DELIVER(48)

Shit, she didn’t want to answer that, but he looked at her as if he were consumed by the need to know. She gripped the towel around her chest. “Yes.”

Tension vibrated from his body as he stormed through the room. He seemed to be trying to drive it away with his swift strides back to the trunk and whatever was distracting him there. She didn’t own anything personal. Only meaningless things she’d collected while living in that room. She dressed and sat on the mattress.

While he rummaged, she told him what the news had been reporting about his disappearance, highlighting the resiliency his parents exuded during their interviews. Then she talked about her own experience with Mom’s grieving and her eventually moving on. “When enough time has passed, your fake decomposed remains will turn up somewhere and put an end to all the searching. I don’t know how Mr. E arranges such a thing, but he pulled it off when I disappeared—” her throat dried, scratching her voice “—and Van says Mr. E intends to do the same with you.”

During her one-sided conversation, he’d found a tennis ball in the trunk, a gift she’d earned as a slave. He tossed it against the far wall, caught it, tossed it again, over and over. He didn’t seem to be listening.

“Am I boring you?”

He snatched the ball out of the air and jerked his head toward her, his eyes clouded under the V of his dark eyebrows. “Mr. E has a pretty twisted hold on me by threatening your life. How does this affect the threat against my parents?”

“That threat was my creation.” She felt sick. “An empty one.” Harming his parents had never been an option. She wanted to go back to the day she took him and erase the worry she’d planted in his head. She also wanted to bury her pen knife in Mr. E’s jugular and watch his stupid mask soak up the blood. Damn him for manipulating Josh into feeling sorry for her.

He watched her with eyes too perceptive for his age. “Is Van a threat to my parents?”

She pressed a cool hand against her burning cheek. “Your parents are entangled with media and detectives. He wouldn’t dare go near them.” Even without the risk, she didn’t believe Van would murder an innocent person.

Josh’s fist flexed around the ball, his other hand scraping roughly over his face.

“What’s bothering you? Besides the obvious.” She gestured around the room, indicating his prison cell.

He glanced at her, the tightness of his chest visible in the muscles straining his shirt. “I work my parents’ farm at dawn and dusk.” He flung the ball, caught the bounce back. “At practice, I sprint, tackle, and sweat through endurance exercises for hours every day.” His voice lowered. “Now I’m locked in an attic with the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” The ball sailed through the air, returned to his hand. “Whom I just shared a very. Arousing. Kiss. With.” A toss and catch punctuated each word.

A warm tendril of pleasure shivered through her. She wanted to close the distance and wrap her arms around him, but he seemed to be trying to control his arousal and pent-up energy. She had no interest in taunting him.

Lowering his head, he pressed the ball to his brow. “And there is a tyrant waiting outside that door to have sex with you. Again.” He resumed pummeling the wall. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. “I’m trying real hard to keep myself in check, Liv.”

His words tied her up with heartache and compelled her to silence. She clung to the sounds of the thumps against the wall and the way he controlled his body despite his turmoil.

He caught the ball, clasping it in his hands behind his neck, and looked heavenward. “If I escape, I might be able to track Mr. E down. But he will kill you before I do. If I take you with me, he’ll kill your mom and daughter.”

Her breath stumbled with the acceleration of her pulse.

“If we follow all the rules, your arrangement is safe.” He dropped the ball and sat beside her on the mattress. “Given my background, I think he knew you would trust me with your predicament, and he’s counting on me not to put you or your family in harm’s way. We’re both being played, Liv.”

Hearing him voice her fears churned her gut, boiling bile through her chest. “I want to kill him.”

“Murder’s not the answer.”

Maybe he’d meant to find some preacher comfort in his response, but the sinews in his neck were taut against his skin.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can’t kill him anyway. He has a contract out on Mattie and Mom. It’s part of our arrangement. If anything happens to him or Van, the contract will be activated.”

Blood drained from his face. “A hit man?”

She lifted a shoulder, swallowed. “Something like that. He’s in the business of trafficking humans. I don’t doubt he has connections with an assortment of criminals. But I’ve not been inclined to test his threat.”

He leaned forward and laced his fingers through hers. His perceptive eyes projected an intrusive quality, one that could unearth her weaknesses or nurture her strengths. “You’re going to teach me all the rules. Train me as your slave.”

Regret pinched her chest. Mr. E succeeded where she failed. The boy would be cooperative. What an elegant f*cking play. “I can’t—”

“You will.” He squeezed her hand. “And since there’s no way I’ll let you go out there alone—”