“I feel like everyone is looking at us,” Catalina said from beside me, her voice tiny.
“It’s just a small town. They’re probably wondering who we are.”
Our night in the forest hadn’t done us any favors either. We were both looking tired, dirty, and ragged, and Catalina walked with a noticeable limp. We could have done with getting ourselves cleaned up, but that would involve finding a motel room, and I didn’t want to waste the small amount of money we had on a room where we wouldn’t be able to spend the night.
I spotted the glow of a sign attached to a building ahead and had an idea. “Hey, are you hungry?”
She nodded. “Starving.”
“We can go and get something to eat, and get ourselves sorted.”
She frowned at me. “Sorted?”
“Yeah, cleaned up a bit.” I reached up and picked a piece of leaf out of her hair. “We look like we spent the night in the forest.”
“We did spend the night in the forest.”
I gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, but looking like this will only make us stand out. It’s better to look a bit neater. People trust people who are well dressed.”
“So we’re supposed to just go in there and get changed?”
“Well, in the restroom, yeah.”
“They have restrooms?”
It suddenly dawned on me that Catalina had never been inside a restaurant. Of course, she hadn’t. She’d never been exposed to any of this stuff before. I didn’t think I’d truly appreciated how small her world had been before now. Even though I’d lived it myself, I’d never been a prisoner like she was. My father had exposed me to regular life, and I’d gone away to school and mingled with other people. Since leaving the compound and moving into my own apartment, I’d lived a reasonably normal life, despite my alternative upbringing. Catalina had only ever known life in the compound.
She was so brave to be doing this with me, and so trusting that I’d make everything all right again. I prayed I wouldn’t let her down.
I squeezed her hand. “It’ll be all right. Just follow my lead. You never know, you might even enjoy this.”
“Sure.”
She pressed closer into my side, and I could feel her trembling.
“You’re going to have to try to look relaxed, though, Kitty. If people see you’re frightened, they’re going to think your fear has something to do with me.”
She exhaled a long sigh and moved her body away from mine. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. This is all so new to you, I wouldn’t expect you to be taking it all in stride, especially considering what we’ve just gone through.”
Another car whizzed past us on the road, and she jumped. This was going to be challenging.
“Just remember to smile.”
She flashed me a forced grin. It would have to do.
I tugged on her hand. “Come on, then.”
We reached the diner, and I pushed open the door and held it as Catalina slipped past me and then stopped, unsure what to do next. The hostess had spotted us and headed over with a wide smile.
“Good morning. Are you guys here for breakfast?”
“That would be great,” I said.
She plucked two menus from a stand and turned to head deeper into the diner. “Just the two of you,” she called over her shoulder as she led us toward a booth.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.
“Louise over there will be your server. She’ll be around to take your order shortly.”
I gestured for Catalina to take a seat. She stared around at the diner, wide-eyed. Everything drew her attention, from the pictures on the walls, to the other patrons, to the waiting staff in their red and white striped uniforms. I pushed a menu toward her, my stomach clenching with hunger, acid burning up the back of my throat. We’d used up a lot of energy during our escape, and the bread and cheese I’d managed to sneak from the kitchen felt like a long time ago.
“Take a look,” I encouraged her. “Decide what you want.”
She frowned down and then opened the menu. That same look of wonder didn’t leave her face as she scanned the numerous options. “I can have whatever I want?”
“Well,” I shrugged, “within reason. Our money needs to last, but none of the breakfast options look too expensive.”
“But... I mean... I can just choose what to eat?”
I laughed. “Yeah, that’s kind of how it works.”
“I’ve never done that before.”
“What, order from a menu?”
“Well, yes, I’ve never ordered from a menu, but I’ve never really chosen what I wanted to eat before, either. I just ate whatever was given to me.”
She was right. All the women and staff at the compound were given three meals a day, but they didn’t get to choose what those meals were. The meal plan was done by Georgina in the kitchen, and everyone just ate whatever was provided.
A wide smile spread across her face as her gaze danced over all the options—eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, fresh fruit, yogurt. She put her knuckles to her mouth.
“It’s too much. I have no idea!” And she laughed.
I laughed with her, absorbing her delight. “Pancakes and bacon are always a good choice,” I said. “And we could throw in a fruit salad, so we have something healthy with it as well.”
She nodded and closed the menu. “That sounds perfect.”
“One day I’ll take you to the most expensive restaurants. We’ll drink champagne and feast on platters of fresh seafood.”
She giggled, and my heart swelled at the sound. “I’m too young to drink champagne.”
“Then I’ll take you to Europe, where you can drink at eighteen, and we can go to France and drink the champagne in the same place it’s made.”
She smiled. “I’d love that.”
“We’ll do it one day, Catalina. I promise.”
Instead of looking happy, her face fell. “They’d have all eaten breakfast back at the compound by now, wouldn’t they?” she said, and I realized she must be missing the only home she’d ever known. “What do you think Yolanda and Marie and the others will all be saying about this?”
“I think Yolanda will be cursing my name.”
She blinked in surprise. “You do? Why?”
“She warned me about this happening when I came to her and asked her advice about the job my father had asked me to do with you. She’d said that she didn’t want either of us to get hurt, and I guess this was what she meant.”
Catalina reached out and squeezed my hand. “But we’re not hurt. We’re together.”
Not yet, we’re not, I thought but didn’t say. Yolanda would be heartbroken if something happened to either of us, I was sure. She’d known us both since we were children and had practically raised Catalina.
I realized Catalina must have been thinking along the same lines as she shook her head and wiped away tears. “I’m going to miss them all so much. Do you think the master will have hurt the other women, thinking that they might know something about where we’ve gone?”
“I really hope not, but we’ve got no way of knowing for sure.” My stomach twisted with guilt at the possibility.
The waitress appeared with coffee, and we both sat up, pasting smiles onto our faces. She took the order and then went to pick up the menus, but Catalina put her hand over her menu.
“Can I keep hold of it?” she asked. “I just want to read it.”
The waitress, Louise, shot me a baffled look but shrugged. “Sure. Knock yourself out, doll. I’ll be back with your meals shortly.”
I waited until the waitress had walked away again and then leaned across the table, lowering my voice. “Why don’t you go and use the bathroom now? Get yourself cleaned up and a change of clothes.”
Catalina looked around. “Where is it?”
“See where the silhouettes pictures of the man and the woman are over there?”
“Yeah.”
“Those are the restrooms.”<
br />
“Will there be a shower?”
I stopped myself from laughing, remembering how little she knew of the normal world. “No, just a row of toilets and sinks. You’ll have to make do.”
She rose from her seat, and I wished I could go with her. I didn’t like the idea of us being separated, even if it was only for a short amount of time. While I highly doubted Silas Cassidy and Elliot Torres would have found us yet, I was still alert for any possible threat.
Catalina picked up her bag and gave me a tight smile before leaving the booth and heading over to the restrooms. I sat and watched her go, my hand resting on top of my own bag on the seat beside me.
Beneath my fingertips was the hard metal of my gun.
Chapter Six
Present Day
I FELT AS THOUGH ALL eyes in the place were on me as I made my way through the restaurant to the restroom. It was probably all in my head and no one was paying me the slightest bit of attention, but my self-consciousness made me want to shrink into a little ball and vanish.
I pushed open the door, but instead of leading onto one bathroom, I found myself in a short corridor with two more doors. Each door had a different picture—one of a woman, and one of the shape of a man—so I used my common sense and pushed open the door with the woman on it. The restroom wasn’t like any kind of bathroom I’d ever been in before. There were multiple doors down one side, and matching sinks across the other side of the room. Just as Angel had said, there was no shower or bath to speak of. Gingerly, I gave the first of the doors a small shove, revealing a toilet. I checked the other stalls as well, but they were all empty.
At least I was alone.
Quickly, I used the toilet to relieve myself, and then I went to the sink and filled it with hot water. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Did I look different now? I was eighteen years old, no longer a virgin, and now a free woman. Everything had changed over the last twenty-four hours, and I felt sure a completely different person would be staring back at me. But other than looking more disheveled than usual and a little wild around the eyes, I was the same old Catalina.
I undid my bag and pulled out my toiletries and a change of clothes, balancing them on one of the sinks I wasn’t using. Then I set about stripping off my filthy, torn clothes, wincing as I peeled the material from the cuts and grazes that had now dried with blood. Removing the clothing made some of the wounds bleed again, and so I used some tissue from the bathroom and dipped it into the hot water in the sink and wiped my skin free of blood and dirt. I scrubbed mud off my face and worked my way downward, washing dried sweat from under my armpits and breasts. The water in the sink was already a murky brown, so I emptied it out and refilled. I washed between my thighs, experiencing a pleasurable ache as I remembered the moment Angel and I had together, rutting in the dirt like a couple of animals. I wanted to do that again with him, over and over. The idea of us being holed up in a motel room with only each other’s bodies to keep us entertained sounded like bliss.
The restroom door opened, and I jumped.
A woman in her fifties stared at me in shock. She’d clearly not expected to find a mostly naked girl washing herself down in here. Nudity wasn’t something I’d ever been ashamed of, as most of the women back in the compound had wandered around in their rooms completely naked, sitting and putting on their makeup and chatting to me at the same time.
I remembered what Angelo had told me about fitting in and not looking uncomfortable, so I gave the woman a wide smile and chirped, “Good morning.”
Her gaze skittered away, and she put her head down and vanished into one of the stalls containing one of the toilets.
I didn’t know much about how people conducted themselves in the regular world, but I’d clearly made the woman uncomfortable. Unease stirred my stomach. Angel had told me that we needed to fit in, but I definitely hadn’t done that.
Quickly, I finished up what I was doing and dressed in clean underwear, jeans, and t-shirt. The toilet flushed, and the woman emerged. She didn’t even bother to wash her hands and hurried from the restroom without even glancing at me.
I bit my lower lip and stared at the slowly closing door, wondering if I should go after her and try to explain. But I had no idea what I’d even say, so I hurriedly stashed my belongings back in my bag, wiped down the sink I’d used, and made my way back out to Angelo.
He was still sitting at the table, facing me, and he lifted his head and caught my eye, as though he’d sensed me coming. My pulse raced at the sight of him. He was so utterly gorgeous, I could hardly believe he was mine.
My gaze left his face and darted around the diner, trying to spot the woman in her fifties, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. I slid back into the seat opposite Angel, my appetite gone for the moment, and replaced with a coiling snake of worry.
He frowned and reached out and touched the back of my hand. “You okay?”
I twisted my lips and shrank down in my seat. I didn’t want to tell him that I’d messed up, but I had to.
“One of the customers walked in while I was getting changed,” I whispered.
He frowned at me. “So?”
“I was kind of... naked.”
His eyes widened. “Why were you naked in the restroom?”
“I had to wash up and get changed. How was I going to do that with my clothes on?”
I was mortified, feeling like I’d let him down. I didn’t understand the woman’s reaction. At the compound, the women often walked around naked, and they never covered up if I came into the room. Being naked wasn’t something to be embarrassed of, but instinctively I knew things were different out here.
“Well, no one’s thrown us out yet, so I guess the other customer didn’t report you to the staff.”
I looked around again, trying to see her. “I think she must have left.”
“You probably frightened her off,” he said, a smile tweaking his cheeks.
My face heated, and I stared down at the table. “I think I probably did.”
The waitress chose that moment to arrive with our food, and I was distracted by the warm, comforting smell of pancakes and the distinctive savory scent of bacon. She added bowls of fruit salad and little jugs of maple syrup to go with it all. My mouth watered, and my stomach gurgled audibly. I hoped no one noticed.
“Enjoy, folks,” Louise the waitress told us. “If you need any coffee refills, just holler.”
“Thanks,” Angel said with a grin.
I caught her staring at him a moment too long, and jealously flashed white-hot inside me. I’d already experienced what that felt like when I’d seen him and Bianca together, and I didn’t like it. I knew I didn’t have any hold on Angelo when it had happened, and I’d orgasmed with another man’s hand on me only minutes before, but that didn’t change how sickened I’d felt when I’d seen him. It had been like someone had ripped out my insides—my stomach, my lungs, my heart—and left me as a hollow shell of a person with only the memories of seeing them together to torture myself with. But Angelo was an extremely handsome man, and he had the aura of self-confidence and charisma around him, even though I knew a lot of how he acted around others was exactly that—an act. I’d known him long enough to understand that anxiety plagued him because of the way his father had treated him growing up, and while he’d learned ways to control it, the cool, relaxed exterior he showed to others wasn’t always the truth.
“You can start now, Kitty,” he said, looking at me curiously, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Oh, right. Of course.”
I unwrapped a knife and fork from where it had been wrapped inside a paper serviette and took my first bite of food. I almost groaned in pleasure. The meals had been good enough back at the compound, but this was on a whole other level. Not only was the food amazing, but I was starving, and I wolfed down one mouthful after the other, barely able to get it down quick enough. Angelo did the same, and neither of us spoke again until every last morsel was cleared.
I sat back, my hands on my full belly, and exhaled a contented sigh. “Oh, wow. That was good.”
Angelo copied my movements. “Agreed.” He looked around. “We can’t stay here for too long, though. I’m still aware of those hunters seeing us. I’m sure they wouldn’t have even made it back to town yet, but they might have placed a call to someone. I think we should keep moving.”
I didn’t want to. I wanted to curl up on the soft, spongy seat of the booth and sleep off my breakfast, but I knew he was right.
He lifted his hand to get the waitress’s attention.
She smiled and wandered back over and set about clearing our plates. “Was everything okay for you?” she asked.
“Great, thanks. We’ll just take the check, please.”
“No problem.”
She took the plates away and returned a moment later, slipping a small plastic tray with a slip of paper on it onto the table. I watched all of this with interest, wondering what was happening. Everyone seemed to know how to play their part, but I was only confused.
Angelo removed a wad of bills from his wallet and slipped one off. It was fifty dollars, and he put it on the little black tray. “I’d normally tell her to take twenty, but it was only fourteen bucks, and we need all the cash we can get right now.”
I frowned, not understanding. “Why would you leave her more money than it cost?”
“Oh, for a tip.”
“A tip?” I was sure I’d heard some of the women back at the compound talking about the men leaving them a tip. They’d always passed the tips on to the master, as it wasn’t as though they had anywhere they could spend the money. But it wasn’t as though this woman was going to have sex with Angelo, was she? Crazy paranoia sent my heart racing.
“Are you going to have sex with her?”
He jerked back in his seat, his expression riddled with confusion and dismay. “No! God, no. What the hell would make you say that, Catalina?”
“Because you want to give her a tip, and that’s what some of the men did to the women back at the compound.”
Unbound for Him Page 4