"I need the bathroom," she whispered.

I looked over at Liam-no, Hunter. I needed to remember that. Liam was the imaginary nice guy. Hunter was the giant douche who'd taken dirty pictures of me.

"Can she go to the f.u.c.king bathroom?" I asked, not bothering to hide my hatred.

"Yeah," he replied, his face blank. He walked toward us and I scooted out of the way, glaring at him while he unlocked Sophie's cuffed arm. "C'mon. Both of you."

I grabbed Sophie's hand and pulled her across the hallway and into the bathroom.

"I can't believe how stupid I was," I told her, feeling sick. "I actually invited him to come and meet me. I made it so easy. Idiot."

Sophie used the toilet and then washed up, cupping her hands to get a drink. She seemed so quiet, so subdued. I couldn't understand why she wasn't more p.i.s.sed. h.e.l.l, she should be p.i.s.sed-at me. I got her into this s.h.i.t.

"Do you have any idea what's going to happen to us?" she asked. "Skid scares the c.r.a.p out of me."

"Did he hurt you?" I demanded, feeling my blood pressure rise.

"No."

"That's good," I muttered. "This is a pretty f.u.c.ked-up situation. Toke-he's the one who cut me at the party-he's gone off his rocker. This shooting thing makes no sense to me at all, but if it really happened, we're screwed. n.o.body knows where Toke is, not even Deke, and he's Toke's president. They've all been looking for him since the party. Cutting me was not okay, and Dad wants to make sure he pays for it."

"s.h.i.t," she said, eyes wide. "So your dad couldn't give them this Toke guy, even if he wanted to?"

"I don't think so," I said slowly, wishing I could fix things-for her, if not for me. h.e.l.l, Sophie was a mother. What would her little boy do without her? "I mean, he's really protective of me. When Toke hurt me like that, Dad lost it. If Dad could find him, he'd be found already. We're pretty f.u.c.ked here, Sophie."

"Do you think they'll hurt us?" she asked, her face pale.

I thought about my answer carefully. I didn't want to freak her out, but I wanted to be honest.

"Liam won't," I said, and for some reason I believed it. Maybe because he hadn't raped me? "I mean, he won't hurt me. I don't think he'll hurt you, either."

She c.o.c.ked her head at me.

"You do realize he was lying all along, right?" she asked. "Just because you liked him doesn't mean you can trust him."

I almost started laughing, because that was rich.

"Oh, I know that. Believe me, I'm well aware that I'm the f.u.c.kwit that got us into this."

"You're not a f.u.c.kwit," she said forcefully. "He's a liar and he's good at it. Not your fault that he targeted you."

"You guys okay in there?" Hunter called through the door.

"We're fine," I snapped. "Give us a f.u.c.king minute, a.s.shole!"

Christ, I wanted to kill him.

Sophie's eyes widened.

"That was pretty b.i.t.c.hy," she hissed. "Do you think that's smart? Maybe I'm reading the situation wrong here, but don't we want him in a good mood?"

I snorted, thinking about those pictures.

Hunter was such a p.r.i.c.k.

"f.u.c.k that. I'm a Reaper and I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'll suck up to some Devil's Jack d.i.c.kwad."

"Well, I'm not a Reaper," Sophie said, her voice quiet but hard. I looked at her, startled-this was the first real emotion she'd shown. "And I'd just as soon not die here and leave Noah an orphan, so don't p.i.s.s him off."

That took the wind out of me. s.h.i.t, I needed to be thinking. I knew it was up to me to get us out of this, and to pull it off I'd need to use my head. d.a.m.n. We finished up and left the bathroom. Hunter jerked his head toward Sophie's bedroom. It took everything I had to obey him quietly, but I kept picturing Sophie's boy and reminded myself I had to be smart about this.

"Go lie down on the bed."

We did what he said. Thankfully, he only cuffed one hand each, which was far more comfortable than having both stuck up over my head. I tried to ignore him as he leaned over me, tracing a finger across my cheek.

"I'll bring you some food," he murmured.

"I'm gonna buy a bright red dress to wear to your funeral, Liam," I hissed. s.h.i.t. I needed to control my tongue ...

"Yeah?" he asked. "Make sure it's short and shows off your t.i.ts."

"I hate you."

"Keep tellin' yourself that," he muttered, then walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I closed my eyes, trying to picture a dress bright and s.l.u.tty enough to send just the right message as I stood over his coffin. Sophie cleared her throat.

"Don't worry," I muttered. "We'll find our way out of this. We'll escape somehow. Either that or the guys will find us."

I wondered if she believed me.

Probably not. I didn't even believe myself.

Chapter Six.

HUNTER.

I slapped together two peanut b.u.t.ter sandwiches, feeling strangely guilty because Skid and I had killed all six pizza pockets between us while we played Halo.

That left sandwiches and stale potato chips for the girls.

Why I gave a s.h.i.t about what Em ate, I didn't know. This wasn't me-I didn't worry about women, or take care of them. Feed them. Okay, so I kept an eye on my sister, but she didn't count. I grabbed a couple handfuls of chips and dropped them on the paper plates next to the sandwiches, then tucked two bottles of water under my arm. Em was so not getting an energy drink. f.u.c.k. Like I needed her more riled up ...

When I entered the upstairs room, I felt like an even bigger d.i.c.k because they were obviously hungry.

"You've got ten minutes," I said, unlocking their cuffs. I frowned at Em, then pulled out a chair from the desk, spinning it around to straddle it. Both girls ignored me pointedly, tearing into the food like starving prisoners.

Then again, I guess they were.

"In a minute we're going to call your dad," I said. "Let him know you're alive, and find out if he's made any progress."

No response. My mood grew darker as they finished their food, Em still refusing to look at me.

"Lie down again."

I cuffed Sophie first, then walked around to Em. I leaned over, then felt something touch my back. f.u.c.k, were there spiders in here?

Sophie shrieked and spat a mouthful of blood at me. The f.u.c.k?!

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled, because I s.h.i.t you not.

b.i.t.c.h. Spat. Blood.

"Oh my G.o.d, are you all right?" Em screeched at Sophie, nearly taking out my eardrums in the process. "Hunter, you need to get her to a doctor!"

What was going on here? Blood and spit ran down Sophie's chin, confusing the h.e.l.l out of me. Her eyes were bright with some kind of emotion I couldn't read. Something was off with this situation in a big way. Blood doesn't just shoot out of people.

"I'm tho thorry," she mumbled. "I bith my tongue and ith thcared me."

I looked down at my arm again, which was covered with red spray. Just what I needed.

"You're f.u.c.king kidding me," I muttered. "What the f.u.c.k's wrong with you? s.h.i.t, you got any diseases?"

"No, I don't hath any ditheatheth," Sophie mumbled, her tongue getting in the way. Then she seemed to bite it again. "Owth!"

Good. I hoped the d.a.m.ned thing fell off.

"Drive me f.u.c.kin' crazy. I'll get you a piece of ice to suck on. Jesus, that's f.u.c.king disgusting."

I left the room, slamming the door behind me.

What next?

Five minutes later, I scrubbed the blood and spit off my arm while frowning at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Sophie and Em were up to something. I wasn't sure what. Not that it really mattered ... It was pretty clear to me by now that I was looking at a complete cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k.

I'd broken Em, or at least I'd tried to. I'd terrorized Sophie, who hadn't done s.h.i.t to deserve it. We weren't any closer to getting Clutch back, and Burke was f.u.c.ked when it came to the election if we didn't put a lid on things.

In a few minutes I'd be calling Picnic Hayes. I wasn't sure if I'd be meeting with him to talk business or facing my own execution.

Good times.

I walked down to the kitchen and dug through the freezer, finding an ice cube. Then I wrapped it in a napkin and took it back upstairs, along with a disposable cell phone. I handed Sophie the ice, which she popped into her mouth.

"We're going to call your dad again," I told Em. "I'll let you talk to him for a minute, then I'll see where the situation's headed."

"What about Sophie?" she demanded. "Ruger will want to talk to her."

"Ruger can f.u.c.k himself," I said impatiently.

"Pleathe?" Sophie whined, reddish drool sliding down her chin, making her look like a zombie. I don't think she could've looked more disgusting and pathetic if she'd had a full Hollywood makeup team. "My boy-Noah-he'th got a prethcription he needth. Ruger doethn't know where it ith. Let me talk to him for two minuteth. Pleathe."

I studied her, then took a quick look at Em. Both seemed way too eager.

"You're full of s.h.i.t," I said.

"You want a seven-year-old kid to die?" Em asked, glaring at me. "Not enough to kill two women, now you're gonna take out a little boy, too? You're a h.e.l.l of a man, Liam."

Jesus Christ. Take a few pictures of the girl naked and covered in fresh come, and she went full b.i.t.c.h.

"Do you never shut up?" I asked. f.u.c.king woman was determined to drive me insane. Still, I considered the request ... It probably didn't matter. Let Sophie call Ruger-maybe it'd quiet her down. If it gave me two minutes of blood-free peace, that'd be worth the cost of admission right there.

I popped open the phone and hit the number, setting it on speaker. We listened as it rang, and then Ruger answered.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice tight.

"It's Thophie," Sophie said, her swollen tongue twisting the words. "I'm here with Hunter and Em, they're lithening."

I snapped the phone shut, annoyed. Should I really be surprised she'd try and warn him I was here? Probably not, but I wouldn't let her get away with it, either.

"No f.u.c.king games," I growled. "You're done."

Sophie nodded and put the ice back in her mouth. So much for her desperate need to talk to Ruger about medicine for the kid. There was a lot more going on here than I could follow.

Bulls.h.i.t all the way.

I glanced over at Em, who was still glaring at me. So far as I could tell, she only had the one expression at this point. I don't know why it bothered me so much. I wanted her to hate me, right?

"Calling your dad now," I told her. "Be a good girl, Emmy Lou-or did you need another lesson?"

She flinched and looked away. I smirked at her cruelly, hating myself because I wanted a smile from her so bad. The phone started ringing, and then Hayes's voice came through the speaker.

"Picnic."

"Hey, Daddy," Em said. "We're okay for now."

She glanced up at me, an unspoken question in her eyes-would they stay okay?