eather echoed through the priv

Thud

bare back, soaking into the waistband of his shorts. He

r bange

er guess wh

ed in holding a tablet. Christian was everything Jul

a grunt. He grabbed a towel. "If this is about an

"It's about your little p

ped his face slowly

reen and held it up. It

You know, just to be safe

data. It was a list of

g the line with his finger. "Liam, Mark, David... they all end. Right around the eight-w

t the number. A

sked, feigning

ch. She runs the clock, gets what she wants, or gets scared, and bails before it ge

is stomach. He looked at the data

as driven. Focused.

ngle just another way to pass the time until the

Julian said, but his v

n said, tossing the tablet onto a benc

owel at Christian'

ed and dodged,

his chest heaving. H

a text f

nfirmation. Thank you aga

ded a sm

the emoji. It l

yped

don't. This

e message. The temperature of the con

I do?" she

't a game. It was a trauma response. It was the exact duration her father, Kenneth

ark, panic set in. The walls closed

wn, feeling a famili

he wall. He hated that he cared. He hated that t

d to the bag. He hit

n. Or he would break her.