SIX

 

 

As the door closed behind the Laird, Shea blew out a breath and closed her eyes, though tension kept her shoulders locked tight. The men who’d lined the perimeter of the courtyard began to filter back inside, all except Diego, who she only noticed when his shadow stretched over her.

He offered his hand and she didn’t hesitate to take it, needing his support to get onto her feet because her legs were still wobbling beneath her.

“What the hell was that?” she asked as he guided her back to the building, his arm around her ribs to keep her upright.

While her heart was still frantic, recovering from the rush of adrenaline, Shea tried to compose herself. The others would be watching, monitoring her response to what had happened.

Diego seemed to understand the impact of what she’d endured. “Just get your breath back,” he said. “You did well. How the hell did you know what to say?”

“I didn’t,” she said, happy to limp back into the building and down toward her cell. Her ankle wasn’t at full strength yet; her cast had been taken off less than a week ago. “He appeared in my cell and I thought he was just checking me out, you know, seeing what I was about, but… when he dragged me out there… I… I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what I’d done wrong.”

They reached her cell and he guided her inside. “What did you come up with?” he asked her, seating her on the bed where the Laird had found her.

“Nothing,” she said, pushing back. “But, I… I realized that it didn’t matter what I’d done. It mattered that he thought I’d done something. You told me once that if I was ever in doubt, I should just agree with him. So, that’s what I did.”

Diego backed off and she kept trying to steady her breathing. “But, you wouldn’t really have… not put up a fight if he… if he told you not to… would you?”

“If he set the inmates on me?” she asked and clucked at him. “I set my own protected status, sweetie, and there’s no way I’m playing dead for any man. I’m a fighter or a flighter, I don’t freeze, and I certainly don’t do it on command. I don’t think it would be possible for me to give myself to a man I didn’t want inside me, and definitely not on the command of another man who doesn’t prioritize my interests. If I’m not invested enough to participate nicely then it wouldn’t happen. I’d have put that bullet in myself first.”

That admission was probably against the rules and put Diego in an awkward position. She’d just admitted to lying to the Laird. It wasn’t a malicious lie. If the Laird had released the inmates and told them to have their way with her, instinct would’ve made her fight, no matter how many times he told her to let them do whatever they wanted.

But, instead of being annoyed or judgmental, Diego smiled. Shea pushed her fists into the mattress to lean back against the wall. “Not a lot of women would’ve held up,” he said. “I’ve seen guys piss themselves when Raid corners them. I’ve damn near done it myself in the past.”

She’d never heard that name before and it made her perk up. “Raid?”

Diego just crooked a knowing brow before turning to go to her things that were piled by the wall.

There hadn’t been a supply run since she’d been there, but the guys had retrieved her surviving things from the plane. A lot of her cases were intact and so living here hadn’t been as awful as it might have been without access to her possessions. Since being there, she’d been given more access in increments, but the day she’d been allowed into the laundry had been one of her favorites.

Figuring Diego wasn’t going to confirm or deny anything personal about their Laird, she changed tact. “Why do people fear him so much?”

“Because he’s volatile,” he said, crouching to open her case. “You got him on a good day. Other days, he’d have put a bullet in you just because he felt like it.”

Boosting higher, she tried to see over Diego to get a look at what he was doing, but she couldn’t see much over his large form. “What are you doing?”

It almost looked like he was putting things into the case from around it, but that made no sense to her. “Time we got you somewhere to sleep above ground.”

Hope speared her. “Wait,” she said, pushing to the edge of the bed again. “That was some kind of test?”

He shrugged. “I guess.” Shea didn’t know if she should be pissed at this Raid guy for testing her or at herself for not figuring out he was the kind of person to do something like that. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t a test for you. It was a test for me.”

That confused her. “For… what?”

Dropping onto the floor, he twisted to face her, and stretched his legs out. “He wanted to know if I’d step in for you.”

Taking a minute to put the pieces together, Shea tried to figure the Laird out. “Were you supposed to?” He shook his head. “So, he thinks… what? You think I’m weak or…”

While little of this made sense to her, Diego seemed to get it without any trouble. He didn’t hesitate to explain. “He wanted to know if I had feelings for you,” he said. Having not expected him to say that in a million years, Shea was so taken aback that she sealed her mouth. Diego laughed. “Not those kind of feelings, Pest.”

Good. Shea hadn’t thought about Diego in that way and she was relieved to learn he hadn’t thought of them in those terms either. “I have not those kind of feelings for you too, Diego,” she said. His expression relaxed to a smile. “But, I won’t be stepping in if he comes and drags you out to the yard by your hair.”

“Not as easy with me,” he said, picking at his short, shaved hair.

Flipping around again, Diego went back to stuffing her things into her suitcase. The last thing she could ever be accused of was being a neat person. Shea went over to help him, so that everything wouldn’t be crushed.

In her time here, she’d been intrigued by the man behind the curtain, but had thought of him less and less as she did her best to learn and fit in. Now that she’d laid eyes on him, her interest was back with a vengeance.

“The Laird is younger and fitter than I thought he’d be,” she said. “What is he? In his thirties?”

They finished packing some of her things into one case. He stood that suitcase up to open the other, so they could start filling that. “What were you expecting? Don Corleone the Elder?”

She shrugged because she didn’t know what she’d been expecting. No one wanted to talk about him or give out information, so it had been impossible for her to build up much of a picture. “All I knew was he’s in charge and can be a sonofabitch… as evidenced today.”

Stretching across to the corner, he grabbed her towel to stuff it in the suitcase. “I’m glad he did it.”

That statement made her stop, her fingers loosened to drop a book on top of the towel. “Excuse me?”

There was no contrition in Diego’s explanation. “I’m going out of town the day after tomorrow. I’m glad he laid eyes on you before I left.”

Diego had always been here, guiding her, looking out for her. She doubted he was supposed to make friends with her, but he was the closest thing she had to one. Shea wasn’t sure how things would play out without him here to offer her words of support. He was also the one who gave her daily tasks. Without him on site, she might have been relegated to her cell, which could be why he was moving her.

Whether the Laird had seen her before Diego left or not, it wasn’t as if she was easily confused for anyone else. “Do you think if he hadn’t that he’d mistake me for someone else?” she asked and thrust out her chest. Her shirt was buttoned to conceal her breasts, she wasn’t even allowed to show cleavage. No matter, there was no denying her chest was different from everyone else’s. “These give it away, D, sorry.”

He didn’t even bother to look. His indifference to her form just made her smile. “Might not make sense to you,” he said, zipping her suitcase. “But it makes me feel better. There’s no man I’d trust to look out for me and mine more than Raid.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense to me,” she said, crossing her legs beneath her. “He’s terrifying. You said he’s volatile, that on any given day—”

“But he wouldn’t,” he said. “Just because I know he might doesn’t mean I think he will.”

She didn’t know if he understood how little sense he was making. It was so insane that it was amusing. “If he did, would you forgive him?”

“Yep,” he said without a second of hesitation. “Because he wouldn’t have meant it.”

She laughed. “I don’t get it.”

“You’ve only been here two months,” he said. “You’ll feel differently in two decades.”

That’s how long Diego had been here, she’d learned that much about him. For two months, she’d done paperwork for him in the corner of his office and listened in to a couple of meetings. Other than in this cell and the bathroom, she hadn’t been anywhere without Diego, nowhere. She knew it was his responsibility to look after her and he’d explained that the normal procedure with new comrades was to have them shadow their superior until they were trusted enough to work without supervision. But, she had a feeling those rules were more strictly enforced with her.

Shea supposed if she was being moved out of this cell that she did have some trust. She decided to test how far that went. “Why didn’t you tell me we were going into town?”

The smirk that formed on his face wasn’t encouraging. “Nice try,” he said, getting to his feet, taking her suitcases with him. “You’re not going anywhere.”

She scrambled after him as he strode out of the cell. “Why not? I’ve been working with you since I got here.”

Reasoning probably wouldn’t change his mind, but it made sense to her. If he was going somewhere, and she was to be his shadow, then she should go with him.

“No one leaves the compound before they’ve pledged,” he said, leading her up the stairs and toward the employees’ residential floor.

More confused, she was flooded with questions. “Isn’t that what I just did?”

He stopped and turned to look down at her, bringing her to a stop. “You want to pledge right now?”

Tipping up her chin, she showed him one of her simple smiles. “If I do, can I come with you?”

Any pledge she took would be a means to an end. Shea didn’t want to create trouble for Diego, he’d been good to her, and she understood that he had to work to the Laird’s orders. But, if it meant getting back to civilization, and having a chance of escape, she’d recite whatever they wanted her to say.

Hiding a smile, Diego shook his head at her and turned back to their journey. “You’re staying put, Pest.”

Damn, well, at least she could say that she’d tried. “Why can’t Raid go?”

“The Laird.”

“Right. Why can’t he go?”

If she had to be here with one of them, then there was one man she’d prefer to have around, and it wasn’t the one who’d held a gun to her head.

“We take it in turns,” Diego explained. “No one else is allowed to be left in charge here.”

For all the employees that were on the grounds, Raid limited his options when it came to trusting management. “Just the two of you, huh?” she asked, hurrying to keep up. “Does that mean when he dies, you take over?”

“That’s kind of like plotting against the king, we don’t do that here.”

Her question was conjecture not conspiring. “I think if I was going to try killing him, I’d have done it by now,” she said. “Seems I had a good chance to take him down in the yard. I have one advantage you guys don’t.”

“What’s that?”

She’d be lying if she said that being on her knees in front of the Laird hadn’t conjured some interesting ideas on how she might manipulate her way out of here. And, if not manipulating, there were some soft spots she could attempt to exploit.

“I don’t mind putting a dick in my mouth,” she said.

Although she hadn’t tried it, she had thought about submitting to the Laird in a more intimate way and had wondered how he might react if she’d let her fingers ascend to his fly to grant her access to worship him in a way most men enjoyed being worshiped.

Diego released a single laugh. “There’s probably a few guys down there on the cell block who’d disagree with you.”

True. Necessity probably changed a lot of men’s minds on what was enjoyable and not. The only sentence here was life and most wouldn’t like to live the rest of their days without some kind of human connection, even if it wasn’t with a first choice of partner.

Shea smiled, but was still half a step behind him, so it was unlikely he’d seen her response. “Yeah, but they probably wouldn’t sink their teeth in just to get an advantage.”

“Probably,” he said. “Though I wouldn’t discount it completely.” They stopped at a door that had a key in it. “I told the Laird you hadn’t been playing the sex card.”

“The sex card,” she said louder than Diego had.

A couple of guys who’d been walking toward them faltered. Diego gestured to the pair to keep going, glared at her for a beat, and then unlocked the door to let them into the room.

After standing one case at the end of the bed and lying the other on the mattress, he returned to her side. “It’s small,” he said. “But it’s yours… and it’s more than most around here get.”

The room was smaller than her cell. No doubt it was an improvement. It had curtains and actual bedding on the narrow wooden bed. She smiled and strode into the middle of the room. “I expected barracks.”

“No, you didn’t,” he said, tossing the key onto the dresser behind the door. Putting her in barracks would be a recipe for disaster, so he was right that she hadn’t really expected to just be tossed in with the others. But, this was luxury compared to what she’d had. “You’ll have to use the same communal rooms that the rest of us use. Though you do have a washroom.”

He opened the door perpendicular to the door and she peeked in to see a toilet and a sink with a mirror over it. This bedroom would definitely do. With natural light and the option to turn off or on the lamp on the nightstand, she already had more freedom than she’d had when she awoke that morning.

“I love it,” Shea said and threw her arms around him to give him a hug.

The contact seemed to startle Diego because he stood stock-still and didn’t even attempt to put his arms around her to reciprocate. When she backed off and pinched his arm, he was still blinking in surprise.

Quickly getting over his shock, he wasn’t slow to tease her. “If that was the sex card, you suck at it.”

Shea laughed. “You’re like my big brother, D,” she said, unzipping the suitcase that was on the foot of the bed.

“You got a brother?”

“No,” she said. “Well, I sort of did, I guess… It’s a long story.” He took her arm to pull her around, surprising her with a look of concern. “I had a stepbrother, we didn’t get along.”

Talking about her family wasn’t high on her priority list and Diego must have sensed that because he didn’t push.

“Hard to believe anyone wouldn’t get along with you, Pest,” he said. Plastering an exaggerated grin on her face, she fluttered her lashes like butter wouldn’t melt, but it was just a tease. “Okay, you get yourself set-up in here. Dinner’s in the mess at six, don’t be late or you won’t get anything.”

This was a day for surprises and this was probably the best yet. “I get to eat with everyone?”

In a single beat, Diego became stern. “Don’t flirt,” he said and she crossed her heart and held up her fingers in promise. “After chow it will be early to bed for you. I’ll have to teach you about the daily reports in the morning.”

A new responsibility. Good. Learning new things was fun. “What’s that?”

“First thing and last thing, I take the site report to the Laird… I’m not going to be here for ten days.”

That took some of her gusto, though she did her best not to show it. “You… you want me to report to the Laird? Directly?”

Now his nonchalance was just disconcerting. “Someone has to, and now that you’ve been introduced, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be you.”

Introduced was a relative term, what she’d gone through with the Laird wasn’t typical by any stretch. “No reason,” she said, doing her best to look confident while her stomach dropped.

Under normal circumstances, reporting to anyone, man or woman, wouldn’t be a problem, if that was what the hierarchy dictated. But, controlling her attitude long enough to report to the man who’d threatened her life in the courtyard might prove difficult.

“She?” Shea had phased out and just assumed that Diego was gone. Looking up, she discovered that he was only half out of the room. “Everyone here has a past. And I’m not the only protective older brother you’ve adopted. You’re one of us now. If there’s a score to settle, anywhere, Raid will settle it for you. That’s a guarantee.”

She’d been distracted by ideas of dealing with the Laird, but it seemed Diego was still thinking about her stepbrother. Neither topic was appealing. Conveying her thanks in a smile, she nodded once. Diego slapped the door frame and went out, closing the door behind himself.

Sinking onto the bed, she let her attention float to the window.

Things had been so simple two months ago when she’d agreed to work on the compound. The aim of her self-appointed mission had been to find a way to gain the trust of those around her enough to get out of here so she could release the story.

Understanding everything about what went on here was beyond her reach. She didn’t have the security clearance to investigate and Diego was quick to shut her down when she asked too much. Diego and the other men who worked here weren’t monsters, she’d established that much. The jury was still out on what motivated the Great Laird. Knowing how deep Diego’s trust in him ran, Shea figured there had to be more to him than met the eye too.

Spending the rest of her life here wasn’t an appealing idea. Except, the notion of betraying Diego and the others who relied on the compound to make their living wasn’t tempting either. This place gave them a home and from what she’d seen and heard, some of them had no other place to go.

Leaving the bed, she went to the window. Situated at the end of the top floor, by the corner stairwell, she was in a protected spot. A guard tower would stand on top of that stairwell, she just wasn’t at the right angle to see it.

Below her was no man’s land with the perimeter wall around it, and she could see the south guard tower in the corner of that outer wall. Her focus floated upward. There was something else looming over them beyond that tower: their great leader’s lofty home.

Was he in there now? What was he doing? The man was so enigmatic, alone and yet surrounded by hundreds. Feared and yet revered and respected. These men did have love for their leader. But, her only direct experience with him involved a weapon. Maybe he was the key to her story. Maybe getting closer to the man would reveal the truth she didn’t yet understand.