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He takes me in, all the way in. He looks into my eyes as if he can read my very soul. Eyes that must convey something, because his soft sigh and twist of a lip into a half smile make me think he almost feels bad for me.

Almost.

But not enough to let me go. Not really.

This is why he kept me. This was why he said no to sleeping with me.

I’m not something to be used and tossed away in his eyes.

No, he truly sees me as his. His….

I force myself to swallow the emotions that bubble to the surface.

“I’m going to get you something to eat.”

He leaves before I can agree or even move. It’s well into early morning, as we flew all night. I probably need sleep more than food, but I don’t protest.

I seem to be stuck in a loop repeating over and over in my head.

The loop that is my life.

But instead of seeing it as me being kidnapped, taken by the Hounds, my mind replays it all.

Every moment.

Each one with Atom in it since I got on the back of his bike. Something I know from my time with the Hounds means something to them. It’s not just a space for anyone to sit, but for an old lady.

For me.

The items he left me by my bedroom door are no longer just random things to pass the time but gifts. Things a husband might buy a wife.

The gowns. The lingerie. Picked out for a wife, not a roommate like I tried to convince myself.

The food he made for me nightly. The way he never spoke to a vamp that I saw, never asked for the club girls to come close. Hell, I even saw a few try to step in his direction, and he walked the other way. I thought nothing of it at the time, but it’s becoming clearer the more I remember.

My legs feel weak as my mind continues to show me each thing Atom has done for me in a way that was far more than someone who kidnapped a person like I thought.

Or like I hoped.

Because if it wasn’t a kidnapping, then it was something else.

And I wasn’t ready to know then. I’m still not.

I sink onto the bed to keep from falling.

But I’ve already fallen. Down some strange rabbit hole.

I only hope that a part of me hasn’t fallen too.

Because if I somehow let my heart get involved without my brain knowing, I’m in deep shit.

Real deep shit.

Chapter 18 - Atom

Houses, no matter how fancy they appear, all have the same thing in common: kitchens fully stocked with food and very few guards to keep someone away.

The handful of people I passed in the hallway to get here didn’t so much as flinch at my presence. Either they didn’t care, or word has already been passed around about who I am.