite, she took in the hideous room with its peeling flowered wallpaper, illuminated by a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The mattress had a ratty blanket crumpled on it and nothing for a bottom sheet. The stains proved many and varied, the different shades of yellow, brown, and even putrid green had her shoving away from it and sitting in a dusty corner.
More than ever, she wished she’d stayed in the States. No one knew where she was. No one would even think to look for her when she went missing.
Dumb. So freaking dumb.
She had to escape. The door would be locked; she’d heard them click it the moment they had her inside. Which left the window.
Rising, she moved for it, only to find it nailed shut.
“No.” She curled her fingers on the ledge and leaned her forehead on the dirty glass. Well and truly screwed.
Click. She whirled as the door suddenly opened again, and Lawrence was thrust inside. Or more like he walked right in. The portal slammed shut and was locked. But at least she wasn’t alone.
Unlike her, Lawrence didn’t appear agitated at all. He flashed a smile. “Hey, Peanut. You look a little frazzled. Did someone hurt you?”
“Not yet, but it’s coming.” She wrung her hands. “We are so screwed.”
“Why would you think that?”
She gaped at him for a second. “Are you not paying attention? We’ve been kidnapped. Locked in a room. We’ll probably be tortured. Or killed. Or worse.”
“There’s something worse?” he asked, arching a brow.
“I’m a woman, of course there’s worse. And given you’re a pretty boy, you should be worried, too.”
His jaw dropped, and then his shoulders shook as he laughed. “That will never happen.”
“As if you’ll have a choice. There’s too many of them.”
“Bah. Three is nothing. This time, I’ll make sure you’re safely out of reach and then rawr.” He faked a roar that had Charlotte rolling her eyes.
“Pretending you’re a ferocious lion isn’t going to help us. Those bad people have knives and guns. They’re dangerous.”
“Don’t you worry about them, Peanut.”
“Don’t worry? Have you lost your mind? We are locked in a room in the middle of nowhere with murderers. We are so screwed,” she moaned. Not to mention, if they were killers, then that meant there was little chance of Peter still being alive. Any hope left in her shriveled and died.
“Have a little faith, Peanut.”
“My name isn’t Peanut.”
“And you don’t like Charlie.”
“What’s wrong with Charlotte?”
“I’d say our shared experience has moved us past formal names. You may call me Law.”
“I am going to call you Annoying if you don’t stop. Now is not the time to be flirting or playing your stupid games,” she huffed
“First off, it’s always a good time to flirt, and second, this isn’t a game.” He winked. “It’s called banter and is meant to calm your nerves.”
“My nerves are fine.”
“Says the woman shaking like a leaf.”
She was? Charlotte glanced down and saw her body trembling. Only for a second, then she was engulfed in a hug.
The first word out of her mouth was, “Hey,” but before the rest could slip, the warmth penetrated her chill, the tension in her shoulders eased a slight bit, and somehow she felt less anxious overall. She didn’t remember a high feeling so good. So right.
He broke the spell, not by the hand stroking down her back, but his murmured, “That’s my Peanut.
“I am not your anything.” She moved away from him. “This is not the time to be screwing around. We are in so much trouble.” It surprised her that Lawrence had not asked why yet. How to explain that her brother didn’t always follow the laws?
“We’ll be fine.”
“Your optimism might be misplaced.”
“You forgot to add in absolute arrogance because I’m too pretty to die young.” He winked. “And so are you.”
He thought her pretty? No. Don’t get distracted. She shook her head. “I don’t know how you can be optimistic.”
“Guess you’ll just have to trust me.”
Trust him? She’d just met him, and he’d yet to make a good impression outside of the whole trying-to-save-her thing.
With not much to do other than be nervous, time passed slowly. To his credit, Lawrence tried to ease the situation with witty talk. Most of it went in one ear and out the other. She was turned inward, trying to think of a way out, and thus not paying much attention.
Lunch arrived, bread and cheese with some rusty-looking water. At least they wouldn’t be starved. Or she wouldn’t. Lawrence took one sniff and turned up his nose.
“I am not eating that crap.”
“More for me, then.” She refused to cajole him into having some. He was a grown man. Let him starve if he was going to be picky. She tucked it away for later in case their next meal didn’t come as promptly.
Just after dusk there was the sound of a car approaching. A peek from the window showed nothing, but she could hear voices. New ones, at least three, perhaps more, along with doors slamming.
Then silence except for the thump of feet on the stairs and the creak as they came down the hall.
Lawrence abandoned his spot by the window and stood in front of the door a second before it slammed open. The biggest of the thugs filled the opening. With that beard and expression, he needed only an eye patch to make the perfect pirate. He crooked a finger in her direction.
Gulp. The time had come. Hopefully it wouldn’t hurt.
As she went to step around Lawrence, he put out his arm to stop her. “I appreciate your support, Peanut, but I’ll handle this.” And then he embarrassed her with his drawled, “Would it kill you to knock? What if I’d been getting busy with the lady?”
Chapter Five
Lawrence rightly deserved her weak punch to the kidney. His words were crude and rife with innuendo, but for a good reason. Best to lay a claim on the woman now before this perv thought he could put his hands on her. Any thoughts they had about touching his Peanut ended now.
He stood in front of Brownbeard, and added, “Do you have a tie or a sock we can use to signal when you can visit?”
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
“Staking a claim so they know you’re taken,” he muttered back. “I suggest you play along.” Even if the guy in front of him apparently didn’t understand a word.
Brownbeard nattered something in Russian. It brought the leering one with his red eyes to join the party.
“What is problem now?” Jarl asked rather testily, shoving Brownbeard to the side.