Page 34 of Targeted By Love

I was with Maynard’s brother and we were going to play Old Maid… then he was going to take a call, and I went to make sandwiches … and then my arm hurt. I had no confidence that anything past that was real.

They must have given me something, a drug of some sort. Yeah. That had to be it. The pinch in my arm had been a needle, and whatever was in it had me missing a whole chunk of time and feeling like I had a hangover to top all hangovers.

But who were they, and why did they have me here? If it was the people who wanted me dead, I would be dead and not on this freezing floor, right? Who knew how long I’d been out, but during that time, it would’ve been easy peasy to stick a bullet in my brain. No. This person, or these people, wanted me alive.

Or had they left me for dead? Maybe they wanted me to suffer and all they left for me was a glass of water, one that could easily be poisoned. I officially needed to lay off the late-night movies.

“I hear you breathing. No need to pretend.”

I didn’t recognize the voice, but they were in the room with me. If only I had the strength to get up and fight for my life. But I didn’t. Not even close.

“I wasn’t sure I was alive.” And the verdict was still out on that one.

“Drink,” came the voice from the shadows. “Not supposed to kill you yet. You need hydration.”

How comforting to hear they didn’t want me dead… yet.

“I will not ask you again.”

It took all my energy, but I managed to sit up, pressing my back against the wall. I couldn’t see much past where I was sitting. The lights were too dim.

“What’s in the water?” If I was going to black out again, I wanted to know ahead of time so I could be prepared.

“Dust. Maybe a gnat. Fuck if I know.”

“That’s reassuring.” I was mumbling more to myself than him. I shouldn’t have said it at all.

“It’s from the tap. Just drink it,” he barked. “Your body’s going into shock. I can hear your teeth chattering from here.”

If they wanted to knock me out again, they could have just put something in my arm again before I woke up. At least that was my logic. If I was going to drink this, I needed a pep talk. The reality was, they were going to get their way no matter what I did or didn’t do. My goal was to have them win in the way that did me less harm while I figured out a plan.

My mouth was dry, like it was full of cotton balls. It was drink it or suffer, with a real possibility that it might be both.

“Where am I?”

“Drink.”

I took a sip. It was tepid, stale, but I needed it. I took another slow drink, my stomach recoiling at the invasion.

“What happened?” I needed some information. Any, really. But not knowing what was happening meant I’d be stuck here. The details might help me come up with a way to escape. Probably. Maybe. Gods, I hoped so.

“You know where you are.”

“Was I stolen?” And yes, I was hoping my choice of words might soften his heart a little bit.

“‘Stolen’ is such an ugly word,” the voice said. “Drink it all. My orders are to take the cup when you’re done and leave you.”

“You have the wrong person.” It made no sense that I’d been the target of anything.

“We don’t. Your brother is a pain in our ass and you are collateral.”

Collateral for what? Imagine thinking I was collateral for anything Seb related. What a fucking joke. Seb would probably ask to watch as they killed me.

I didn’t dare say that, though. If they thought I could help them achieve something they wanted, then let them. It would give me time to try and figure a way out of this mess. And I would figure a way out. Falling in love and then rotting as a prisoner was very much not in my plans.

Instead, I stared at the glass, pretending like I hadn’t processed what he’d said. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable, as holding a thought was taking most of my energy. The water was looking good, but also… I trusted them not at all.

“Drink it, or I’m taking it. Those are your choices.”