Chapter 31
Zayne
“This is nice,” Sable whispers as I step aside and let her enter the cabin.
I want to challenge her. There's nothing nice about this place.
It's bare bones at best, and if there were a person in charge of organizational requirements and amenities, as the child welfare people have, they'd shut this place down in a heartbeat.
I've heard stories from people who experienced conversion camps that were nicer than what we're provided here.
"Home sweet home," I say instead as I step in behind her and close us inside.
She's a really sweet girl, and if I had to guess, I'd say she was fairly new here. She still has a way about her that tells me she's unsure whether her actions are okay or if she's doing something wrong, and she's worried about the consequences.
"What do you want?" she asks, her smile fading as she turns around to face me.
Her hands are already working at the buttons on her flannel, but I hold my hand out to stop her from getting undressed. She gives me a weird look, confusion drawing her eyebrows tighter, but she doesn't speak her concern.
She has to know that our place is bugged.
She either knows that because it's common knowledge, or the place where the women are kept is also under some sort of surveillance.
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have cameras all over their place, both to keep them in line and also for perverts to watch every move they make as some sick fucking form of entertainment.
Her eyes dart to the door as if she's thinking of running, all the while calculating the consequences of her actions if she tries.
I couldn't have asked for a better situation to be put in. I have no doubt we could just sit in silence for half an hour, and this girl wouldn't go back and rat me out. Hell, she might make up a story and lie, telling whoever might ask that we did all sorts of shit we didn't actually do.
"I've had a long fucking day," I tell her.
She simply watches me, waiting to find out exactly what her fate is.
"Let's start with a back massage."
I just need to kill some time. Obviously, whoever has access to the listening device here could easily play this back and realize nothing fucking happened. I need a minute to fucking figure out how to handle this.
I wanted her to talk on the way here so I could gauge her loyalty to this place. Getting information from women is a tricky game, but it's the easiest way. I couldn't tell on our walk over if she was scared to talk or protective of the organization.
I'm still not certain that the innocent girl and the damsel-in-distress act aren't part of a bigger ploy to find out what my level of loyalty is, either. I've seen more than one agent get burned by a woman.
As much as everyone who works for places like Cerberus and other federal agencies that infiltrate these organizations wants to think that all the women are innocent or they are acting out of duress, I know firsthand that isn't the case.
Some women are just as evil as the men are.
Her approaching me that first night was suspicious, and I know it had to have come at the recommendation of someone in control of her.
After the conversation at The Garage earlier, I have to assume Bobby is trying to find out something about us that we aren't disclosing, and he has sent this girl to get me to slip up in some way.
I collapse on the bottom bunk, taking only a second to breathe in the scent of Zeus on the sheets before angling my head back to look at her.
She's standing in the middle of the tiny room, wringing her hands together. I really want to believe she can be an ally, but I'm not ready to pull the trigger on that right now. I couldn't in this room if I wanted to.
"It hurts mostly right here," I say, curling my arm behind my back and indicating the center. "I must've tweaked it when we were moving mattresses today."
It's not a wild idea. Those things were heavy, soiled with years of prior use and with all the things that slough off your body when you sleep.
Plus, there's no fucking telling what else stained those filthy things.
I suddenly regret not following Zeus to the restroom to wash my hands before having lunch.
"Sable?" I prod. "My back?"
She nods quickly, stepping forward.
"Need me to get on the floor?" I ask. "Will give you more room?"
The upper bunk doesn't give her much space to maneuver.
"I can manage," she says as she straddles me.
The weight of her body on mine makes me feel disgusting. It's not that a woman is touching me. It's knowing that she doesn't want to.
Even if she is a plant, here on orders from Bobby or someone else, I highly doubt she would want to have sex with anyone just because she was told to do so.
"Right here?" she asks, digging her fingers into the muscles along my spine.
I grunt, the attention to that group of muscles making me tense up.
"Yep," I tell her. "Right there."
I lay there, enjoying the back massage and trying to convince myself that it isn't an abuse of the power I have as a man at this compound.
As her fingers work over every inch of my back, I sink deeper and deeper into the mattress, my entire body relaxing under her hands.
I jolt, fear growing inside me as I realize I've fallen asleep, something I normally wouldn't do in the presence of someone I don't know. It gives more credit to the likelihood that she isn't in this room because someone else placed her in my path.
I pull in a deep breath, letting it transform into a yawn as I look around the room.
Sable, a woman I don't recognize from the dossier we were provided as a potential victim of the organization, although that doesn't mean she isn't. It just means she hasn't been linked. She’s sitting on the tiny couch across the room.
"You're still here," I whisper, knowing the room is small enough that even using a conversational tone isn't needed.
"You fell asleep, and I didn't know if you wanted me to stay," she says with a shrug. "Didn't know if you wanted... more."
"That was the best back rub I've ever had," I tell her as I cross the room, taking a seat right beside her. "It was almost like anesthesia. Put me right in a coma."
"You've only been asleep for twenty minutes," she says with a laugh.
Her eyes search mine as if she's trying to figure out when I'm going to turn on her and treat her like some of the other men here have no doubt done.
I give her a sad smile, reaching down and taking her hand in mine.
She continues to look at me in a way that just breaks my heart, as if kindness is always followed up with pain or expectation.
"It was a fantastic twenty minutes," I assure her, giving her hand one final squeeze before releasing it and standing. "Now let's get you home before they send out a search party."
She doesn't argue, doesn't tell me she can stay as long as I want her here.
She trails closely behind me, waiting for me to close the door when we step outside.
"You can't walk me all the way back to my place," she whispers, as if she's telling me a secret.
"Then I'll walk you as far as I'm allowed to go," I tell her with an easy grin.
She dips her head, feet moving her in a direction we haven't had the chance to explore yet. I follow, quickly getting right into step with her.
"You're a really nice guy," she says, her voice even lower than it was a moment ago.
"I am," I say, but not in a bragging, egotistical way.
"A lot of the guys aren't."
"I'm sorry you have to deal with that."
I keep my face pointed forward, eyes searching the area as much as I can in the darkness.
"I feel like I can trust you," she says softly.
"You can," I assure her. "I promise."
I look down at her, giving her a reassuring smile I'm certain she has seen before, minutes before someone hurt her in some way.
She pauses, her eyes searching mine like they have more than once tonight.
"I hope I get to spend time with you again."
"I could use another back massage," I say, trying to build her faith that I'm not going to assault her without actually saying it.
"This is as far as you can go," she says, digging the toe of her sandal into the dirt as if going home is the very last thing she wants to do.
"You'll be okay from here?"
She nods, looking back over her shoulder.
The area isn't much different from all the other places around here.
Much like a public bathroom with entrances on both sides, there's a wall on either side with an inset wall of stacked cars directly behind her.
Access behind the center wall requires going either left or right to get around it.
"You sure I can't sneak in with you and see your home?"
She shakes her head quickly as she takes a step closer to me.
"Cameras everywhere," she whispers before brushing a soft kiss on my cheek. "Thank you for not hurting me."
She walks away, disappearing around the right side of the wall of smashed cars.
I turn back, making a mental note of how I got here in the first place, but the way they have this place set up is more than a little disorienting. I allow myself to explore, planning to once again use the excuse that I'm so new here that I got turned around if confronted.
I really need to look for Zeus. It's been over an hour since I walked away from the fire pit, and I know every guy there had every intention of pairing off with someone.
There's very little chance that they would choose hanging out and drinking beer with friends over getting laid, something controlled by Bobby, it seems.
I wander, eyes scanning as much as I can.
I try to look at each smashed car, knowing several were listed as connected to missing women.
But there are so fucking many, there's no way I'd ever be able to distinguish those from all the others by sitting down and literally comparing license plate numbers.
Yelling draws my attention to the right, and I rush in that direction.
"Get you-your fucking hands off me, man," a familiar voice slurs.