Page 81 of Volatile Waters

I sat next to him, placing the tray in my lap. “I had to pick up a friend.” Then I examined his face because it was a little peaked. “Are you okay?” Not pulling from my hand, he lifted a brow as if I had asked the most idiotic question in the world. He was being held captive. I grinned while nodding. “I see your point.” I offered him a cold cut sandwich.

He took it but refused a bite. “Are you still mad at me?”

I studied his soulful self, then shook my head. “Eat your sandwich.”

While he devoured it, I watched him. Wolf’s mouth would stretch open to shove in far too much food. The muscles in his face and neck strained as he chewed with much effort. Dark eyebrows and lashes encased those intense eyes that were locked on his sandwich.

After swallowing the last bite, he sighed. “Thank you.” His sturdy hand grasped at his stomach as if relishing in the full sensation.

I handed him a bottle of water. “Thank you for not trying to break free while I was gone.”

His shiny, straight hair slipped from his face as he leaned his head back to gulp down the water. I watched as his throat worked before he told me, “We made a pact, right?”

If he were to behave, his family was safe.

Sighing, I thought about how, when I first saw the doctor, I believed he was arrogant. Maybe he was. Maybe being caught in the snares of human trafficking can humble the best of them. I appreciated him standing by his word. “Right.”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think while you were gone.” Hope then sadness passed through his eyes. “Are you actually trapped here, too?”

I took a gander around at his block walls and realized I did have walls, too. They were just invisible to most. “In a way, yes.” That answer may have been the first time I spoke the truth about my predicament.

“That’s what I thought. You wouldn’t bring anyone here if you didn’t have to.”

I peered down, surprised to feel an ounce of shame. The hand in my lap had just played with the hair of a girl I single-handily forced to be here. Too uncomfortable to hold still, I got up to leave.

“Wait.” Wolf also stood, in a bit of a panic. “When are you coming back?”

I watched as his hand fought to not reach out for me. He was lonely. I didn’t like how that made me feel. So, I reached out and took hold. He looked away with a hint of humiliation, but his hand didn’t release mine. For the first time, it was awkward to admit. “I have another… to tend to.”

“Oh.” He pulled his hand from mine as if scorned. “It wasn’t a ‘friend’ you had to pick up. I thought—” He blinked, then plopped back onto his bed. “I don’t know what I’m thinking anymore.”

He was unstable, just the opening the trainer in me was looking for, so I squatted in front of him, sure to rest a hand on his knee. “Listen. Don’t lose your mind in here. Stay strong… for me.”

“I…” He brushed his fingers through his hair. “I’ve never felt so alone. I’ve always had family around me.” He ran a palm down his stressed face. “I’m freaking out, dude.”

“You are not alone.”

“I am!”

I grabbed the nape of his neck with my free hand. “I’m right here, watching over you and your daughter. You’re not alone.”

He stared at me as if I was his only hope, which I was. His eyes bore into me with such intensity; I felt it in my stomach. When I realized my tongue was wetting my lips, I jerked back and stumbled to my feet, away from him, slamming my back into the wall.

He jumped to his feet, racing forward. “Wait!”

I rushed to the door.

“Please!”

I grabbed the doorknob.

“Master.” Wolf sounded as if in despair.

To this day, I am still unaware of where my speck of pity came from, but it was the true beginning of my surrender to Wolf. How, in such a short amount of time, he wedged himself between my reality and what I, unknowingly, wished for, is still a mystery.

My head fell forward. “I’ll come back to you tonight.”

He was so close to my back; I felt the vibration of his breath. “Thank you.”