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Evie: So, you can quiz me about my deep dark thoughts and secrets, but God forbid I ask about a single nightmare.

Dom: My dreams are nothing special. Veterans all over the country have similar experiences. You are special, Keepsake.

He says he doesn’t like my nickname for him. I can’t say the same. When he uses ‘Keepsake’, confusing emotions shiver through my being.

Dom: Did The Vultures keep you as a prisoner?

“Why is he acting like he cares? If he cared, he’d let me go.”

Meatball looks at me as if to say,He’s keeping you herebecausehe cares.

Evie: It wasn’t as simple as that. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but if you’re going to pretend to be interested… When I was a kid, I thought The Vultures were my friends. I grew up around bikes and the smell of engine oil, and the big, scary bikers never seemed scary to me. They’d wear pieces of jewelry I made. I thought they cared about me.

Dom: What changed?

Evie: What was your nightmare about? And why was I in it? Did you dream you hurt me? Was it guilt that made you roar my name so loudly I heard you all the way down here in the dungeon?

Dom: I’d never hurt you. My dream was about my time overseas, but you were there too. It was messed up. We’re not talking about that.

Evie: What happened overseas?

Dom: Lots of awful shit.

Evie: Like what?

Dom: Tell me what changed with The Vultures.

Maybe he’s fishing for information about where they might hide, but I honestly have no clue. I wasn’t lying about that. Or is it possible he’s genuinely interested?

Evie: I saw Mason hit my mom for the first time. She’d hidden it from me for years. When I got older, I noticed things, like the drugs the bikers took, and how some of their girlfriends looked scared all the time. I tried to get Mom to leave, but she wouldn’t. She claimed she loved Mason. She didn’t see him as a bad guy, though he was responsible for every bad thing in her life.

I send the text, then write another, getting carried away.

Evie: Mom gaslit herself and she gaslit me. Mason would hit her, belittle her, then act nice for a few days or a week. The cycle would repeat. I begged her right until the end to leave him, but she just wouldn’t do it. I promised myself I’d never be in a relationship like that. I’d never let a man hurt me and mess with my head.

I click send, realizing this might screw with my plan. I should pretend to be an empty-headed person, a vessel Dom can fill with whatever idea of him he wants. If I’m going to seduce and trick him, sharing these raw details about the scars of my soul isn’t a good idea.

But I can’t stop. I’m angry. At him. At myself.

Dom: I’m not trying to mess with your head, Evie. I’m attracted to you. I won’t lie about that. But I know how fucked this is. I know it’s wrong. I just can’t stand the thought of letting you go and that sick bastard getting his hands on you.

Evie: I feel like Kaelen Mirae.

Dom: Who?

Evie: The Thornbound Oath? I thought everybody had heard of those books.

Dom: I don’t get much time to read these days.

Evie: It’s a series about a princess who’s kidnapped by a barbarian, and she knows she should hate him, but she can’t.

Dom: Do you wish you could hate me?

“He brought me to a freaking dungeon,” I tell Meatball. “He won’t let me leave. What answer does he expect?”

Evie: Hating you wouldn’t set me free, so no, I don’t.

Dom: Walk me through what you think happens if I drive you into the middle of nowhere and set you free. Your friend, Tash, understands that she’s better off with Rafe than she is waiting for The Vultures to show up and use her as leverage against you. What would your plan be?