by Jen L. Grey
“Guess she got her facts wrong.” I shrugged and turned back around, ready to eat the steak that I’d taken.
“Apparently so.” He leaned down right next to my ear. He had a sweet and musky scent that seemed to be at odds with one another but, at the same time, was the best smelling scent I’d ever smelled. “Don’t get too cocky.”
“Cocky is the last thing I am.” I turned and glared at him. He did something to my insides that I didn’t like. No self-respecting girl would find him attractive, so what was wrong with me. Either way, I wouldn’t submit. “Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine. Your buddies want you back at your table, so bye.”
It took every ounce of self-control I had to turn my back to him. I wasn’t being smart, but I refused to get lured in.
“Did you dismiss me?”
“Sorry, I was concerned about your food getting cold.” I didn’t bother looking at him again. “Similar to how you were concerned about me not having dinner. I’m so glad we’ve both been able to address our fears. Maybe tomorrow, we can paint our nails and sing Kumbaya.”
Deissy’s shoulders shook with quiet laughter as she took a napkin to cover her face.
Even though he didn’t respond, I could still feel his presence. “Is there anything else you need to get off your chest?”
“Am I a joke to you?” I could’ve sworn there was humor laced in his words, but hell, it could’ve been disgust too.
“No, but apparently I am to you.” He was going to ruin this steak for me, and that’s what was pissing me off worst of all. “You came over here, trying to get a rise from me. You did. My steak is getting cold. Good job, so you can leave, pleased with knowing you irritated the hell out of me.”
He stood there for a moment in silence, but soon his footsteps retreated.
“Oh my God.” Deissy giggled hard and put her napkin back on the table. “No one’s ever talked to him that way. Not even Jenee.”
“I want to eat my steak.” I sighed. I was sore, tired, and hungry. That wasn’t a good combination for anyone. I cut a large chunk of steak off and shoved it into my mouth.
“Let’s say I think you might be the missing link in my life.” Deissy lifted her glass in the air almost in cheers. “To friends.”
“Let’s see how it goes.” I lifted my drink and clinked it against hers. I honestly wasn’t counting on it. Many people had promised to be my friend, and none of them had ever followed through. I didn’t want to risk losing the one person who was willing to show me around. I needed to get all the information out of her that I could.
As Deissy and I were heading back to our cabin, several footsteps sounded behind us. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
“New girl.” Jenee’s already familiar voice called out to me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“It’s strange.” I stopped and spun around to stare at her dead-on. “It seems like a lot of people are paying attention to my whereabouts. I’ve never had so much attention before.”
“Don’t get a big head.” Jenee lifted her chin so she could look down her nose at me. “We’re trying to make sure you know your place, and it’s pretty obvious you don’t.”
I wanted to run my mouth again, but it would make whatever this was turn out worse.
“We told you not to come to dinner.” Jenee arched an eyebrow and tapped her foot. “But yet you came.”
“No, you took my cotton, expecting me not to be able to make dinner.” Things were going to get so much worse for me, but I refused to be pushed around. “I can’t help that I was able to recover.”
“Did she help you?” Jenee pointed at Deissy. “Because that wouldn’t be very smart of her.”
Deissy opened her mouth to respond, but I cut her off. “No, she didn’t. She laughed at me, thinking I couldn’t recover either.”
Something unreadable passed through Deissy’s eyes.
“So it was all me.” I wasn’t going to let her get taken down for helping me. That wasn’t right.
“Good.” Jenee nodded at Deissy and focused back on me. “Well, fine. You better not come to breakfast. That’s me telling you, got it?”
Great, I was going to miss a meal, but that would probably be a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. “Fine.”
“What?” Jenee’s forehead creased for a second before she forced it back into a mask of indifference. “I mean, of course you are.”
“Alright, you win.” I turned around and made my way back to my cabin. The number defined me perfectly.
Jenee might have been fine with her victory just now, but she would be looking for her next one soon enough. Nevertheless, I had a feeling I’d be her target again and soon.
Chapter Six
The guard had looked at me strangely this morning when I refused to leave for breakfast. He said something to the effect of, “You’re ready, so why aren’t you going?”
My reply had been, “Period cramps,” which shut him down immediately.
Deissy had given me a funny look, but she hadn’t said anything. In all reality, she had been quiet ever since the whole thing went down between Jenee and me.
It hadn’t surprised me since I’d been expecting her to back off. For whatever reason, no one seemed to hang around me long.
I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder. It was time to head out before I was late to work.
The door to the cabin creaked open, causing my heart to race. No one should be here. I turned around and almost squealed with relief when Deissy’s face appeared inside.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She closed the door behind her and pulled out a wet, soggy napkin. “Here, eat before we gotta go. Sorry it doesn’t look all that appealing, but I had to sneak the food out.”
“You brought me food?” There had to be a catch.
“Yeah, here.” She held it out to me, and I gingerly took it in my hands so the napkin didn’t fall apart. I carefully opened it up and found it loaded with sausage and bacon. “Sorry I couldn’t get more, and I figured eggs would be kinda gross like that.”
“What’s the catch?” I sniffed the food, expecting it to smell funny or something. The last thing I needed was someone trying to give me a sleep serum or a laxative.
“Nothing.” Deissy frowned and tapped her foot on the floor. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just you stood up for me with Knox. You kept quiet about my involvement in helping you with Jenee. I figured it was the least I could do.”
Oh, it was a settling-up offer. Okay. That I could trust. I took a large bite of the bacon and enjoyed the flavor as it infiltrated my mouth. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” She put her hands in her pockets and stared off to the side. “At first I thought you were wrong about not coming to breakfast, but Jenee was all over me as soon as she saw me.”
I hated letting that hag think she had control over me, but sometimes you had to choose your battles. That’s exactly what I had done. It would’ve been all-out war if I came today, and I wasn’t ready for that. Hell, it was only my second full day here. I needed to be more comfortable before I pushed back. “Yeah, I could tell she was about to lose it last night. I didn’t need someone all over me today.”
“It was kinda funny. Knox asked about you today.” She sat in one of the two seats in the living room.
“He asked?” I had a hard time believing that.
“Well, asked might be a strong word.” Deissy giggled and glanced my way. “He said, ‘So the princess refused to come.’”
“Now that I believe.” I took another large bite of my food, knowing that we were going to need to head out soon.
“That’s the most interest I’ve ever seen him give anyone though.” She leaned back on the chair and sighed. “It would be amazing if we had an off day.”
“I doubt that happens here.” This wasn’t a place that cared about your needs.
“When you do get a break, it’s for something worse than this.” Deissy
shivered. “You should be good for a while though.”
There was no way I wanted the details. If it was that bad, I’d rather find out on my own. “What happens when the cotton is done?”
“We plant carrots, spinach, and things that can grow in the winter.” Deissy winked at me. “So don’t worry. You won’t get a day off.”
“Good, I was so worried.” This was strange. I was enjoying a conversation with her. My parents were the only ones I had ever felt this comfortable with. Only with them, I had to pretend everything was rainbows and sunshine at school.
“Glad I could help ya out there.” Deissy took a deep breath and stood. “You ready?”
I crammed the rest of the food in my mouth. “Let me get a sip of water.” I figured if she could talk with her mouth full, I could too.
Hurrying into the bathroom, I turned on the sink and stuck my head under the faucet. The water had a metallic taste to it, but hell, beggars couldn’t be choosers. I entered the room and nodded at her. “Let’s go.”
Within minutes, we were walking on the dirt road toward the cotton field.
“Hey, Lexy.” A voice called from behind me.
My feet stilled. Why was Aaron here? I spun around and faced him head-on.
He ran his hand through his hair and bit on his bottom lip. “I … uh … wanted to check on you.”
“Wanted to make sure I was still miserable?” It wasn’t like I could avoid him. He worked here, for God’s sake.
“No, not at all.” His gaze landed on Deissy, and he cringed. “I wanted to make sure everyone was being nice to you.”
“And if they weren’t, what were you going to do about it?” This guy had to have a hidden agenda. It was obvious the guards didn’t give a shit about us.
“I’d …” His voice trailed off as another guard approached.
“Aaron, I didn’t realize you were guarding here today.” The guy with the red eyes stopped in front of us, his gaze landing on me.
“Yeah, Tommy called in sick, so I offered to cover.” He stepped in front of me, making Pete look at him instead. “I figured it was time for me to be out here.”
“The legendary guard and hunter hanging out with the rest of us minions.” Pete sneered. “How nice of you?”
“Why don’t you ladies go on?” Aaron looked over his shoulder at us.
“Okay.” Hell, I didn’t want to stop and talk to him anyway. He was one of the assholes who had caught me the other day.
“What was that about?” Deissy murmured when we were several yards away.
“No clue.” I shrugged. The last thing I needed to do was spend energy on worrying about things I couldn’t change. I wanted to do what I had to do, not cause a stir, and be left alone.
“So you have no idea why a guard would come here and seek you out?” Deissy lifted her hands in the air. “Not that I think you’ve done something to deserve it.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to add scandalous to my resumé.” The last thing I wanted was to be on anyone’s radar. “No clue. He was the nicer of the two during my capture. I guess he feels guilty or something.”
“No, hunters never feel guilty.” She shook her head adamantly. “Hell, they kill the parents who created you.”
“Really?” That surprised me though it probably shouldn’t. Yet, my parents and biological parents sprung up in my mind. “Do you think they’d kill adoptive parents?”
“Oh, no. They won’t risk a war on humans … at least, not yet.” There was a coldness in her eyes. “But your biological parents are screwed unless they don’t have a clue who they are.”
“Well, I’ll take that as a blessing right now.” I couldn’t shed any light on my biological parents anyway. All I knew was their names.
“You’re smarter than I thought you were.” Jenee’s callous voice called after me. “But it’s a pity that you’ll have to work all day without food. Make sure you don’t try to eat someone here.”
I stuck my thumb in the air. “I’ll withstand the urge, don’t worry.”
Deissy giggled beside me. “I’m so glad I got stuck with you.”
I didn’t bother with a response. I wanted to get to the cotton and finish my damn job.
“You’re going to be fun.” She bumped her shoulder into mine.
That was an overstatement. I didn't mean to be fun and honestly didn’t want to be either. Fun made people pay more attention to you and caused them to want to break your spirit. I just wanted to survive.
At least today, I was able to get done early with a little bit of time to kill. My back was hurting from hunkering over all day. I wanted to lay down and stretch.
“Come on, there’s a place we can go to relax for a minute.” Deissy led the way a few steps ahead, almost as eager for the rest as I was.
“Shouldn’t you be used to doing that work?” Any hope of this not phasing me in the near future was diminishing.
“Girl, no.” She glanced back at me and snorted. “Hard labor is hard labor. At least, we are supernaturals and can bounce back easily.”
That was a silver lining I guessed, but damn. Not having to do it at all sounded preferential.
We passed by all the women’s cabins, and right behind them was a small grassy area before the woods began. The trees provided shade, and birds were chirping.
A guard was positioned right above it and arched an eyebrow when he saw us. “No going into the woods.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Deissy rolled her eyes and laid on the ground.
This seemed to be a good spot. “How many come back here?”
“Not many.” She patted the ground. “Come on. Jenee doesn’t bother coming back here either. They go into one of the houses to hang out afterward, so we’re safe.”
Well, at least there was that. “Okay, good.” I sat on the ground and laid back, stretching out. “This does feel nice.” There was a slight breeze that helped cool us off.
“Right. Granted, we don’t always get out early, but when I do, this is my favorite place to come. Most people don’t want to walk past all the cabins to get here.” She turned her head in my direction and smiled. “That’s another reason I enjoy it so much back here.”
“Isolation is kind of a nice thing.” I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sounds of nature.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d been there, but an all too familiar growly voice filled my ears. “So this is where you two go and hide?”
Deissy sat and pointed a finger at him. “This is the girl’s section. You aren’t supposed to be here.”
“And since when do I follow the rules?” A smirk filled his face, but his eyes remained on me. “Here you go, Sal.” He threw some type of package to the guard who was watching over us.
“Uh, thanks.” The guard pointed his stumpy fingers at the two of us. “One word about this, and I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Why was I not surprised? Of course, Knox would have some kind of agreement with the guards. “My lips are sealed.”
“They better be.” His eyes narrowed as he glared at me.
Naturally, he would threaten us. That seemed to be his M.O. “Yes, we got it. If we don’t keep our traps shut, you’ll beat us into submission.”
“You let your mouth run too much.” Knox moved so he was standing over me. “Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Nope, you’re the first one.” I drew an invisible checkmark in the air. “I’ve now taken down your suggestion and will consider it moving forward.”
“It doesn’t appear to be much help.” Deissy giggled. “You’re still talking to him.”
“Oh, he’s still there?” I turned and winked at her. “I’d hoped he got the message and left.”
“You can’t talk to me like that.” He crossed his hands over his massive chest. Even though we were all dressed similar to UPS drivers, he still managed to look sexy as hell. The shirt defined every one of his muscles and left little to the imagination.
It only made me hate him more. He
made me feel things I didn’t understand and frankly didn’t want to understand. Somehow, he got under my skin, which wasn’t a good thing at all. “Noted. Thanks for the feedback.”
“You better be careful who you run your mouth off to.” He turned and took a step in the direction of the dirt road. “Some people won’t be so receptive to your mouth.” He continued his trek, leaving me and Deissy behind.
“I don’t know how you do it.” She chuckled when he was out of earshot.
“What do you mean?” All I wanted to do was rest without someone hovering over me and making threats.
“He doesn’t let anyone talk to him that way.” Deissy turned her head in my direction and arched an eyebrow. “But he lets you.”
“Don’t let him fool you.” I’d dealt with his kind before. “He plans on teaching me a lesson.”
“Then why do you encourage him?”
That was a good question, and I didn’t have a good answer. “He brings out the worst in me.” He irritated the heck out of me way too much, and I had no clue why. “Can’t shut it down, not like I can with Jenee.” I probably shouldn’t be that honest with her, but at this point, what did I have to lose.
“He’s allowing you to do it too.” She shrugged and stretched out her back once more. “So, it’s partially his fault. I had never seen it happen with anyone else. Maybe he has the hots …”
“No, stop.” I lifted my hand in the air. I wanted to survive this, not have people start pushing me together with an arrogant, self-absorbed prick. “We won’t go there. I need to survive. That’s it.”
“That’s probably a good plan.” Deissy yawned and sat up. “I mean, it’s hard enough to keep up sometimes, so it’s better not to muddy the water. He’s sexy as sin though.”
She wasn’t going to sneak any information from me. “Maybe you should go for him then.”
“Hell, no.” She shook her head and pointed at me. “I’m not up for getting my heart trampled on. Anything that you care about or love is a weakness that someone can exploit.”
