Page 49 of Booked for Kidnapping

“Call it three hours.”

“I’ll set an alarm. Janette, you are under no obligation to get up when we do. We’re just trying not to completely pooch our sleep schedule. You probably don’t have a sleep schedule right now.”

“I really don’t.” I pushed Bradley out of the bathroom, headed for the empty bed, and crawled under the blanket. “I can probably handle being left alone for a few minutes. I’ve gotten quite good at it.”

“Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you should give us a demonstration,” Bradley’s father countered. “Also, I don’t care if you decide Bradley is a bed, just let me leave the room first if you have any other plans in mind.”

I laughed. “I think I can manage that much.”

TWELVE

You just want to hoard her all to yourself.

On one hand, I shouldn’t have taken Bradley hostage through using him as a bed. On the other hand, I appreciated his inability to escape, his warmth, and how he held me in place with an arm so I wouldn’t do something foolish, including roll over him and onto the floor.

A conversation, rather heated and involving some of my co-workers, my parents, and his mother, did a good job of preventing me from returning to sleep.

Despite the general crankiness of everyone else, Bradley chuckled. “Waiting two weeks for Janette to gain some weight, get a checkup, and otherwise prepare for returning to normal life isn’t that much time. If we try to throw all of that at her at once, we’ll overwhelm her. Considering how she’s doing a pretty good impression of being glue right now, we need to take care. I get you all want her home immediately, but until we have a better idea of what she can tolerate, we need to take this slowly.”

Beatrice snorted. “You just want to hoard her all to yourself.”

“While that’s true… actually, yes. I do. I absolutely do wish to hoard her all to myself.”

A laugh escaped before I could stop it. As I could only assume I was busted, I said, “What are you arguing about?”

“Who gets to keep you,” Bradley informed me. “I have decided I am the one keeping you, and that’s that.”

“Well, I’m certainly not marrying someone else. The last time I checked, the only person I was marrying is you, so that means you win that one by default.” I stretched and yawned. “But seriously. Why are you all fighting?”

“Janette!” Beatrice released her breath in a huff. “He wasn’t letting us talk to you.”

“I was asleep. It’s difficult to talk to you when I’m asleep. I’m not asleep now. What time is it?”

“Midnight,” my best enemy reported. “Nine where you’re at. Bradley told us you were exhausted, but you’ve been out for over twelve hours. We were trying to get intel on your kidnapping, but Bradley says you know nothing?”

“I know nothing beyond my kidnappers having a significant interest in my foot and that one of them is an illusionist. They don’t know me personally, as far as I can tell. They didn’t provide any of my favorite foods, not once. Not a scrap of spicy goodness, either.”

“And only people who know you fairly well are aware you’d eat peppers by the handful if left unattended.” After a moment, Beatrice heaved another sigh. “I hate that I feel we’re back to square one. We were never able to find anything on who took you or why. These people left us nothing, not even a stray hair. We just know their method, we can assume you and Senator Westonhaus were the targets, and honestly, we aren’t even sure if you were an intended target or if the kidnappers got a serious case of ethics after shooting you.”

I wiggled on Bradley enough I could shove my pajama sleeve out of the way and peek at the scar on my arm. “I don’t see how that little thing would have justified a kidnapping of that scale and expense, Beatrice. Judging from the scar, it wasn’t that bad of a gunshot wound. More of a graze than anything else.”

“It bled heavily, and you took a hard knock to the head when you fell. We thought you had gotten killed, since the hit to your head knocked you right out.”

“I don’t want to see that video. That sounds embarrassing. I mean, being dragged off after being shot and having clobbered my head is definitely embarrassing. My pride may never recover.” To match my best enemy, I heaved my most dramatic sigh. “No one can judge me about the goats.”

Peals of laughter blared from Bradley’s phone, which was on the nightstand beside the bed. I spotted no sign of Bradley’s father, but upon listening, I heard the tell-tale rumble of the jets in the bathroom. Having broken the anger and replaced it with amusement, I yawned and settled in, nestling my head on Bradley’s shoulder.

“Still tired?” Bradley asked, giving my back a rub. “Don’t be surprised if she goes back to sleep. She is snuggling into her living pillow rather mercilessly.”

“You’re comfortable and warm,” I informed him. “And I’m about ten to twenty pounds too thin right now to be anything other than cold. I don’t actually know if that’s true, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

“Better target twenty-five pounds just to be sure. It is a sacrifice I will just have to endure through.”

“I see you have accepted your engagement with open arms,” my mother stated in an amused tone.

“He got us goats, and I heard something about a horse? I’m not sure if I actually heard something about a horse. I was tired enough I might’ve hallucinated that part.”

My mother giggled. “We bought horses this morning, yes. There’s one for you and one for your Bradley, and I’ve been talking to physical therapists, who have all said caring for and riding horses will be good for you, especially now that your foot is recovering.”