Groaning, I roll onto my side. My pulse throbs in my temples and my mouth is so dry I can barely swallow. Suddenly, an image of Conor’s face flashes into my mind. He was here. In my father’s house. Someone was with him. The last thing I remember is the expression on Conor’s face as a hand clamped around my mouth.
My eyes snap open. Where the hell am I? The room is tiny and dim. There are no windows. A small stainless steel toilet sits in one corner, about three feet away from the bed I’m lying on, which is nothing more than a bare mattress on a steel frame. My heart races in my chest, hammering against my ribcage as I sit up and try to get my bearings.
“About fucking time. I was beginning to think you’d never wake up,” I hear a familiar voice growl from a dark corner. I spin my head towards the sound, noting the enormous steel door blocking the exit.
“Shane?” I croak, my voice hoarse from lack of fluids. How long have I been here? “Where am I?”
“Who are you working for, Jessie?” he snarls.
I blink at him as the memory of his hand over my mouth fills my senses. That was him in my father’s house with Conor. Of course it was. I would recognize the touch of his skin on mine anywhere. “Did you drug me?”
“Who are you working for?” he repeats.
“Where am I, Shane? What the hell is going on?” I demand, but the tremor in my voice is audible. “Is the Wolf here?” I gasp as my eyes dart around the small space.
“Don’t try and fuck with me,” he snarls. “I asked you a fucking question.”
I turn back to him. “And I asked you some too! And you won’t get another word from me until you answer them.” I glare at him.
He stands quickly, pushing the chair he was sitting on against the wall, and I flinch, scooting back along the bed. He stands before me, bending low and leaning his face close to mine before wrapping one of his powerful hands around my throat. “Do not fucking test me, Jessie, or I will snap your neck like a twig.”
I stare into his eyes, that are so dark they no longer appear green at all. Silently, I challenge him to do it. I’ve had enough of this shit to last me a lifetime. Will I ever not be at the mercy of men like him? How fucking ironic that just a few days earlier, I completely believed him when he told me that he loved me.
“Do you have any idea what you did to them when you walked out of here with him?” he spits, his face and his voice so full of venom, I shrink back from him. Why is he pretending my leaving hurt them? Like they weren’t planning on betraying me all along. Where are his brothers, anyway? Don’t they have the guts to face me after what they were planning?
Shane tightens his hand on my throat, and I close my eyes and wait for him to do his worst. I am so damn tired of it all. A few seconds later, he releases his grip and pushes me back until I am lying flat on the bed. I lie still and listen to his footsteps crossing the room before he opens the steel door and slams it closed behind him. I listen to the silence for a while, making sure that he has really gone before I open my eyes.
