Jess
As soon as the door closed behind Gabi, I rounded on Thorn. “Your ex-fiancée is a criminal too?” I snapped. “Kept in the same high-security prison as Katia Sin?”
Thorn rubbed at his temples and reached for his wallet and keys. “I need a drink,” he said, looking ashen and exhausted.
I reached out and caught his wrist. “You need to go to the authorities!” I cried. “This is getting out of control. You're smuggling weapons into a prison!” And somehow I was mixed up in all of it.
“It's a pretty solid plan,” Thorn said, shrugging a little. “Like Gabi said, Romeo has been useful to the Sigma Saints in the past. I can trust him.”
“Another friend-of-a-friend who you can trust?” I spat. “And what do you think about the people who are going to be killed when Katia gets her hands on these guns and gets them assembled? I'm not even talking about myself here, but what about the other prison guards and the witness and the other people that she kills when she gets out? Don't you care at all about any of them?”
Something flickered in Thorn's face, but he set his jaw and stared down at me, shaking his wrist free. “It's not really any of your business anyway,” he said. “Look, I'll get the packages delivered this week. Then Katia will go through with the next part of her plan. And then I'll let you go free.”
“No,” I snapped. “Our deal was that once the packages had been delivered to Gabi, I would go back to my life. I can't—”
“Don't make me tie you up,” Thorn snarled, giving me a menacing look. And suddenly, I was reminded of all the things he could do to me if I didn't cooperate with him. I was no longer certain that he wouldn't kill me. Or at least have me killed by one of the other Sigma Saints.
I ducked my head and, feeling suddenly tired of this whole thing, backed up to sit on the edge of the bed. It was no use thinking that I never should have gone along with him, when I knew that he would have forced me to come along anyway. But that was little comfort either way.
“You'd better be here when I return,” Thorn said, glowering at me. “Otherwise...” He didn't finish the empty threat, but he didn't have to.
I nodded without looking up at him, twisting my fingers around one another. “I'll be here,” I promised.
Thorn stared at me for a beat longer. “I really didn't want you to be caught up in this,” he said quietly.
I blinked up at him, wondering at the sincerity in his voice. Not that it was really going to help me, but it was almost comforting to know. I gave him a bitter half-smile and a shrug, though. “Yeah, well. Now I'm caught up in it, like it or not. I just hope...”
“I know,” Thorn said. He was still watching me. “I'll do everything that I can to protect you.”
I thought of him punching Emmanuel and sighed. I wasn't sure that his protection was anything that I wanted, but it wasn't like I really had any choice in any of this. “Thanks,” I finally said.
I lay back against the bed and closed my eyes, even though I was fully dressed and still on top of the covers. I wouldn't be falling asleep for hours anyway, even if I wanted to; my mind was an absolute maelstrom of thoughts and feelings at the moment. I itched to call the police, but I didn't know what would happen to me if I did so. But then again, sacrificing my own life might be better if it meant I could save everyone that Katia had a vendetta against. I couldn't imagine going to prison, though, and especially not since I knew Katia must have connections both inside and outside of the prisons. Either way, things looked bad for me.
My hand crept towards the motel telephone, but when I picked up the receiver, the line was dead. I checked and it was plugged in, but it definitely wasn't working. “Stupid cheap motel,” I muttered under my breath.
I wasn't able to bring myself to leave the room, even though I knew it would be easy enough to walk downstairs and ask to use the reception phone, which I figured must be working.
It wasn't just that I was caught up in this, either. Part of me was reluctant to turn Thorn over to the police. Even though I knew that it was just lust, that I was just longing for this sense of adventure to be reawakened. He took too many risks and was too foolhardy to even realize he was taking so many risks. I kind of admired his ability to trust in these random strangers just because they were all part of his biker gang, but I also didn't know how he managed to turn a blind eye to all of their flaws.
I dropped the receiver and fell back against the bed, wondering what I was going to do. Thorn came back into the room, and I pushed myself up onto my elbows.
“That didn't take very long,” I commented.
Thorn rolled his eyes. “There's a liquor store right next door,” he said.
“Oh.” I watched as he poured himself a few fingers of whiskey into one of those plastic water cups, knocking back a healthy swig. “Can you pour me a drink too?” I asked plaintively. He paused, looking at me for a moment and then grabbed the other glass.
“I didn't bring anything to mix with,” he warned.
“I don't even care right now,” I said, although I didn't normally drink alcohol, and I definitely didn't drink it straight. But what the hell. I needed it right then.
The first sip burned on the way down, and I coughed a little, eyes watering. Thorn looked amused but didn't say anything, calmly pouring himself another drink.
It wasn't long before we found ourselves sitting face-to-face on the bed, watching one another. “I shouldn't deliver the packages, I know that,” Thorn said suddenly, still looking tired as he ran a hand back through his hair. “I should never have gotten involved in this. But there's no way to really back out now. Katia has friends and supporters everywhere. I'd be dead by the end of the week.”
I had the feeling appealing to his morality and mentioning all the other people who would be dead by the end of the week wasn't going to help anything, but I struggled to think of anything I could use to argue against his continued involvement in this scheme.
“Don't you see how risky this plan is?” I finally asked. I was a risk assessor, after all. Why not try that tactic? He must have some sense of self-preservation or he wouldn't have even made it this far.
“Romeo,” Thorn began.
I shook my head. “Romeo might not be the only person checking bags,” I interrupted. “Or maybe he'll even be sick. Or reassigned to a different place tomorrow. You'd be a sitting duck as soon as you walked in there with that package. If anything went wrong, there'd be no way for you to get out of there without raising suspicion at the very least.”
“Gabi wouldn't have proposed that plan if she thought something might go wrong,” Thorn said confidently. “Even if Romeo gets sick or something like that, he'll show up. And even if there's someone else checking bags with him, he'll make sure that everything happens the way that it needs to.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “But don't you think you might raise some suspicions when you show up three times this week and get your bag confiscated every time? Especially given that you'll be showing up to see your ex-fiancée, apparently.”
“Maybe we've rekindled our romance,” Thorn said. “No one else is going to know what's in the package. For all anyone knows, I could be trying to smuggle her, I don't know, sex toys or something like that. They'll know it's contraband, but they won't realize it's guns. Romeo will 'destroy' the contraband, and that'll be the end of it.”
“Have you ever even written to this ex-fiancée while she's been in jail?” I asked impatiently, wondering why he didn't seem to understand the risks. Did he think he was invincible or something? Maybe I was dealing with someone even more foolishly dangerous than I'd realized.
But Thorn was silent at that, staring impassively at me as he took another long sip of whiskey. “I'll give you that,” he finally said. “You're right, it's a bit weird. But I don't think I could bring in all three packages at the same time. They wouldn't fit into a single backpack, and then Gabi would have to find some way to slip all three of them to Katia at once. It makes sense for me to bring them one at a time. And there can't be three different ways to slip contraband into the place; the prison system isn't that bad.”
I sighed. Well, acceptance of the risk was the first step. Now to get him to think beyond that…
“What do you care anyway?” Thorn asked. “I would have thought you'd be glad to get rid of me.”
“I will be,” I snapped, even though I didn't really know what I was feeling for him at the moment. I remembered reading once, in my freshman pysch class, about Stockholm Syndrome. That must be why I was having these confusing feelings of lust and whatever else for him. Nothing more than that…
I shook my head. “The thing is, if you get caught with these packages, I'm afraid I'm going to get into trouble as well. There are plenty of people who can link the two of us together over the past few days, from motel staff to waitresses to Brent and Emmanuel and Gabi. I'm just looking out for my best interests.”
“I don't believe you,” Thorn said succinctly. He shrugged a little. “I saw you with Brent. You were out the door before you'd even really thought things through. You just knew he was your brother and that you had to help him. Whatever the consequences. You're a good person; you don't just look out for your own best interests.”
I shrugged a little, wondering what he wanted me to say. “Well, I'm not just looking out for your best interests,” I finally said, but didn't elaborate.
Thorn grinned at me and took my cup, setting it beside his on the night-table. Then, he reached for me, leaning down to kiss me. “No,” he agreed, his breath ghosting across my lips. “I don't suppose you are just looking out for my best interests. But I'd say that you have some personal interest in keeping me safe, don't you?”
I blushed but with the whiskey singing in my veins, I didn't push him away when he leaned in to kiss me again.