Chapter 10
DAISY
I’m afraid it wasn’t real, that I dreamed that Shade, Blake, and Mav were in Sauvage’s office, that I never got to Sauvage at all and I’m still in my room at the Novelle house with Nasty Nurse holding me down while Joe….
I gasp, sitting up with a cry. But I’m not in my room. I’m in a different one. Instead of wet, coarse sheets under me or slippery satin, there’s soft white cotton.
‘Daisy? Hey, it’s okay. We’re right here.’
Mav is next to me. Shade’s watching me from a chair. On my other side is a warm spot, probably just vacated by Blake.
‘You’re here,’ I say. ‘You’re really here. I was afraid…’ I let out a harsh breath.
‘We’re here,’ Shade says. ‘We found you.’
My blood runs cold. ‘How?’ I whisper. ‘Will anyone else be able to—’
‘No one has any idea where you are,’ Blake says, coming back into the room and lying back down next to me. ‘And we’re on burner phones, so there’s no way anyone knows where we are either.’
He touches my cheek. ‘Okay?’
‘Okay.’ I relax a little. ‘Sauvage told you about the deal I made with him and…everything?’
‘He told us,’ Mav says.
Shade doesn’t move from the chair. It’s dark enough in the room that I can’t see his face, but I think he’s mad at me.
‘Where are we?’ I ask.
‘The penthouse of Sauvage’s hotel,’ Mav begins.
Shade stands and stalks over to the bed. ‘It’s yours while you’re working for him.’
‘I’m not sure I’d put it quite like that,’ I say, my eyes narrowing.
‘How would you put it, Daisy?’
‘A mutually beneficial business arrangement?’ I say, tilting my head to the side.
He doesn’t look amused.
‘How could you do this?’ he suddenly yells. ‘We told you. We TOLD you how dangerous he is. But you came here anyway. You fucking got into bed with him.’
‘I did NOT!’ I gasp, my eyes wide. ‘I got under his bed, but I didn’t sleep with him! How could you think that?’
‘I didn’t mean... What?’ He looks flabbergasted for a second but recovers quickly ‘It’s an expression! You’re doing business with him, I mean.’
‘Yes! What else was I supposed to do? Wait for some miracle? Were you going to come riding in on your white horses to save me from crazy Joe Banderville and his sadistic nurse?’
Tears come to my eyes and I blink them back, scrambling off the bed. I don’t want to talk about what happened in my room at the Novelle house. Not ever.
‘I don’t have to explain myself to you! You’re all right. No one’s making you marry a fucking monster!’ My voice breaks on the last word and I clap my hands over my mouth so that I don’t let out the sob that is suddenly trying to escape.
My chest heaves as I try to control my upset, and all at once I’m furious.
‘You have no idea what it was like!’ I can’t help but say.
‘Then tell us!’ he booms. ‘Fucking tell us what’s been happening. You cut us out for days, Daisy, giving us vague stories of being sick. Were you sick? Or was that a lie too? You promised—’
‘I promised you that I’d come to you if I couldn’t handle something,’ I interrupt, shaking my head at him, my body trembling.
I gesture wildly at the room around us. ‘I’m here. I’ve made myself safe. Clearly, I didn’t break it!’
‘You think this is safe?’ Shade snarls.
Blake gets between us.
‘Stop it. Go over there and cool off,’ he grates out at Shade, pointing across the room. ‘All this is doing is upsetting her.’
‘Maybe she should be upset,’ he mutters. ‘Maybe then she’ll have an idea of how we’ve been feeling while she’s been MIA!’
Blake pushes Shade backward a step. ‘That’s enough!’
‘Yeah,’ Mav interjects. ‘This isn’t helping anything.’
‘What? It’s true! She promised she’d tell us if things went sideways and instead she didn’t even give us the chance to help her.
She just ran straight to the worst criminal in the area and made a deal with him.
I mean, what the fuck, Daisy? I thought a promise meant something to you. ’ He scoffs. ‘What a crock.’
‘We said enough!’ Mav snarls. ‘Fuck, Shade. Shut your mouth!’
I sink down to the bed slowly, my wide eyes filling with tears.
This is what they think? I’m met with the realization that I should have told them everything that was happening.
Hindsight is always 20/20, I read once. Now I understand.
They don’t know what I’ve been going through.
I haven’t told them anything. I didn’t even give them a chance to help me, I just assumed they couldn’t and dealt with everything alone.
Like I always do.
But I’m not alone anymore. I have them.
I open my mouth to tell them that I’m sorry, but I can’t make the words come out.
Tears spill down my cheeks.
Blake sits next to me and folds me into his arms. ‘Shhh. It’s ok, gorgeous. Ignore him. He’s being an asshole. We’ve been so worried about you, and we didn’t know what was happening. And then you ran. We thought you had left Richmond. We were scared.’
‘We were afraid we’d never see you again, Tulip.’ Mav chimes in from his spot next to Shade, who’s sitting back in the chair. ‘When we saw the footage of you being taken by Sauvage’s guys, we sort of lost it a little.’
He gives Shade a look. ‘Some of us haven’t found it again yet.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Shade says, rubbing his hands over his face. ‘Daisy, I’m sorry. I’m upset with you for going behind our backs, but mostly I’m still freaking out that we almost lost you. I don’t think any of us know what we’d do if that happened.’
‘I’m sorry, too,’ I’m able to choke out. ‘I…’
I can’t bring myself to tell them every sordid detail right now.
Instead, I hold onto Blake tightly, letting the smell of him calm me. They’re here. They’re safe and so am I, for now.
‘You smell different,’ I murmur against his neck.
‘Quit smoking,’ he says gruffly.
I smile a little, and take a long breath in. He seems to sink against me as I do.
‘I like it,’ I say as I pull back and he leans his forehead against mine for a second before he lets me go. ‘You smell like peppermint.’
I focus on Shade and, though I don't want to go into everything, I need him to know that I'm contrite.
‘I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you my plan,’ I say. ‘I knew you wouldn’t like it, but, truly, it was the only one I could think of. There’s nowhere else I can be so well hidden. The Bandervilles and John would never think to look here. Could you really have come up with something better so quickly?’
‘She’s right about that,’ Mav says. ‘C’mon, let’s all relax. Who’s hungry? Sauvage said we can ask for anything we want. I’ll get someone to order us a pizza. Sound good?’
‘God, yes!’ I moan, my stomach growling audibly at the thought. ‘Joe had Nasty Nurse put me on a diet to slim down for the wedding.’
When I was fed at all.
But I don’t tell them that part. Not today.
I get up and go into the palatial bathroom, complete with marble everything and the fluffiest white towels I’ve ever seen.
I haven’t showered since Joe and Nasty Nurse touched me and, as I stand alone in the bathroom looking at my wan face in the huge mirror over the sink, I’m overcome with the need to scrub my body clean.
‘I’m just going to take a shower,’ I call out the door to the guys before locking it and stripping.
I don’t look at the Stinger, but I know I’ll have to soon. I need it off.
I make the shower as hot as I can stand and I scrub every inch of my body. The gray stinger sits on my thigh, waterproof and impossible to remove. The straps dig into my skin less now. Whether that’s because I’ve lost weight since they put it on me, or the straps are wearing a little, I don’t know.
I pull at the ones around my waist, wondering if I can make the belt give enough for me to slide it over my hips, but it’s way too tight.
I realize the straps are actually one long piece that goes around my waist, through the device, and then around my leg.
It’s made of some kind of woven metal, so I won’t be cutting them off either.
I wonder if it’s conductive, if that’s one of the reasons it hurts so much more than the ones at The Heath.
If it’s sending electric pulses through the strap as well, that would make sense.
When I’m as clean as I feel I possibly can be, I dry off and put my old clothes back on. I don’t want to, but trying to explain the Stinger to the guys isn’t on my top five list for right now.
Maybe I can get some tools and take it apart in the lab.
By the time I come out of the bathroom, pizza is already waiting.
‘One of Sauvage’s guys ordered it and brought it up,’ Mav says as he opens the box.
No one’s taken a slice yet, and I grin at them as I pick the best one. I practically shove it in my mouth, realizing how hungry I am despite the snack Sauvage provided earlier.
I end up eating two more before I’m sated and, afterward, the guys show me around the penthouse, which is sort of like an apartment at the top of the building, minus a kitchen. There’s no kettle, sadly, but there is a small fridge with drinks in it, and a minibar with alcohol and snacks.
I grab a Snickers for dessert and moan when I bite into it.
‘God,’ I garble with my mouth full. ‘I feel like it’s been months since I ate anything that wasn’t awful.’
The guys are all sitting on the couch watching me. They exchange looks and I wonder what’s going on.
‘Come here, gorgeous,’ Blake murmurs, holding out his hand.
The air is suddenly charged and I belatedly realize that they want to do things.
Fear envelopes me and I hesitate, multiple thoughts cascading through my brain.
It’s not just that the Stinger is on me.
I’ve lost weight and they’ll see. There are burn marks on me from the cattle prod.
She said I was ugly and that my body was horrible.
I hear her nasty words in my head. What if they won’t want me anymore?
I’m frozen to the spot in the middle of the room.
‘I…uh…I’m tired,’ I stammer. ‘Can we maybe do something…not now?’
Multiple expressions flit across their faces so quickly that I can’t make them out fast enough.