Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty Nine
Landon
Instead of heading to the front of the house, or even near the back patio area, the golf cart makes a sharp turn towards another side of the building I haven’t been to.
A four-car garage stands in front of us, and one of the goons that grabbed us hits a button, opening one of the doors.
We pull inside before the door shuts behind us, then one guy grabs my arm, and the other grabs Courtney.
He tugs on her roughly to force her to hurry up, and I push against the guy holding me.
“Hey! Get your fucking hands off her!”
“Shut your goddamn mouth and get inside,” the guy holding me snaps, hauling me in one direction while Courtney in dragged in another.
For a moment, I’m in a hallway before we go through a door and head downstairs towards a basement. I could fight this guy off if I wanted to, but right now I don’t know what the hell is going on, and I’m trying to cool my temper so I can figure out a fucking plan.
“Where is he taking her?” I ask the guy as we reach the bottom of the stairs and emerge into a converted living space. It’s lavish and luxurious like the rest of the mansion.
The guy drags me to a door, then opens it to reveal a small office with a man sitting behind the desk. Without another word, the guy shoves me towards a seat across from the other man and shuts the door on his way out.
I’ve never seen this guy before. Though we don’t really know any of the staff’s names, I’ve come to recognize faces, and this one is new.
He watches me carefully for a few moments before he speaks. “Why are you here?”
I huff out a laugh. “I don’t know. You tell me. One moment, I was walking with my girlfriend—”
“Courtney,” the guy supplements.
“Yeah,” I reply, not liking the way he says her name.
Wait. Did I just say girlfriend? Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, what else would I label us?
Okay, not the fucking time.
“And then what happened?” the man asks.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” I interject.
He gives me a smile that’s more teeth than anything and leans forward. “I think it’s best if I ask the questions here. Now, what happened next?”
“Then your goons rolled up on us, grabbed us and tossed us into the cart before bringing us here—”
“What were you two doing outside the boundaries of the house?” he asks with a sharp bite like he’s already lost his patience.
I frown. “Boundaries? I was never told we had specific boundaries to stay in. We’re allowed to go on the beach. We’ve gone to different spots all over the island for dates—”
“While escorted by a staff member.”
“So?”
He takes a long inhale through his nose before blowing out roughly. “You were not permitted to be out there, and you knew that.”
“No, I didn’t,” I argue.
He opens the laptop beside him and spins it so I can see the screen. It looks like security footage from just outside the house where the trail begins, and when he hits play, Courtney and I appear on the screen.
“Are we allowed to be back here?” Courtney asks, the audio quality uncomfortably good considering how far we were from cameras.
At least, I thought we were.
“Fuck it. They’ll yell at us if we aren’t. It’s not like they aren’t watching our every move 24/7,” I say through the laptop speakers before he stops it.
“So either our equipment is malfunctioning or you’re lying. I suspect the latter,” he says, tenting his fingers together on top of the desk.
I shake my head. “I don’t understand. If you were watching us, and we weren’t supposed to go back there, why didn’t anyone come get us sooner?”
The man’s left eye twitches. Just barely, but it’s enough for me to notice.
“Our staff is monitoring many cameras at one time. Your whereabouts were not immediately alerted to the proper personnel. It’s an issue that has been taken care of. What I want to know is what you two did from this point to when you were collected.”
There’s something unnerving about the way he says collected. Like we’re property, pawns that need to be maneuvered. It only adds to the sinking feeling that began in my stomach the instant I felt something hairy brush against my leg; that’s grown with each passing moment.
I choose my words carefully when I realize the advantage I hold.
I’d bet anything that they don’t have cameras beyond the point he showed me.
For whatever reason, they didn’t know where we were until it was too late.
But if no one was watching that camera, I wonder how they found us as quickly as they did.
Fidgeting with the bracelet around my wrist, I tense.
My eyes move down to it, and I look at the glowing heart with a whole new understanding.
No. It can’t be. The cameras and the nonstop microphones are one thing but… could it be?
When my gaze lifts to the man, he looks impatient, and his brow is raised in a suspicious manner that has me racing to come up with something. If he’s this persistent about asking, if he isn’t outright accusing, that means he truly doesn’t know. Which means denial is the angle to play.
“We found a cool waterfall. Obviously, things got a little heated,” I say, gesturing to my drenched clothes with a laugh.
His gaze narrows like he doesn’t believe me, so I lay it on a little thicker, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms like I don’t have a care in the world.
“I was chasing her and accidently tackled us into the water. We made out a little, swam around. We weren’t there long when we got cold and decided to head back. That’s when we were picked up.”
I can see the doubt creeping over his face. Like he isn’t sure whether to believe me or not. I know he’s on the edge, all I need to do is drive it home.
I lean forward and rest my elbows on the desk, looking him straight in the eye.
“Look, I’m really sorry. I had a feeling that maybe we weren’t supposed to be there.
I honestly thought someone would have stopped us immediately if it was an issue, though.
I was just trying to take my girl for a little alone time away from all the others.
I didn’t mean to break a rule, and I am sorry.
Don’t you think all of this is a little much, though? ”
He doesn’t say anything for several moments; he just stares at me like if he does it for long enough, I’ll crack.
I won’t.
Slowly, he nods in acceptance. “Next time you have a feeling, you should listen to it.”
“Oh, believe me, I will,” I say, nodding.
Truly.
The instant he waves me away with a dismissive hand, the door opens, and the same dude from before comes in, hauling me out of my chair, then leading me back up the stairs.
When we get up to that hallway from before, Courtney is standing there with the guy that walked away with her.
Relief fills me once I see her, and she practically leaps into my arms, which I wrap around her.
Our reunion is cut short when the guys drag us back through the garage and out to the side of the house.
We pass by the trail path we took, then the guys practically shove us in the direction of the back patio.
Courtney stumbles, and I help stabilize her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders as she tosses them a nasty look.
“What did you—?”
I shake my head roughly, silencing her as we walk up the stairs to the side entrance. A few people are scattered around, sitting by the pool, at the bar or up on the top deck. Luna and Shane wave us over, but Courtney and I give them polite nods and waves before making our way into the house.
Wordlessly, we weave through the house before making it to our room. As soon as the door shuts, I see Courtney is about to speak, but I shake my head again and pull her towards the bathroom. She follows me in, and I strip off my wet clothes before helping her with hers. Then I turn on the shower.
She shoots me a questioning look, but I push her into it, only admiring how fucking hot she is for a second before closing the glass door behind us. I crank up the hot water as high as possible, and the glass instantly begins to steam up.
“You didn’t turn on the fan,” she says.
“It’s fine,” I say, waiting for the glass to completely steam up until I know the cameras can’t see anything but shadows.
I step into the water and gesture for her to follow me, then I place my hand over my microphone necklace and begin rubbing my fingers against it.
It’s probably creating insane feedback, which is exactly the point.
Courtney catches on to this and does the same as I lean forward and whisper into her ear, “What did you tell them?”
She shakes her head and whispers, “Nothing. The woman interrogating me was a fucking cunt. She kept asking what we were doing out there, even asked what we saw.”
My heart skips as I lean into her. “What did you say? Word for word.”
“I said that we went out there for a walk, and you were confessing your feelings for me before we fucked around in the water.”
Confessing my feelings? Is that what I was doing?
Yeah, I guess. Maybe.
Somehow, knowing that no one heard or saw us makes it a little… I don’t know, better? More intimate. Also, the fact that we were clearly out of range for the microphones to work is a fucking blessing because I didn’t even think about that part.
“What did you say?” Courtney whispers into my ear.
“Same thing actually. Like exactly.”
She nods. “That’s good, right? I mean, obviously they split us up to see if we had different stories.”
“It’s very good,” I agree, still rubbing my microphone.
We don’t say anything for a moment; just stand there as the scalding-hot water pours over us.
“They’re tracking our locations with the bracelets,” I whisper.
She looks shocked. “How do you know that?”
“I don’t. It’s only a hunch, but I’d bet anything. We were out of range for the cameras and the microphones to work, but the bracelets were still transmitting. That’s how they found us so fast.”
“Why would they do that?” Courtney whispers, a tremor shaking her voice, her fingers still twisting and rubbing her necklace.
I shake my head as I look around the room, grateful for the rare privacy of the steam.
“I don’t think we’re on a normal reality TV show.”
“Landon, I’m scared,” she whimpers.
“I know, babygirl. I know.”