It wouldn’t be long before her adrenaline crash…
Trees wanted to scoop her up in his arms. He didn’t dare risk spooking her. “That means you have to trust me, at least a little. Can you do that?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
He wasn’t convinced, but he squeezed her hand, opened the bathroom door, and peeked down the hallway. It was blessedly empty. If they managed to get back to the RV undetected and unimpeded, he would deal with everything else.
Since the dinner hour had passed, the restaurant had mostly emptied out. A pair of octogenarians sat in a corner, sipping decaf. Near them, a family with little ones ate in silence, looking wiped out after a day in the parks.
At the end of the hall, Trees turned the corner and hugged the less illuminated wall, absorbing her against his body, all the way to the double doors. No one approached or challenged them. A few minutes earlier, he’d taken care of Victor’s cohort in a service hallway, knocking the asshole unconscious. He freaking hoped there was some ice in the RV’s freezer. His knuckles could use it.
Outside the hotel, they rounded the building and headed for the main road on foot.
“Did Victor hit you or…” If the scumbag had, Trees would be hard-pressed not to march back into that women’s room and kill the motherfucker. As it was, the sight of the asshole’s fist aimed at Laila’s terrified face was burned into his retinas.
She didn’t meet his stare. “He would have. So thank you. How did you find me?”
Trees gritted his teeth at the memory of filling the RV’s tank and hopping inside again, only to find Laila gone. He’d been shocked by her brazen escape—and he shouldn’t have been. She had fled her brother-in-law’s compound without even a shirt on her back. He should have expected a woman willing to give up everything for freedom, even her dignity, to run. Given what he’d witnessed of Victor Ramos’s treatment, he understood.
“When I realized you’d fled, I figured you would head for the road, maybe steal a car, and get out of this area.”
“I do not know how.”
Good to know. “Then I saw the Mercedes pull into the hotel. I followed, just in case they’d found you. Inside, I tailed Victor’s little helper.” Honestly, Trees still didn’t know how the asshole hadn’t seen him. “When I realized he had no idea where to find you, I punched the fuck out of him and kept looking. I was combing the restaurant when I heard you scream.”
“How did you know it was me?”
He’d felt her cry all the way through his body. Deep in his chest. That would probably freak her out, so he simply shrugged. “I figured no one else had cause to scream.”
The lights flashed then, signaling they could safely use the crosswalk. It was a far cry from his wild dash across the highway, in between cars and during rush hour to reach her.
As he guided her toward the curb, he scanned the traffic, scowling menacingly at a teenager who revved his engine and poked his head out the driver’s window to get a good look at Laila’s backside. The minute the little bastard caught sight of Trees’s threatening expression, he piped down and rolled up his window, proving he had at least two brain cells to rub together.
Laila looked as if she might say more but didn’t as they reached the RV, which still sat where he’d abandoned it, hogging two pumps at the gas station.
As they approached the door, she suddenly grabbed him and stumbled, as if her legs had stopped supporting her. There was her adrenaline crash. He’d barely gotten his hands around her shoulders when she doubled over and retched a thin stream of clear liquid. Fuck, she’d had nothing to throw up. She was dehydrated, starved, and exhausted.
Finally, she heaved a heavy sigh and went limp.
Trees lifted her in his arms. Laila protested, but he ignored her, carrying her inside and locking the door behind them. The fact she let him proved she had no more fight, at least not tonight.
He set her in the passenger’s seat and crouched in front of her. “Are you all right, little one?”
“Fine.” She turned away, as if embarrassed. “It has happened before.”
Because Victor had terrified the hell out of her? That pissed him off. He managed to tamp down his anger—for now. She needed hydration, sustenance, and sleep. They could also use a less recognizable vehicle. But they needed to get on the road more, so waiting around until morning for the rental company to open wasn’t an option.
Never taking his eyes off her, he dug through their grocery sacks, coming up with a bottle of water, a protein bar, and the burner phone he’d bought for her. He handed her the first two. “Slowly, okay?”
Laila looked at them longingly but shook her head. “I do not need that.”
The hell she didn’t. “Your body has to restore itself. When was the last time you ate?”
“I am not hungry or thirsty. I simply want to call my sister.” She gestured to the phone still in its package.
She was full of shit, and he couldn’t fathom why she would lie about something so obvious. Thankfully, BDSM had taught him how to deal with a stubborn female in his care. If she wouldn’t take care of herself, he would do it for her.
Trees dropped his voice. “You want to talk to Valeria? Eat half that bar and drink half the water, and I’ll give you five minutes with her. Eat and drink all of both, and you’ll get ten.”
If she exerted herself more than that, she was likely to keel over.
“Of course there’s a price.” Her smile was all cynical sneer. “What else do you want?”
What the hell else did she expect him to demand? “Nothing.”
Suspiciously, she held out her hands. He gave her the bar and the plastic bottle, watching as she inspected both carefully as if she suspected he had tampered with them.
She shot him one last wary stare before she opened the bar and took a cautious bite. As she chewed, she opened the bottle and took a slow sip, swishing it around her mouth before finally swallowing.
“Why would I poison you when I’m trying to save you?” After everything she had endured in the last twenty-four hours, Trees wasn’t surprised logic had taken a back seat to emotion.
Laila shot him a stare. It wasn’t a warning. It wasn’t even a rebuke. Instead, her face was carefully blank, as if she didn’t want to give him anything, even her anger. Fuck.
“Keep eating and I’ll get this phone up and running.”
“I will eat more when the device is ready.”
She didn’t trust him at all—not even to uphold his end of the bargain. Hadn’t he just saved her from being attacked and dragged back to hell?
How does she know you’re not like those assholes?
She didn’t. She was in a dark place, and she needed a safe space, along with guidance and boundaries that would benefit her. In short, she needed security. That’s where he came in.
The question was, what would it take to shine light into the shadowy corners of her heart?
“All right.” He ripped the phone from the plastic and had it set up to send and receive both calls and texts within three minutes. “Done. Your turn.”
“How do I know it truly works?”
Trees sighed and dialed his own device. He pulled it from his pocket to show that it, in fact, rang. “There you go. Now eat.”