Chapter 1 Lizzie
LIZZIE
“My God, this place is massive,” I said breathlessly.
“Yeah, you ain’t jokin’,” Marla said, her arm linked with mine.
I looked over at my best friend and admired the weight she tacked on.
I’d only been with everyone for maybe a week, but this man who doted on her, Ranger, was good at getting her to eat three square meals.
He loaded them down with calories, and every once in a while, I’d pass the kitchen with Doc giving soft orders.
“A little more butter won’t hurt her.”
“I’d ditch the extra veg for another piece of bread.”
“Oh yeah. She can handle two sodas.”
“A little more seasoning. Not like it’s got calories, might as well make sure she eats all of it.”
“Get her a dollop of ice cream, too.”
“Wow,” Marla whispered as we came to a stop at one of the hallway windows. “Look at this view, Lizzie.”
I stood with her, my arm linked with hers, just staring at her.
“What?” she asked, looking over at me.
I smiled and rested my head on her shoulder. “You just look so lovely. That’s all.”
She giggled and squeezed me close against her. “It’s not so bad here, I suppose. Lots of walking.”
“Hey,” I said as we slowly moved away from the window and continued our walk. “More reasons to eat.”
“Man, Brutus can throw down in a kitchen, can’t he? That chicken alfredo the other night was amazing.”
“Is that who’s cooking? The big guy who never smiles?”
“Brutus smiles!”
“Since when?”
Marla scrunched her nose up like she always did whenever she was thinking, and I giggled as I slid my arm from hers. I wrapped her up in a hug, holding her there for a moment, and just relished the fact that she was there.
Alive.
Breathing.
“I’m okay, Liz,” she whispered as she tightened her arms around me.
“I know, Em,” I whispered back. “Just give me a moment.”
“Take all the moments you need.”
The last week was such a whirlwind that I wasn’t able to process much.
Doc checked on me every single day to make sure I was healing and eating.
The guys rushed us around, taking us in the dead of night by cab, of all things, to the estate so that we could get settled.
It was a bunch of unofficial sneaking around while they brought in a whole other crew not just to keep an eye on us, but to fill up the compound where we were.
I guess to make it look like we hadn’t left.
Or maybe to make it look like they beefed up support for us.
When we weren’t even there.
To be honest, it was a pretty clever idea. Though, I wondered how long it would be before they found us. If my time in the Navy taught me anything, it was that no plan was foolproof, no matter how many times it was run down and no matter how many generals touched it to refine it.
Fucking hell, I had to find a way to get in contact with my boss.
“You’re thinking too much again,” Marla said.
I felt her fingers thread with mine as we turned down another hallway in Doc’s mansion estate. “Sorry. Just in my head.”
“Hey, you’re fine. I was in my head a lot after—”
It was hard for Marla to talk about it still.
What happened to her. Sometimes late at night, if she couldn’t sleep, I’d find her crawling into bed with me and we’d talk for a bit.
I knew that she was kept in a cage pretty much the entire time she was captured.
I knew that they touched her. A lot. I knew they laced her food with drugs just to watch her get sick.
That was all she was able to talk about, though.
“Here, let’s take a rest,” Marla said.
“What?” I asked as I looked over at her. “No, no. I’m fine. We can—”
“Your limp is getting worse.”
I sighed heavily before I felt a tug on my arm.
I dropped down, finding a cushioned chair waiting for my fall.
I furrowed my brow as I looked around, and I found that we were no longer in one of the hallways.
At some point in time, Marla led me into one of the many offshoot rooms that this mansion had.
This one happened to be a fireplace room.
Complete with a real fireplace that had a real chimney jutting through the roof.
“Huh,” I said as I stared at it.
“Just for a few minutes,” Marla said as she patted my knee. “Then we’ll walk to the kitchen and reward ourselves. You did two laps around this place. That’s good.”
“Right, right.”
There was a mirror over top of the fireplace, and I did the one thing I shouldn’t have done.
I peered up into it. The bruises around my eyes hadn’t yet faded.
My left eye was still a bit swollen and half-hooded.
The ligature marks around my neck turned yellow, but only barely. My hair looked thinner, too.
I missed my long hair.
It would take me forever to grow it back out.
“Hey,” Marla said softly.
It dragged my attention back to her. “Hey.”
“You’re going to be okay Liz.”
I nodded softly. “I know, Em.”
“And when you’re ready for me to trim up your hair, just say the word.”
My gaze slowly gravitated back to the mirror. “I know.”
“Oh, come ooooon, Doc.”
“Oh boy,” Marla muttered.
My back straightened as I heard that woman’s voice.
King’s sister.
Annaliese.
“What?” I heard Doc say as the two of them walked down the hallway that led to the room we sat in. “This is the job your brother had for you.”
“No one said anything about babysitting,” Anna said with a pout in her voice. “I want out there. In on the action. I’ve already proven my gun skills to you guys. What more could you want!?”
Doc chuckled as they walked by. “Protecting all women from what’s currently happening is being part of the action, Anna.”
She clicked her tongue. “But you guys are doing week-long trade-offs! I don’t wanna roam this fucking place for a whole week. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“But this is hardly action, Doc,” she said as their voices faded away down the hallway. “Lounging around? Listening to your buddies fuck their girls whenever they come by? That’s not getting in on the action. That’s listening to the action.”
Doc barked with laughter. “Are you saying you wanna get laid by one of my men?”
“What!? No!”
“Ew,” I muttered.
“Come on,” Marla whispered as she helped me to my feet, “let’s get to walking again. My stomach is about to grumble.”
That pulled my attention away from a conversation I didn’t want to listen to. It grated on my nerves, hearing the two of them together. Doc and Anna.
The easy way they talked, like they’d been doing it for years. Like there wasn’t a single gap in their rhythm.
“Wait, you get hunger pangs now?” I asked. “Regular ones? Or is this just a one-off sort of deal you’re just now feeling?”
Marla smiled as she threaded my arm with hers. “That I do.”
I squealed as I held her close, squeezing her arm like I hugged her. “Does Ranger know? We should tell him.”
She giggled as we walked out the back door of the room. “I told him last night, actually. When I felt hungry just before dinnertime.”
I don’t know why, but my heart sank. “Good, good. I’m glad he knows.”
We walked in silence for a while, and I thought about how much changed on a dime.
Marla and I were always each other’s person, you know?
I was the first to know all things in her life, just as she was the first person to know all things in mine.
I guess at some point in time, I dropped to second place.
Not that Ranger wasn’t a good guy or anything. I just…
I don’t know.
And of course, like they haunted the fucking mansion together, just as Marla and I slinked into the kitchen, Doc and Annaliese came back around.
With Annaliese giggling up a storm.
“Doc, you’re insane,” she said as their shadows passed by the kitchen. “There’s no way in hell you just did that off the top of your head. I want a calculator. Where’s a calculator?”
“I’m serious,” Doc said. “Five thousand two hundred and eighty-six times one hundred and twenty-seven is six hundred, seventy two thousand, five hundred and ninety-two.”
“You got a calculator in the kitchen? That’s where I always keep my calc—oh, hey girls!”
Anna rounded into the kitchen with a bright smile on her face that I just wanted to punch.
Doc was right behind her, hovering over her like the shadow he was.
What was it about her that attracted Doc to her side?
Was it the neck tattoo that disappeared into the collar of her shirt? Was it how short she was? How loud?
“Lizzie,” Doc said as he slipped by her, coming toward me, “you okay? How’s your walking going?”
I hated how my gut kicked in his presence. “I’m fine. Marla’s hungry, so we’re getting a snack.”
Doc’s eyes bounced between us. “Wait, you’re experiencing hunger?”
Marla beamed and nodded. “Yeah, I am. Regularly now, at least.”
“Hah HAH!” Doc exclaimed as he clapped his hands. “That’s fantastic. I’m going to go note that in your chart.” He started out of the kitchen before double-backing, coming straight up to me. “How many laps have you done today?”
I held up the number two with my fingers.
Doc nodded. “What all have you eaten?”
Anna peeked out from around him. “She had half a bowl of oatmeal this morning, and a few bites of a cookie of some sort.”
I shot her a look. “I also had an orange juice.”
“Good, good,” Doc said with a nod of his head as his eyes volleyed between me and Marla. “Can I get you girls anything?”
“No, I think we’re good, Doc,” Marla said.
His gaze returned to me. “Do you need help getting back to your room, Miss Elizabeth?”
“Ask him a math question,” Anna whispered.
Though, it wasn’t like she tried being quiet about it.
“What?” I asked as I furrowed my brow.
“Anna,” Doc said.
“Oh, shut it,” she said as she slugged him in his arm. “Ask him a math question.”
I blinked. “Like, how many apples does Trey have after his best friend steals some?”
“Nooooo, come oooon,” Anna said with a grimace. “Get creative. Hey, Doc.”
He sighed. “What.”
“What’s fourteen-point-two divided by nine?”
Doc sighed. “One-point-five-seven, and the sevens go on forever.”