Page 54 of Paradise & Vodka

I wanted to reply, "You’re welcome," but those two words didn’t feel right. It had been one of the best weeks of my life too. Sure, it was a job, and I was getting paid, but I honestly had never felt so comfortable with a single person as I had with Ashleigh. I had never cared about a woman as much as I cared for her, either.

"You’ll meet a woman who you’ll start to care about, and then before you know it, you’ll never want to go a day without her."

Well, fuck.

I hadn’t realized that we’d fallen asleep, but at some point, we had. Leaning against the wall with Ashleigh by my side, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs outside the cellar door that woke me. I didn’t know how long it had been since the phone call with Paul, but the footsteps didn’t sound hurried.

A key slipped in the lock, and then the door opened. One of the goons set two bottles of water on the floor and left without a word, locking the door behind him.

Ashleigh stirred. "Who was that?"

"Just one of the guys bringing us water."

"Finally. I'm so thirsty."

I grabbed the bottles and handed her one. We each drank the entire bottle in one gulp.

"Now I'm going to have to pee." She chuckled.

I held up the empty bottle and winked. "I won't look."

"Oh, God," she groaned. "I hope I don't have to do that."

I started to pace, not having anything else to do and hoping that it was almost time for us to be set free. How criminals didn't lose their minds in their cells in jail and prison baffled me. I couldn't imagine spending years in a space so small. Though, they at least had a bed, a toilet, and possibly a fucking book to read. We had nothing but each other.

"How do you think they know about Everleigh and Douglas?" Ashleigh asked.

I shrugged. "Who the fuck knows. Dougie probably set all of this up."

Her brown eyes widened. "You think so?"

I thought for a moment. "I'm not sure."

"It can't be random, can it?"

"I doubt it. They probably do this all the time."

"Really?"

"I mean, it doesn't seem smooth sailing on their end, but I bet no one thought we were going to have a fucking tsunami happen."

"So, you think they really did plan to pick up Everleigh?"

I thought about her question before I answered, "I think so. I think both her and Dougie, and they were going to get money from his father."

"Do you think they're still in danger?"

"If they're still alive."

She gasped. "What if they aren't? What if my parents aren't, either?"

I walked over to her and wrapped her in my arms. "Let's not think about that until we're out of here."

"Yeah. Hopefully, that's soon."

I fucking hoped so.

We fell asleep again.This time, when I woke up it was because of gunfire. "Baby!" I shook Ashleigh as I stood. "He's here."