The Camp (Chateau 2)

I never found anything.

The guys were either loyal or smart.

After I did my checks, I went into the communal cabin.

The guys were gathered around the table playing poker.

They didn’t acknowledge me.

I didn’t acknowledge them.

I went into the weapons room and did my checks even though a blade was missing—that I’d taken.

I headed to the front door when I was done.

“Got your own little whore now?” Alix looked at his cards as he addressed me.

I didn’t just walk off like I normally would. This time, I faced him, ready to gauge his mental state.

He placed his cards on the table and won the hand. “You know, I had my eye on her first, if your memory serves you right. She should be mine, not yours.”

“I didn’t choose her—she chose me.”

He lifted his gaze and looked at me. “Because you bend over backward for her like a pussy.”

“Because I do things for her, just like the rest of you do things for the prisoners you sleep with.”

He pulled the chips he won toward himself. “Escape is not something we give to any prisoner.”

“She’s here, isn’t she?” It would make my life much easier if Fender would let me remove her from the camp but keep her as a prisoner. Every time I brought her back here, it would ignite their fury again. But I understood why Fender couldn’t cave…because he’d risk losing control of the entire camp.

“In your cabin, with a fucking guard dog.”

I was her guard dog, and I’d protect her with my life. “Let this go, Alix. The only reason you want her is because you can’t have her.”

“Exactly.” He grabbed the deck of cards and started to deal. “And there’s nothing I can’t have.”

When I returned to the cabin later that night, she was asleep.

She was against the wall like nothing had changed, her body straight and taking up the least amount of room as possible. From underneath her pillow, the hilt of the blade poked out because she slept in just her underwear since it was much warmer there than in Paris.

I stared at her for a second before I looked at the laptop.

It was untouched.

It was hard for me to trust her because I wasn’t a trusting person, but I knew she wouldn’t betray me again. I needed to learn to trust the one person who really had my back…and that was Raven.

She was the only friend I had in the camp right now.

And since things were bad with my brother, she felt like the only friend I had in the world.

I showered then returned to the bedroom.

She was awake, lying on her back with heavy eyes, like she’d been stirred from sleep by my entrance.

There was no way to truly be quiet in such small accommodations, so it was inevitable. I pulled on a fresh pair of boxers then sat at my desk, looking through my email to make sure Fender hadn’t sent anything over.

I felt her stare on my back. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay. How’d it go?”

I shut the laptop and didn’t confide any details. “Fine.” I left the chair and came to bed. It was a twin-size because the cabins were too small for full beds. Fender was the only one who had a bigger bed because he had the biggest cabin, even though he was almost never there.

I lay on my back and looked at the ceiling. I was tired because I hadn’t slept in thirty-six hours. Coming back to the camp was always difficult because we had to arrive in the evenings so no one would follow us.

She came close to me, her arm hooking over my stomach, her face on my shoulder.

I didn’t cuddle, but I didn’t ask her to move. I assumed she wanted to cuddle after sex because that was just how women were, but she cuddled now even though we were both too tired…and depressed.

She pressed a kiss to my shoulder then closed her eyes.

My hand moved over hers on my stomach…and I fell asleep.

Eighteen

Bullet to the Skull

A week had passed.

Three more to go.

I’d never counted down my time to freedom in the past, but now that I had something to look forward to, I wanted time to rush by in a matter of seconds as opposed to weeks. I didn’t want to have to look over my shoulder all the time.

“Why don’t you kill him?” Raven leaned against the wall on the bed with her head turned to the TV. She was snacking on nuts, not because she was hungry, but bored.

I sat at the desk with my back to her, working on my laptop. We still didn’t talk much, even though we were confined together in the small space, because there was nothing to say. We were both waiting for time to pass so we could go back to Paris…and have a somewhat normal life. “It’d piss off Fender.”