This is ridiculous. Skull’s had me locked in my room all day. I thought things were good between us. Now, I have no idea what’s going on.

Briar—seriously, if that’s not a road name, I feel sorry for him—has been with me all day and refuses to let me leave. He had our breakfast and lunch brought in. The only thing he told me was that there were some new developments and Skull wanted to make sure I was protected. He refuses to tell me what these developments are and, trust me, I’ve asked him a hundred times.

It’s been boring as hell, so I did the only thing I could think of to make Briar sorry that he’s stuck in this small room with me. We’re on our third movie of the day. We started with Bridget Jones Diary, moved on to Pretty Woman, and now…

“What the ever loving fuck?” exclaimed Briar. “You mean she’s not even going to move her fat ass over and let him float on that damn piece of wood? Jesus, two of him could fit on that shit.”

“You’re missing the point. He loves her. He’s going to die for her.”

“Big fucking deal. If she wasn’t a selfish bitch, she’d scoot her ass over and they’d both survive.”

Now, it should be said that I totally agree with him. However, I find I enjoy arguing with Briar. Well, that and I’m bored out of my mind. “She lives a full life because Jack loved her.”

“She’s a selfish cow. Why can’t she die? I mean, this story would be a fuck of a lot better if Jack survived and lived high on the fucking hog with that damn diamond.”

Okay, actually that sounds like a more interesting movie if you think about it, but I ignore him. “Hush, Briar! There’s a happy ending, wait and see. You’ll love it!”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he says sarcastically. It’s all I can do not to laugh.

“You know, if you told me what happened last night to have Skull worried about me, I might consider turning this off and letting you watch football.”

“Nice try, but no cigar, babe.”

“I guess we could watch ballet. There’s one on channel—”

“You turn on that fucking shit and I promise you I will put a bullet in the television. I’m drawing the line at this movie and that’s only because the redhead has some decent knockers.”

Okay, I snort at that comment. It’d take a better woman than I not to laugh. We’re silent through the rest of the movie until the end. Then, I thought poor Briar was going to blow a gasket. He literally turned red in the face.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! What the fuck?”

“What? They got their happy-ever-after!”

“They’re dead!”

“Well yeah, but they’re together.”

“Fuck, that’s just messed up. Is this really the kind of shit you chicks get off on?”

“It’s a great movie. Very romantic.”

“No fucking wonder,” he says.

“What are you talking about?”

“If this is the kind of shit you like to watch, it’s no wonder you bitches give us men such a hard time. Relationships would be a lot easier if women would just watch porn.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Fuck, yeah. Porn is straight-up, man. No bullshit. Instead of Ol’ Jack dying, he’d be helping her fiancé feed her dick.”

“Oh my God!”

“It’s the truth. I actually watched the porn version of Titanic. It was grade A. I think it even won an award.”

“There’s a porn version of Titanic?”

“Woman, there’s a porn version of every movie.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope. Name one and I’ll give you the porn title.”

“And if you can’t, you have to let me out of this room.”

“That can’t happen, but since I know all the titles, hit me with your best shot.”

“Okay. Umm… When Harry Met Sally!”

“How old are you again? Were you even alive when that movie came out?”

“It’s a good movie!”

“When Harry Ate Sally,” he says calmly.

“Oh my God.” He winks at me. I sigh, digging deeper into my vault of favorite movies inside my brain. I’m a movie buff. Heck, before Skull, movies were my excitement. “The Terminator!” I exclaim suddenly.

“You really are making this too easy. The Sperminator.”

“Holy shit.”

Briar laughs. “Ready to call it quits yet?”

“Okay, I got it. Gone in Sixty Seconds!”

“Blown in Sixty Seconds. Sadly, not a favorite.”

“I bet. Okay I’ve got nothing. I cave.”

“But we were just getting started! There’s Robocock, Saturday Night Beaver…” he continues.

“You’re making this shit up!”

“And every woman should watch King Dong.”

“Get out of town! There’s a movie called King Dong?”

“It’s a very touching movie. It’s about a little boy who’s picked on because his dick is three times as big as everyone else’s. He was bullied mercilessly.”

“I’m sure,” I say sarcastically.

“He was. It’s very touching, really. All the football jocks hated him.”

“Probably because all the cheerleaders were letting him under their skirts.”

“Well, yeah, that too. Still, it’s a touching movie.”

“As in, there was a lot of touching of King Dong’s… dong?”

“You’re a smart one.”

“How big was King Dong’s dong anyway?”

“Is there a reason you’re talking about dicks with my woman?” Skull asks from the door.

The two of us turn toward him, startled by his sudden appearance. He looks super tired, and I’m more than a little pissed at him, but I’m ecstatic to see that he’s safe and back home.

“Oh, hey boss. Sorry, we were just discussing—”

“The size of King Dong’s dong,” I finish, looking up at Skull and smiling.

“And… who is King Dong?”

“The guy in the porno that Briar is trying to get me to watch with him,” I explain, doing my best to look innocent.

“What the fuck?”

“I was not, Boss. We were just discussing porn titles,” Briar clarifies, shooting me an I’m-going-to-kill-you look. I stick my tongue out at him, not bothering to hide my amusement.

“Why were you even talking about porn with my woman?”

Briar shuts up and gives me that look again. I smirk.

“I’m out of here. Everything go okay today?” Briar asks as he walks by Skull.

“Hopefully. We’ll know in about an hour when Torch and Sabre start detonating. We’ll be watching in the office on the screen.”

“Got it. I’ll meet you there.”

I look at Skull once Briar leaves. My heart is beating hard against my chest because it didn’t escape my notice what they were talking about.

“Detonating?” I finally ask, trying to keep the fear out of my voice—and failing.

Skull nodded somberly. “Colin and Matthew’s calling card is bombs, querida. So I decided to show them how it felt to be on the receiving end of one of their surprises.”

“How many are you detonating?” I ask, the fear in me beginning to run bone-deep.

“A lot.”

Shit. This isn’t good.

“What did Colin do to make you do so much, Skull? And don’t lie to me. I know something has happened or else you wouldn’t have kept me locked away all day.”

I wait for Skull’s reply. I can already tell by his face I’m not going to like the answer.