Page 85 of Her Hidden Smile

“Can we visit?” Jase asked. “I know Amber and Lachlan would love visiting a farm. Does she have horses?”

“No animals, but she has apple, pear, and peach trees. Maybe the kids can pick fruit?”

“They’d get a kick out of that. I’d just have to have a talk with them ahead of time so they don’t think they can start having batting practice with the fruit.”

Everyone chuckled.

“So, have we given the women enough shopping time?” Kato asked as he looked down at his watch.

“No,” Malik shook his head. “Let’s go get them while I can still afford next month’s mortgage.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The sun was bright the next time I woke up, and it hurt my head. I took a mental inventory and realized everything hurt. My hands, my thigh, my head, my face, my ankles, but most especially my hip.

I heard snoring from down the hall. Apparently, No-Name decided to sleep in one of the bedrooms. When I looked outside again, I could see that the sun was high in the sky. If I had to guess, it was around eleven o’clock in the morning. Maybe even noon.

Everything hurt so bad that I had to fight back the tears. It was like I was back in the Nashville burn unit. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to let No-Name know he had hurt me.

I rolled just a little, trying to take some of the weight off my hip, but I rolled onto my shoulder. The shoulder that had been dislocated.

“Shit,” I yelled out.

I bit my lip to keep my mouth shut.

I stayed as still as I could and listened. There was silence. Dammit, had I awakened him?

I sucked down a deep breath of relief when he snorted and his snoring started up louder than before.

Thank God.

Now I needed to pee. But he was never going to untie me, and did I really want to use the same seat that he’d been whizzing on? I rolled again, and the room began to swim around me as the pain sent shockwaves through my brain.

I tried stretching out my thigh, but it made the nerve pain worse. I could hear myself whimpering.

Keep it together, Millie.

The room was getting darker.

Maybe it was for the best.

“I’m hungry.”

Huh? Renzo is hungry?

“You need to feed me.”

“Inna minutz,” I slurred.

“Not in a minute. Now!”

Renzo pushed his gun into my cheek and I howled with pain.

“Nooooo!”

“I untied you. Get up and fix something. You slept day and night. Now fix me something to eat.”

That was when I remembered. “What’s your name?”