Amelia sat on the floor a few feet from me and set the tray down, pushing it forward slightly, a small smile on her face. “You have to be hungry.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t know what to say.
The tray held a couple bottles of water beside a plate that had a sandwich, a bag of chips, and a slice of watermelon. Beside that was a small slice of chocolate cake.
“I made the cake this afternoon.”
I glanced up at her, hearing the pride in her voice. I don’t know why I found it comforting. Maybe because it was so… normal.
“How are you doing?”
I was so tired I didn’t have the strength to fight. I shrugged. “I’m doing shitty, about the same as I feel.”
She gave me a sympathetic smile. “I know. I’m sorry about... all of this.”
I rested my head back against the wall. “It’s not your fault.”
She exhaled wearily. “It’s not like I’m helping you walk out of here though.”
She had a point, but again, I was too damn tired to fight her on this.
“What’s your name?”
I thought about not answering, lying, but what difference did it really make? “Zoey,” I finally admitted.
“You from around here?”
“Yes and no.” The look she gave me would have made me laugh if the situation had been different. “I’m what you’d call a free spirit… a nomad. I don’t really hang around for very long.”
She nodded like she knew what I meant.
“You look young.”
“So do you,” I replied. She grinned. “I’m twenty-five and too old to be jumping around like I do, but staying stationary and being sedentary was never my ‘thing,’ I guess.”
We were silent for long moments, but it was the good kind of silence, the kind I needed right now.
“I’m really sorry you’re stuck in this fucked-up situation.”
Me too. “Yeah, it’s pretty fucked up.”
I could hear how genuine she sounded, and I didn’t know why that tugged at my heart.
“But I want you to know you have choices. I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but Frankie is only acting like this because he’s desperate, because his twin over there is fighting for his life and he doesn’t know what do to.” She exhaled. “No one knows what’s going to happen, and it’s making these normally hardened men even more unbearable.” The way she said the last part told me she felt the same way.
I could have stayed silent, just let those words hang between us, but I found myself sitting up a little bit, and I had no idea why. “I don’t know anything about being close to someone, not even where family’s concerned.” I watched Wilder, stared at the way his chest rose and fell. “I don’t know that kind of connection, the need to make sure somebody survives at all costs,” I whispered. “I may not have ever experienced it, but I can understand it.” I looked at her then. “I can understand it, but it doesn’t make what they’ve done right.”
She shook her head. “No, it really doesn’t.”
Right now, I didn’t want to sympathize with anybody in this room. Those men were… intense, in a psycho way.
“Hell, Dom kidnapped me from work and kept me here,” she confessed.
I stared into Amelia’s eyes. I wasn’t surprised by her revelation.
“And Cullen is Kimber’s… whatever you’d call the two of them. Her, the lion tamer.” Amelia and Kimber smiled, but then Amelia’s expression sobered. “If the Preacher boys can fall in love and grow a heart, everything will be okay.” The way she said that last sentence was almost like she was trying to convince herself.
“They’re all bark and no bite,” Kimber said then.
I really found that hard to believe, but I kept that to myself.
“It’s really late, and I know you’ve got to be tired and hungry. Just eat and try to sleep. The loveseat over there turns into a bed. There are sheets already on it, and a blanket is in the bathroom closet right through there,” Amelia added and pointed toward the en suite bathroom.
I nodded but didn’t say anything. I was tired, damn near starved, and fighting right now or trying to escape just seemed like too much work.
Amelia stood, and Kimber walked up to her. “Someone will probably be in constantly until Wilder is… better. I hope you’re a heavy sleeper.”
At this point, I could probably sleep through a nuclear explosion.
“You’re safe here, I promise.” Kimber was the one to give me those reassuring words as their men walked in, and I was shocked at how comforting I found them.
“I promise things will look better in the morning, when everything is not so high with emotion and worry and, God willing, Wilder makes it through the night.”
I looked back at Wilder, something deep in my heart tugging as I watched everyone gather around him. These were big and scary men who committed at least one illegal act just by kidnapping me, not even counting the whole back alley bullshit I witnessed. Yet they loved hard. That was clear.
My curiosity with this man didn’t sit well with me, and as I watched Dom and Amelia, and Kimber and Cullen, I felt like I was twisted in this crazy web and didn’t know if I’d be able to escape.
Chapter Eight
Frankie
“We could always just get rid of her,” Cullen said with no emotion on his face.
“What the hell, Cullen?” Kimber prompted with disgust lacing her words.
“And you remember how the fuck that plan ended last time, right?” I snapped, and I was surprised to see my normally hard-as-rock brother look a little… sheepish.
“We are not hurting her, for fuck’s sake,” Dom said and exhaled, lifting his hand and running his palm over the back of his head. “Yeah, she’s seen a lot, too much, but fuck, we are not hurting her.” He cut a glance toward Cullen.
Cullen lifted his hands in surrender. “We aren’t hurting her—got it.”
No fucking way Cullen would have bent so easily if not for the fact that he’d fallen in love with Kimber. She kept his big, burly ass in line; that was for sure. And a part of me knew she changed the hardened man he’d always been. She warmed his ice-cold heart, so now he didn’t look at everything as black or white, but as having a multitude of colors, scenarios, and solutions.
I ran a hand over my head and shook it, thinking that would clear it. “I shouldn’t have taken her.”
“No, you shouldn’t have, but I get why you did.” Dom was the one to speak.
“You did it, because you looked out for the family. No one thinks that’s wrong,” Cullen inserted, and I glanced at our oldest brother, watching as he brought his woman in close and kissed her on the cheek.
I looked at Dom, seeing him do the same to Amelia.
I’d never thought I’d see the day when Dom, let alone Cullen, would fall to their knees for a woman. I never thought they’d risk everything and anything for non-blood.
I looked down the hallway to where we set Wilder up. It was a spare bedroom, pretty barren aside from the bed, small couch, and the en suite bathroom. I pictured the woman in there, the one I’d taken. I wasn’t a bad guy despite the fact that I did bad things. I certainly wasn’t Cullen or even Dom. But I did take her out of desperation. I’d been scared as fuck for my twin.