Page 15 of Endurance

“I’m not.”

“Good.”

He looked at the bathroom door behind me. “How long should we wait until we go in there and get her?

The moment I felt movement in the bed I knew Maura was awake and trying to sneak away. I betted she hadn't been happy to discover that we'd broken into the bathroom a few hours after she'd locked herself in it. We'd found her sleeping against the wall with her legs curled up to her chest. Killing Aryans must have been tiring because she hadn't even stirred when I'd scooped her up and carried her to the bed.

Peeking through my lashes, I fought not to smile as she scooted slowly toward the foot of the bed. It was cute that she thought I’d let her get away after just finding her. Once she was off the bed and tiptoeing toward the door, I dared to open my eyes fully. She stopped by the closet and pulled out a bag. She glanced back over at us and I had to shut my eyes again and didn’t open them until I heard her move for the door.

I shot up from the bed and made it over to her just as she finished turning the deadbolt. I put my hands on the door on either side of her shoulders. One; to keep her from opening the door. And two; I liked that I had her trapped between me and the door. The dental floss that her dress had for straps had fallen off her shoulders and her breasts were barely holding her napkin dress on her body. Her hair was tousled as if I’d spent the whole night with my dick buried deep inside her.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

She turned to face me, and my gaze dropped to where her dress was hanging on for dear life. One little yank and she’d be bare before me. And I knew for damn sure she wasn’t wearing any panties.

Her eyes also moved down to my chest, heat filling them as they roamed over me. As if realizing what she was doing, her eyes returned to mine and I did nothing to hide my smirk.

“I’m not hungry,” she said, sounding irritated at being caught.

I stepped closer, making her back up until she was pressed against the door. I leaned forward and laid a kiss on her collar bone. She jerked, rattling the door behind her. Her reaction made me chuckle against her soft skin. “I think you’re hungry. Not for food, though.”

“Don’t fuck with me,Jameson,”she growled.

I pulled away. “I’m not fucking with you. Just stating what you’re too stubborn to admit.”

“You wish.”

“Enough,” Louie snapped, startling both of us.

I pushed off the door and snatched away the bag she had been holding. Yanking it open, I began going through it. We had already hidden her gun last night, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if she'd had another. I pulled out another fake ID and a passport with her picture on them. I found a burner phone next and decided to toss it to her. “Call your little team. Tell them that we’ll drop you off in a couple of hours.”

“Or you could just let me leave,” she grumbled.

I tried to not get angry. I hated that she was so determined to run away from us. “No. She was our baby, too, Maura. Revenge is not only yours.” I tossed her bag on the dresser as I walked away from her.

“So, what? You’re going to help?” she asked, her tone full of distrust.

“Yes,” Louie answered from where he sat on the foot of the bed. “We want to help.”

The room fell quiet for a moment until she said, “Fine. I’m taking a shower.” She grabbed her bag from the dresser and disappeared back into the bathroom.

Other than giving us directions, Maura was quiet. Too quiet. I’d sneak peeks into the backseat through the rearview mirror to check on her. For most of the drive she was unreadable. However, the longer we drove and the closer we got to our destination, the more her mask dropped as she stared out the window. That vacant yet sorrowful look she'd used to have in the hospital returned.

“Turn here,” she said, pulling my focus back to the road. She had led us to a heavily wooded area in the mountains. For a while now we had been driving on a dirt road. I pulled down what looked like a long private drive that led up to a large cabin. I spotted Dean and Asher standing on the wrap around porch as we pulled up. So this was where she had been hiding for the past three months.

Maura jumped out of the car before I could even shift it into park. Her security looked her over as if assessing for injuries. It pissed me off that they’d think we’d lay a hand on her. Once they were done, and after Louie and I had gotten out of the car, their gazes shifted to us. By their pissed off looks, it was obvious that they weren’t happy that we were here. I didn’t give a fuck. They could glare at us all they wanted. We weren’t going anywhere.

The front door of the cabin opened just as we reached the steps leading up to the porch. Brenna stepped out with a Glock. She looked Maura up and down. “You okay?”

“Just peachy,” Maura grumbled and looked at Dean. “Did you move things around?”

Dean didn’t look away from me as he responded, “Yup.”

“Finn made lunch. Let’s go eat,” Brenna said and practically dragged Maura inside.

I moved up the steps and Dean blocked my way before I could make it to the top. “You got something to say?” I asked, not at all impressed by their attempt to intimidate us.

“Just trying to figure out why you’re here,” Dean said as if he were bored by this whole situation.