In The Darkness (Project Artemis #1)(24)
“What? So now you’re going to ask me to let you do something to me? This you need permission for?”
Nick hung his head and quietly answered, “I just have to put you on my shoulder, Persephone.”
The way he said that made it seem like he was the injured party. Like her question made him feel bad. She wanted to pound her fists into his chest and scream at the top of her lungs how much she hated him for what he did, but that moment wasn’t the time.
“Fine. Do whatever you need to do,” she said in a clipped tone that barely disguised her hate for him.
He looked up and for a second she thought she saw a look of hurt in his eyes. No. He didn’t get to feel hurt by the way she treated him. He didn’t have the right to feel anything but shame.
The same shame she felt from what he’d done.
“I’m going to carry you down the ladder, but I need you to make sure you don’t hit the side of the house and make noise. I’ll try to be careful, but I just wanted you to know ahead of time.”
The kindness in his voice sounded very much like how he’d always sounded when he spoke to her, but now she hated it as much as she hated him. She hated how it revealed a gentleness in him she’d believed in.
How it reminded her that she’d put all her faith in him.
Nick gently lifted her over his left shoulder and eased himself out, lowering his body so she wouldn’t hit her head on the bottom of the window. The warm night air covered her, all at once making her feel refreshed and excited. They just needed to get down this ladder and away from this house and she’d be free again.
She clung to him for her very life, even though his very touch reminded her of what he’d done just a few hours before. It created a sense of confusion inside her she didn’t know what to do with.
For his part, whatever he thought about what he’d done to her that night seemed to be something he could push aside whenever he needed to. He took each step slowly, methodically descending to the ground as he held her tightly to him.
When he finally took that last step into the grass, she held her breath, terrified one of the men would be waiting for them. Looking around, she frantically searched the backyard for anyone who would try to stop them but saw no one.
Nick walked toward the gate at the end of the backyard, careful to stay in the shadows the trees on the side of the property offered. He said nothing as he carried her through the night toward the freedom he’d promised to give her again.
As much as she wished she could focus on that, all Persephone could think about was how she’d stared up into his eyes as he thrust into her and saw nothing in them that said what he was doing bothered him in the least. She suspected he’d claim he had to do that to her so no one else would, but that didn’t make it better for her.
And the fact that he’d rescued her and now carried her to freedom in the dark of night away from those monsters didn’t either.
He pushed the metal gate in the chain link fence open, but it squeaked so loud he stopped before walking through. Turning around to look at the house, he waited a moment before turning back and hurrying out of the yard.
They were just a few yards from the house, but they were free.
“Put me down. I think I can walk,” Persephone said as he walked into the woods near the house.
Nick stopped and set her gently on the ground. Her legs wobbled a little, but she wanted to be free of having to depend on him to get away.
“Come on. We need to get further into the woods before they realize we’re gone,” he said pointing into the darkness of the forest.
But she didn’t want to be trapped in there with him.
“I’m fine on my own now. I’ll be sure to tell my father you did your job so you can get your money,” she said angrily as she looked around for which way to go now that she was free.
He grabbed her arm and held it tightly as he shook his head. “No, you’re not. You barely can walk after being in that chair all those days. I promised your father I’d get you home, and that’s what I’m going to do, even if I have to carry you all the way there myself.”
Persephone tried to yank her arm from his hold, but he was too strong. Her emotions on edge after all that had happened, she lashed out at him and pounded her fist into his chest.
“After what you did, I never want to be anywhere near you again! Let me go!”
Clamping his hand over her mouth, he scolded her. “They’re going to hear you if you keep yelling like that. You don’t have much choice in the matter, so you’re going to have to trust me and let me pick you up.”
He lifted his hand, and she said, “Like I trusted you before and you…”
The words got trapped in her throat, and she stood there as her emotions began to unravel inside her. Nick winced, like her words bothered him, but he said nothing before simply picking her up in his arms and walking off with her into the woods.
The last thing Persephone saw of that house they’d escaped from was a light turning on in the upstairs room where she’d been held. Tapping Nick on the shoulder, she pointed toward the house.
“They know I’m gone.”
He stopped and looked back, and she felt his entire body stiffen. But if he was as afraid as she was, he didn’t show it as he began walking faster into the darkness, saying nothing to her.
Persephone didn’t know how long they traveled into the woods, but even being carried began to make her legs ache like they had for every minute she’d been tied up to a chair. She knew he had the harder job carrying her and had to believe he needed to rest.