Page 47 of Scar Tissue
She raises an eyebrow at me as she puts down her book. “He’s going to…?”
“It’s the middle of the day. Why aren’t you still dressed?” I change the subject.
“And? I wanted to be comfortable while I read.”
I lean against the doorframe and cross my arms. “Well, I hate to break it to you but I’m going to need you to put your clothes back on. Not because I want you to, but because we need to go shopping.”
“Shopping…” she repeats, as though the word is foreign to her.
“Dyer is working on getting a visual cam that’s small enough it’ll look like a normal button, but that means we need to get you something for the cam to blend in with. He recommended a pantsuit.” I shrug.
“A button cam?” She raises her eyebrow at me as she pulls on her pants. “I thought there wasn’t going to be any visual aid because it was too risky?”
I pull her into me as she approaches me. “I can be very persuasive.”
“Is that so?”
“Oh, I know so, sugar.” Before she has a chance to respond I run my lips over her jaw and down her neck. Her breath hitches and her pulse quickens before I pull away. “Now, let’s go get you that pantsuit.”
“And the clothes I already have with front buttons won’t work, because?”
“Because he requested you look…refined. His words, not mine.” I quickly throw my hands up in front of me in defense.
She scoffs before sitting up and swinging her legs off the side of the bed. “Right, because these people are sorefined.”
Despite Thea’sinitial protest at getting a new outfit, she’s become invested in this mission. We’ve been at it for about two hours now and apparently shopping for one outfit has turned into replacing her entire closet. Typically, I would’ve spoken up by now, but this isprobably the last sense of normalcy she will get until she works again tomorrow, and then it’ll be time to try and take these bastards down. I’m sitting outside of the dressing room of a more upscale clothing department, my elbows resting on my knees while she tries on her twenty-fourth outfit. At this point, I’ve stopped counting. I scrub a hand down my face to try and wake myself up as she walks out in a jaw-dropping lilac sundress that hugs her figure in all the right places and lands about mid-thigh. She gives me a twirl revealing an open back and suddenly I’m scrubbing my face for an entirely new reason.
“What do you think?” She grins at me and the breath completely leaves my body as I witness her in this moment. Completely…free. Unburdened despite all that she’s been through and all she still has to face.
Standing, I reach out and take her hands. “I think…you’re the most striking and imploring woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on. And when this is all over, I’d like to see you in this dress again—preferably when we’re by ourselves and have nothing but the midnight sky to keep us company.”
Her cheeks flush as her smile softens and she steps closer to me until we’re chest to chest. “Just the dress, huh?”
“Sweetheart, you could wear a brown paper bag and still be the most gorgeous woman in the room. I only meant that I wish to see you likethis.Like you just remembered that the world can’t hold you down.”
Her pupils dilate as her mouth parts on a silent gasp and I know I’ve backed her into a space that’s made her uncomfortable. My suspicions are confirmed when she responds, “And when it changes its mind? When it decides not to let me have control anymore?”
“Then I’ll be here to help you fight back. Now…go change before we get kicked out,” I whisper in her ear.
“Kicked out? Why would we get kicked out?” She looks at me, puzzled.
My hand skims down her side before toying with the hem of herdress. “Because as much as I like this dress on you, it only makes me want to see it on the floor more.”
Her eyes widen as she chokes on air and starts coughing and shaking her head. “You’re deplorable.”
“Only for you, baby.”
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
THEA
The room is dark when I wake up, the sound of dripping water in the background as my eyes try to adjust to my surroundings. My back is stiff and my body is cold as though I fell asleep outside on solid ground—but that can’t be right. I attempt to shift, but wince as I feel something rough dig into my wrists. Rope? Zip Ties? What the hell is going on?
As panic begins to crawl up my spine, I try to sit up but stop short when pain shoots through my temple like a bad hangover. But I wasn’t drinking last night. Did I fall? Did I get hit? Or worse…
Before my mind can spiral, deliberately slow footsteps sound from somewhere to my left. “W-who’s there?” My voice cracks, throat dry. But instead of answering me, the footsteps stop short. And yet, that doesn’t stop me from feeling their ominous presence.
