Page 62 of Ricochet
Small steps. In time, I might learn what plagued him in sleep, but at that point, I knew a little more about him. He knew a bit more about me, which I’d hoped would help change whatever preconceived thoughts he’d developed from the fake persona he saw on TV. That woman wasn’t me. Hell, I’d be disgusted with her, if I didn’t know a decent person lay buried somewhere beneath.
Lowering my gaze, I peered into the milk crate and my eyes widened. Books lay stacked upon one another, and as I investigated each one, I couldn’t help but smile. Faulkner. Shakespeare. Tennessee Williams. Harper Lee and, my favorite, Poe. Even a few romances thrown into the mix. I lifted my eyes once more. “You bought me books?”
“There’s a place I used to go to a long time ago. Kingston’s Books. They have a lot of old classics.”
I reared back at that, crossing my arms. “You used to hang out at a bookstore? I’m shocked.”
His eyes fell away from mine and dimples caved his cheeks. “I wasn’t necessarily there for the books.” The smile on his face shriveled to something more serious. “It’s where I met my wife.”
The horrible exercise of trying not to stare at his ring finger must’ve had my eyeballs bouncing like a crack addict. “You’re … married?”
He sniffed and cleared his throat. “She, uh … she’s dead.”
Was that Lena? The name he’d called in his sleep? I’d never been good with words, so I locked my stare on the books in my lap, pressing my lips together, before I finally said, “Nick, I’m sorry.”
“Anyway, the owner of the store said these were some of his favorites, so I grabbed all of them.”
“I love them. Thank you.” Once again, our stares collided, and I felt something different about Nick—a curiosity that burned inside my head. Dead wife? Shot in the head? The questions had begun to mount—which meant I’d begun the jigsaw puzzle inside my mind, piecing together the edges first, in hopes of eventually getting to the center. “You’re keeping me for a while, then?”
“As long as it takes.”
Of course, his cold and distant demeanor would make it one of the more challenging puzzles I’d had to work. “For what, exactly?”
His brow winged up. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you. Let’s keep it on good terms.”
CHAPTER 29
Aubree
Somehow, a week had slipped by, and aside from bringing me meals, Nick remained distant. Hadn’t touched me since the episode after my shower, and didn’t say much. I kept to myself while he was around, drawing in my sketchpad, or reading for the most part, and wandering the house as soon as he’d left. As long as I stayed away from the front door, Blue seemed content to let me explore a bit.
Wearing dark jeans and a white fitted T-shirt that hugged the bulging muscle in his arms and chest, Nick stood in the doorway, his leather jacket slung over his elbow. “I gotta run out. Something I have to pick up. Shouldn’t be long.”
Well, this is new. He’d never once informed me when he planned to leave. It was almost as if we were becoming more like roommates than kidnapper and kidnappee.
“Okay.”
When he snapped his fingers, Blue shot to his feet, and Nick ushered him into my room. “Just don’t talk to him like a baby. Don’t want him turning into a pussy.”
Laughing, I patted the bed beside me for Blue to sit down. The dog took a stately pose next to me and licked my cheek. “Thank you,” I said, scratching behind Blue’s collar. “What made you change your mind?”
Nick rubbed his thumb across his nose. “Wish I knew,” he said, and left the room.
I stared after him for a moment, still trying to wrap my head around the last three minutes. One week later and, still, I knew nothing about the man. The edges of the puzzle still sat waiting for more pieces to fall into place. It was what kept me there when I should’ve been devising an escape plan.
I’d always been planning escape, living with Michael. Always on the lookout for holes in the walls he built, or ways to break his rules. He’d have never left me alone in a house unsupervised while he freely came and went. I had a track record of escaping. A few times, I’d even come close to freedom. Yet, there I was, sitting alone with a dog that I’d befriended with the same charm I’d used on every predacious species that seemed to fall in my lap.
Still, something kept me from escaping. Something inside of me that made up excuses why I couldn’t yet leave.
I had to know why. Call me a flippin’ masochist, but I needed to know who Nick was and why he’d chosen to kidnap me. Why did he wake from nightmares? Did it have to do with the scar on his head? His dead wife? Who was the mysterious man that seemed to have bigger plans brewing outside of this dark sanctuary to which he came home in the early hours of morning? Like a creature of night, he stayed out, stumbling back alone, hiding in his room until the following afternoon. I’d studied him for a week and still knew as little about him then as I did a week before.
As if he practically begged me to try to escape, he’d kept a rather loose watch over me. Yeah, Blue might’ve tried to stop me, but I certainly didn’t see the dog as the monster from a week ago.
As soon as the click of the door told me Nick had left, I got up out of bed and made my way into the hallway. Blue followed behind me, down the staircase, and when I reached the front door, he shot in front of me, as though in a standoff, and barked.
I threw my hands in the air. “Damn, dog. You’re as touchy as he is.” I stared through the skinny side-lite window adjacent to the door, trying to make out a street sign or some kind of landmark, but all I could see through the darkness out there was the silhouette of one other house and a few trees.
Some parts of Detroit were like ghost towns—not a single soul for miles. Running for help could be hit or miss with all the crack houses and drug dealers. I could very well end up in a worse situation, and I didn’t even have a cellphone on me for if that occurred. Escape would take planning—starting with how to subdue the big fucking Cane Corso blocking my way. Unfortunately, I’d gone and made friends with him, so trying to hurt the dog was no longer an option, not that it ever had been.
