“I need to use the bathroom,” Colin said.
“You didn’t eat hardly anything,” Alex said.
“I still have to piss,” he said.
“I have to go too,” I said. “Where’s the can?”
“You want to go with him?”
“No thanks. I’ll wait outside the door while he goes.”
“I don’t thin
k so,” Alex said. “Not happening.”
“Fine. Whatever. But I might upchuck again.”
“There can’t possibly be anything left in you,” she groused.
“I’ll take him to the bathroom,” Dominic said. “You stay here with her.”
Colin would be alone with the phone. A good thing, but did he know the right number to text?
Yes! He might not have my brothers’ numbers, but he did have Jade’s.
Perfect.
He’d send a text— No, better yet, he should call and leave the line open so Jade could have it traced. Would he know to do that? We didn’t have a lot of time. Dave could come back and realize his phone was missing any minute.
At least Colin would do something. I just wasn’t sure what.
Damn. I should have gotten the phone from him somehow. But could I have? Dave had left it next to Colin, far from my reach.
I inhaled slowly and then let the air out. Trust. I had to trust Colin to do this right.
Each second he was gone in the bathroom felt like hours. Pretty soon, Dominic would be pounding on the door telling him to hurry. Colin was a nervous wreck as it was.
Please, please, Colin. Keep it together and get this done.
I looked at my watch, which, oddly, they hadn’t taken from me. In fact, they hadn’t taken anything, really. My purse was here somewhere. It had been next to me when they removed my blindfold on the couch in what appeared to be the living room.
I suppressed a surprised shudder.
My purse.
Had they gone through it?
I had no idea.
But in my purse…
My security blanket.
I hadn’t gotten rid of the blade. It was still there, nestled in its zippered cavern, waiting for me. The little pouch was invisible unless you knew to look for it, and no one except Mel and now Bryce knew my secret.
Guilt had consumed me after I told them both I’d dumped the blade for good. Thank God I’d kept it for a very good reason—a reason I hadn’t known at the time.
Ten minutes had passed since Colin had entered the bathroom. Ten very long minutes. If he took much longer, Dominic would get suspicious.