Page 13 of Bound in Promise

“And where the hell am I supposed to grab one of those? You think I got a rich prick like you hangin’ out, ready to dig that bullet out of you?”

Liam shifts his weight. He knows he doesn’t have many options.

He can either go to a hospital—where I’ll scream to anyone who’ll listen that he’s kidnapped me—or he can go along with whatever guy his friend has called.

I hope he doesn’t have any painkillers or numbing medicine. I want Liam to feel everything, the universe paying him back in pain for his bright idea of kidnapping me.

“Maybe we should head to the ER, Liam,” I suggest for the second time since he’s gotten shot—by me. I’m not worried about him, but I’ll say anything to increase the odds of me getting the help I need to escape. “The last thing you want is an infection or?—”

“Shut up,” he snaps, sending a glower my way. “You’re the reason—” I cock my head and try not to smirk.

Liam catches himself, clenching his jaw and leaving the sentence unfinished.

Meanwhile, Liam’s buddy nods toward him as the phone begins to ring again. “You gonna take that call or…”

“Behave yourself, Vee,” Liam orders, his jaw ticking. In other words, don’t say anything about what really happened or why we’re here.

He saunters toward the front of the small house, dodging the piles of trash and debris.

“What’s a girl like you doin’ with a guy like him?”

I’m not going to answer stupid questions. “What does that mean?”

He shrugs. “Liam doesn’t date.”

“Really?” I hedge, trying to appear calm, relaxed even. “Because I dated him for too long.”

The dude laughs a bit and leans back in his chair, inspecting me further while he stretches out his long legs, almost touching me in the process. “That bad, huh?”

“Do I look like I want to be here?”

He averts his light brown eyes, and I’m relieved at the break from his attention. “This ain’t a palace, but we’re fun people.”

“I like to stay in.”

“Bummer,” he drawls, slicing that spine-chilling gaze back to me. “I got something goin’ in the backyard tonight. Was thinking of invitin’ you two.”

I definitely don’t want to stay, but Liam probably will. I don’t want to deal with him or any other party guests who might get handsy. And I have no idea how long his call might take…

My face scrunches with false regret and I wave my hand through the air. “Oh, we can’t stay. Liam is taking me to some magic card show.”

His face skews in confusion. “What?”

I look heavenward and shake my head, painting a picture that won’t just give us an excuse to leave before the party, but will hopefully dent the cool image Liam’s trying to project. “Yeah, it’s kind of interesting, I guess. He gets high and does these weird card tricks. He wanted me to call him Harry Potter one time?—”

“The dude goes to magic shows?”

I lift a brow. “He hasn’t tried to pull a coin from your boxers yet?” The guy squints at me. Admittedly, I took it a little too far to be believable with that. “Do you have a bathroom?”

The dude jerks his head over his shoulder. “Down the hall. First door to the right.”

I practically jump from my chair and follow his instructions. I memorized the house number when we walked up, but I didn’t get the street name.

Hopefully the phone I borrowed—stole—from Liam’s victim has enough battery for me to grab my location and send it to Ellie. It only had twenty percent when I texted her from the hotel earlier, but I’ve kept it off.

Stepping into the truly disgusting bathroom, I do my best not to touch anything. The counter is cluttered with random products, some of them open and oozing, but it’s the used needle carelessly tossed to the side of the faucet that sends a shiver down my spine.

And they do hard drugs here. Fucking fantastic.