Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
“You are always held accountable for your behavior,” he countered as he held out his hand imperiously. “Show me your sore toe.”
“Nope.” Not happening. “I am not here to satisfy your foot fetish.”
“I am starting to regret kidnapping you.”
“Good.” She was regretting ever leaving Zander’s compound.
“I don’t have a foot fetish,” he told her. “I want to check on your toe.”
Oh. Okay, that made much more sense.
“You hurt it and now you want to check it?” she asked.
“You hurt your toe yourself. I didn’t make you kick the door or my shin. You did that yourself.”
“Because you kidnapped me!” she exclaimed.
“You can’t use that as an excuse for all of your bad behavior.”
Was he serious?
“I can when it’s the reason that I’m here. If I hadn’t been kidnapped by you, then I wouldn’t have needed to kick the door or you.”
“You didn’t need to do either. Neither of them gained you anything.”
“Maybe I gained a sense of satisfaction,” she grumbled.
“You gained a sense of satisfaction out of hurting yourself? Odd.”
She sighed. “You’re a very frustrating man-robot.”
“Man-robot?” he asked as though bored with the entire conversation.
“Yes, I haven’t decided which one you are yet.”
He just stared at her, his hand still outstretched.
“You’re not giving up until I show you my toe, are you?” she asked.
“That’s correct.”
With a grumble, she placed her bare foot into his hand.
“Your foot is frozen. And white.”
Angie shrugged. “Poor circulation.” She didn’t want to explain that the systematic abuse she’d suffered at the hands of Fergus had led to peripheral vasoconstriction which was triggered by fear-induced stress.
Like being kidnapped and locked in a dark room.
Yes, she was really good at hiding her stress and fear. Didn’t mean that she wasn’t freaking out on the inside.
Which was probably going to lead to some other lovely issues popping up. Like more headaches and dizziness.
Breathe in with your belly. One, two, three, four.
Breathe out. One, two, three, four, five, six.
It was a trick her therapist had taught her. A way to calm down her nervous system.
It could bring her down off the edge of a panic attack. And it helped her sleep.
“You should have told me you were cold.”
“I didn’t know one could tell one’s kidnapper that they were freezing their tits off.”
He shot her a quelling look.
Yeah, she was definitely getting to him.
“Not that I really have any tits.”
Did one of his eyes narrow slightly?
Instead he shook his head and didn’t reply. That was disappointing.
Wait. Was she enjoying sparring with him?
Shoot. Was there something wrong with her that she liked that?
When he pushed down on her toe, she hissed. “Ouch! What are you trying to do? Bruise it more?”
“I’m checking to see if it is broken. Stop being a baby.”
A baby? She wasn’t a baby! And that hurt!
“Show me your other foot,” he demanded, holding out his other hand.
“Why? So you can hurt it too?”
“I wish to check if this foot is swollen.”
She grumbled but held up her other foot.
“It is. I’ll get you some ice and some painkillers.” He carefully placed her feet down.
“Can you also get my phone, a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey?” she said.
“You smoke?”
“No. I don’t drink whiskey either. But I figure that if there’s any time to take it up, it’s now.”
Without another word, he turned away and left.
Well. That was rude.
Also, now she was lonely. Shit. Worry filled her. Maybe her plan to annoy him until he let her go wasn’t going to work.
Perhaps that would just make him more irritated with her.
Hmm. Had he locked the door? Getting off the bed, she crept to the door and tested it.
Drat.
“Get off your sore foot,” a voice said into the room.
“Oh my God! You’re watching me? Do you know that you’re breaking all kinds of privacy laws?”
Well, she assumed he was
“I think I’ll take my chances. Considering all the other laws I’ve already broken.”
Hell.
Yeah, he had a point.
“What about if I want to get naked?” she demanded.
“Then I suggest you do it quickly. I wouldn’t worry, your naked body doesn’t interest me.”
Oh.
That was embarrassing.
She’d been rubbing herself all over him and he wasn’t into women.
“You’re into men?” she asked. Then she winced.
That was probably a bit rude.
Who cares? He’s your kidnapper.
Right. True.
“I’m not attracted to the sex of someone, but rather who they are.”
Oh.
Ohhh.
So it was her he wasn’t into. Wow. The hits kept on coming.
This was good, though.
She needed him to push her away because she was developing some weird sort of Stockholm Syndrome interest in him.
You’d have thought it would take days or weeks to develop. Not less than an hour.
Instead of doing as she was told, she limped over to the closet. Why hadn’t she thought of looking in here before?
Opening it, her mouth dropped open in shock.
In one half the closet, hanging up, were a variety of pretty dresses and onesies. The dresses had frills and lace, there was even a ballerina dress which she actually loved. Angie had always loved dancing even though she hadn’t done it in a long time.