She slowed down slightly. The last thing she needed was to get pulled over and have a police officer ask her why she was driving a stolen car with a naked and unconscious man, covered in blood, laying on the seat next to her. She forced herself to breathe. She didn’t keep going straight. She took all the turns that she could so anyone who might be chasing would be confused.
Maurice stayed motionless for a disturbingly long period of time. Without warning, he came to. They were driving along in the middle of nowhere, with Mila nervously eyeing the mirror despite the fact that nobody was anywhere near them, when Maurice lunged up with a yell.
“Gahhh!” Mila swerved wildly to the right, overcorrected, and almost sailed off the road on the left. “God dammit!” Her anger was swiftly replaced with concern. “Maurice! Are you okay?”
Maurice didn’t answer immediately. He blinked once, twice, hard. He looked down at his body and the grime covering it. Finally, he met her eyes and gave her the strongest, sweetest smile she had ever seen. “I am now,” he said, with the sort of tone like he didn’t believe it was possible. “Thanks to you.”
Mila wanted nothing more than to sit around and be showered with his admiration. Unfortunately, they were lost as hell and Mila hadn’t discounted the strong possibility that they were being chased. “I don’t have the faintest idea where we are,” she admitted. “I don’t know what happened. I just got on the road and started driving.”
He didn’t say anything. He kept smiling at her with a funny look in his eyes. Mila felt slightly miffed. Here she was, dragging him to safety and trying to find a way back, and he was laughing at her. “Hey, I’m trying!”
He laughed. “No, it’s not that. It’s…” He paused and leaned up. “For the first time, I think everything’s really going to be okay. And it’s thanks to you.”
Warm and fuzzy feelings blossomed in her heart. He scanned their surroundings through the window, at the endless fields going by. “I know where we are. Let me drive. I’ll get us back to safety.”
Mila pulled off the road. There wasn’t a lot else that he could’ve said to make her happier. First, he’d said something romantic and sweet, then finished with the practical, “and we won’t die.” What was better than that? She got out and made her way to his side as he did the same in reverse. Now that they were out of danger, she was much more aware of the fact he was as naked as the day he was born. She tried hard to avoid blushing and failed miserably.
Maurice settled in to the driver’s seat as she sat down in the passenger. “Mila, I want to apologize for anything I did while I was transformed. It’s mostly a blur.”
“You didn’t do anything to me.” She didn’t mention the part where she had been scared for her life and when she’d been sure he might tear her limb from limb. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just happy we’re safe!”
* * *
* * *
Mila spent the next three hours bored out of her mind and yet as nervous as she’d ever been.
It turned out that she’d gone the wrong direction and she should’ve taken a left instead of a right, so she’d spent the whole time driving in the complete wrong direction, away from the complex.
When they got back to the complex, they were greeted with surprise and concern. Both of them were taken to be checked out, but Mila couldn’t get one thought out of her mind. What happened to Bianca? Last she’d seen, she’d been forced to turn in Mila. Not a lot could force Bianca to do something like that. Reuben set a crew on making sure she was protected. Within an hour, Mila was informed that she was safe.
This was insane.
That was the only way Mila could explain it. Even through the doctor visit and the doting caregivers making sure she was okay and not scared, she couldn’t grasp what had gone down. They told her it was shock. She didn’t doubt it. She knew it happened, of course, but deep down? It was just a story or a movie, something that happened to someone else but was made up and that didn’t have any bearing in her life.
How she wished that was true.
How she wished she hadn’t been kidnapped. How she wished she’d called in sick to the Cheeky Sprite on that fateful day. How she wished that she hadn’t seen anything and the most exciting thing she’d seen was a bar fight between some drunken Ghouls where they got all their body parts mixed up.
And yet…
Mila had been told to try to return to normalcy as best as she could, so she’d fired up the TV in her apartment with Sir Pugsly in her lap. She’d stumbled upon something delightful: a series of old Monty Python movies, marathon style. Someone gave her a hot chocolate and she’d curled up in a robe inside a pillow fort she’d constructed.
Sir Pugsly knew something was up. He wasn’t near intelligent enough to know what, but he knew that something had made Mila more than a little afraid. He spent most of the entire movie doing his best to comfort her by licking her toes. It did nothing to help her mentally, but it did make her laugh because she happened to be ticklish, so he felt quite proud of himself and kept it up until he heard someone knock.
At that point, all bets were off, and he proceeded to leap off Mila’s lap onto the ground. He badly timed it and face-planted before bouncing up and charging to the door furiously with a machine-gun bark.
Knock, knock. “Mila, it’s me.” Maurice’s voice. She released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Maurice. All was good.
“Yeah, one second.”
She climbed out of her pillow fort and meandered to the doorway. She checked the peephole and saw Maurice awkwardly standing outside. Mila hadn’t been hurt in the fight. The worse thing that had happened was that she’d been choked. He, on the other hand, had been beaten half to death. Most of his visible body was black and blue.
Mila opened the door and kept the ferocious Sir Pugsly the Third back with a foot. “Yeah?”
Maurice cleared his throat and studied her. “I remember what I did now. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
A faint smile formed on her lips. “It’s okay.” It wasn’t okay. She knew what he was saying. He wasn’t asking for an apology. He was asking for an affirmation. She could see it in the fragile expression on his face, the way he’d phrased it. Did she hate him?
“What are you watching?” he asked quickly, crestfallen that she hadn’t said more.
“Monty Python. It’s a movie marathon.”
“Oh.” He shifted his feet uncomfortably. “Well, if you need to talk to me, I will be—”
Mila adjusted her foot so Pugsly wouldn’t get past. “I made a pillow fort.”
His eyes perked up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She gestured with her head. “Big enough to fit two…”
“Oh.” Understanding dawned on him. “Ohhhh.”
“I could use some company.” Her expression was clear: take the hint! “I have some hot chocolate, if you want some.”
He smiled from ear to ear. “I could use some.”
She stepped aside to let him in. Sir Pugsly bravely fought back her foot and made it all the way to Maurice before noticing how big he was and deciding that he was no longer a threat. With an indignant huff, he pranced back to the bed and tried to hop on. His tiny legs weren’t strong enough to lift his fatty body up, so he turned and waited for the two of them.
Mila led Maurice over to the bed. He was attempting to hide his injuries. She didn’t push him and instead gave him the extra plush pillows.
At first, sitting together was awkward. Maurice was hurt, and she didn’t want to make it worse, so they sat apart for a while before, somewhere around the middle of The Life of Brian, Mila leaned into his chest. He held her closer and draped his arm around her.
“You know,” he paused. “I never said thank you for saving me.”
“Just another day in the life of Super-Me,” she told him jokingly. She felt at peace. She snuggled up closer to him and let the warmth from his body sink into her. “Can…” she faltered. Ah, what the hell. She’d been
dying to know. “Can I ask you something I’ve been wondering about?”
He rubbed her shoulder lovingly. “Go ahead.”
“What happens after the trial?”
“The DAE will take it into consideration and—”
He met her eyes and realized what she was saying. She already knew what would happen legally. She wanted to know what the plan was for her. Was it over between them? They had a connection. And yet, she couldn’t stay at the complex forever. He nodded understandingly. “Oh. You’ll return to your life and we’ll never speak again.”
It was a punch to the gut. She looked down so he wouldn’t see how much it hurt her. So, that was how it was going to be. They were a fling. She cared about him, more than any guy she’d ever met, but maybe she’d misjudged it. Maybe—
“Mila.” He lifted her head and kissed her forehead gently with amusement in his voice. “I’m kidding. You’re going to have to try a lot harder to get rid of me. If you’ll still have me, I would love to court you.”
Maybe it was a bad thing that she’d been kidnapped. Maybe it was a bad thing she hadn’t called in sick. Maybe it was a bad thing that she’d seen what she’d seen.
Sitting there with his strong arm wrapped around her, listening to Monty Python with Sir Pugsly nearby, a brilliant grin on her face and her heart soaring, Mila thought differently.
Maybe it was the best thing that ever happened to her.
Sign up now to my newsletter!
Click here to join me:
http://eepurl.com/c7bCWz
* * *
© Copyright 2017 by Hollie Hutchins - All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
The Deadwolves' Prisoner Page 17
