Chapter 3

• I closed the door and locked it. “Jerks.” Turning, I leaned back against the door. The silence was a bit eerie after the last few weeks of being surrounded by the contact-wearing-role-playing crew. “So, Bethany, what would you say is the weirdest moment in your life?”
• Pushing away from the door I went to check the kitchen. “Well, there was that time I was in an invisible house with an unconscious giant…” I nodded and opened the fridge. It was full. At least in all this bizarre crap, I’d fallen in with people that liked to eat. After too many times of living on gross handouts from soup kitchens and food banks—I wasn’t going to complain.
• Closing it, I looked toward the bedroom wondering how long he’d be out. The next few days were going to be awkward. I should check on him, right? They didn’t exactly measure the dose they pumped into him. Wouldn’t that be the worst move ever if they killed the hostage needed to get my friend back?
• I looked around for a weapon and then stopped and shook my head. “Stupid, you are the weapon.” With my hands raised in front of me, I walked cautiously to the bedroom. I stopped in the door. He was still out. His large chest was rising and falling. So, still alive. I glanced down at my own petite one and felt a bit inadequate. So what if his pecs were bigger than my breasts, he was a giant right? His everything was bigger than me. I stepped closer and looked down at him. His hand could probably wrap around my whole head.
• With my hands on my hips I checked over the rest of him. He had red hair, not the bright orange-red, but a deep rust color. My own was a brighter, deep red, more like dark fire. His was cut into spikes of red all over his head. I wondered if it was meant to be that way, or if it was a brush cut left too long. Whatever, the style suited his jaw of steel. I wondered what color his eyes were. It had been a little hard to see them while he was wrestling three guys—and winning, for the most part.
• He made sound and I almost tripped, stumbling backward. “Great, now you’re turning into a creeper.” Spinning on my heel, I went back out to the kitchen. For the first time in two weeks my head wasn’t pulsing in time with my heartbeat. I could eat and rest without having to hurry back into his head.
• They’d stocked the fridge well at least, so that was a bonus. One thing I appreciated was food. I’d gone too often without it, or very little of it. Most would binge after living the way I had, but I savoured the abundance and would make it last. Life could take odd turns without warning, and it was better to always be prepared.
• I found a pan and figured out what to make. Scrambled eggs, couldn’t go wrong there. As I waited for them to cook, I stared off into space.
• That nagging feeling was back, the one that kept trying to tell me there was something wrong in all of this. Sighing, I stirred the eggs around. If I were being honest, I’d known from the moment I agreed, that it was all wrong. I didn’t have a choice. If not for Erin getting me off the streets eleven years ago when I was fifteen, I’d probably be dead by now. I still remember when she offered to let me stay in that crumbling building she’d been squatting in. It was condemned and falling down, but it was dry and out of the weather. Not to mention, it kept me away from all the weirdos on the streets. We’d sealed it up, so no rodents could get in and that had been our home for a year. When they’d torn it down, we worked odd jobs, saved money, then lied about our age and found the one and a half bedroom apartment. I couldn’t abandon her when she needed me.
• Scraping the eggs onto the plate, I set the pan in the sink and sat down. Davis and his crew weren’t telling me the truth, I knew that, but no one was getting hurt. Leone would be home again in a few days and Erin would be free. Then I was done with all of this, and if Erin thought for even a millisecond I was letting her see any of these douchebags again, she was in for a really big surprise.