Panic lit inside me, surging through my system with a vicious burn.
“Grae,” I called, shoving open the door and heading inside.
There was no answer.
I strode through the house, searching from room to room. She wasn’t in any of them. I pulled out my phone and hit her contact, my heart hammering against my ribs.
A ring trilled from the kitchen. I moved in that direction.
Grae’s phone sat on the island. But she was nowhere to be found.
45
GRAE
I groanedas I rolled over. My muscles flared with a deep ache as if I’d been caught in an especially vicious wave and knocked against a few dozen rocks.
My eyelids fluttered, and light burst through my vision in flashes that made my head pound. What the heck had happened? I tried to search my memory. Had I had a rough blood sugar night? Too much to drink?
And then the memory I’d been searching for slammed into me. The face I’d always recognized as a friend. The jab of a Taser. Going down.
I shot up to sitting, and the world swam in a blur around me as I tried to get my bearings. Bile crept up my throat. The room I was in was bare. I sat on a mattress on the floor with blankets and pillows, but the space had nothing else.
Struggling to my feet, I hurried over to the door. My hand stilled on the knob, and I listened. I didn’t hear anything outside. I turned it—locked.
I let a dozen very real curses fly and then turned around. There were two windows in the room, and I quickly crossed to the nearest one. I took in my surroundings. I appeared to be on the second story of a cabin surrounded by woods. But there was an overhang just outside this window. It covered a porch. If I could get out onto it, I could lower myself to the ground without risking too much injury.
Studying the window, I unlocked it and shoved all my weight into opening it. Nothing moved. I tried again—still nothing.
I straightened and set to work examining the pane. That was when I saw the tiny flashes of silver. Nailheads. He’d nailed the window shut, planned for this.
Tears stung my eyes as pressure built in my head. This couldn’t be real. It had to be a nightmare that I would surely wake up from.
A beep at my hip sounded, and I glanced down. A warning from my insulin pump.
I let another curse fly. I’d meant to change it out last night, but I’d been distracted by Caden and his proposal and losing myself with him all night long. I’d completely forgotten about it this morning. This was so bad.
The sound of a key in a lock had me spinning around to face the door, hands fisted in preparation.
The door opened, and Eddie filled the space. He grinned that same easy smile he always gave me, as if nothing was wrong. “Good, you’re up. You were out for like an hour.”
I blinked a few times as if that would somehow right the situation in front of me. “What’s going on?”
He extended a bottle of water to me. “Thirsty?”
I didn’t take it. He could’ve injected it with drugs for all I knew.
Eddie shrugged, opened it, and took a sip. “What do you think of the new digs?”
I’d been to Eddie’s apartment in town more times than I could count. He’d always said he liked being in the middle of things. This place was none of that.
“Why?” I croaked.
Eddie’s expression went stormy. “You can’t be trusted out there anymore.”
My heart picked up speed. “Can’t be trusted to do what?”
“You’re mine. You always have been.”
