Dani closed her eyes. She really didn’t want that image. She opened them again, mildly traumatized, and vowed to never close her eyes again. “Someone else saw you,” Dani stated, focusing on the details that were easier to manage.
Katie nodded. “Yeah. Ronald Stemple. He hates your family more than I do. See, David and I didn’t... have sex. No one in the cabin was allowed to touch him; he just liked being shown off. But Ronald had this habit of peeking through the windows in the girls’ cabins. He had a little camera he’d take with him.”
Dani rolled her eyes. Of course, he did. She wondered if he’d been tipped off or if she were really getting that paranoid.
“He tried to blackmail your brother, but I took care of that.”
“Wait.” Dani turned as best she could, twisting to see Katie better. “Stemple... I know that name...”
“There was a big charity event for them not long after,” Katie supplied, “Markland raised almost fifty-grand.”
Dani blinked. “For what?”
“For the expenses that the insurance company didn’t cover, silly.” Katie clucked, and waved her hand like the details didn’t matter. “There was a big deductible in their fire insurance.”
“You burned down their house?”
“Oh, please.” Katie’s foot nudged Dani in the sore area under her rib. “You didn’t even remember them, so don’t play like it matters to you now. Anyway, the evidence was destroyed, and Ronald managed to get out in time, so no harm done!”
Dani groaned, and shook her head.
“But then David had to open his mouth. He went running to your daddy just because he got scared. I would never hurt him! The rope marks on Ronald scared him, but that was different! He didn’t need to go running off like that.”
There was another long pause before Katie spoke up again. “I didn’t go away to boarding school,” she whispered, “not at first. I spent a year in a hospital. Only it wasn’t a nice place, you know? Because of your brother, I ended up locked away! I didn’t do anything! I just gave him what he wanted; I covered for him when someone tried to hurt him, and what do I get out of it? My family locked me away and tried to forget about me!”
I can’t even... it’s no wonder... “Katie, I’m...” Dani ended the sentence with a “humph” because Katie kicked her. Hard.
“If you’re sorry, I don’t care. If you’re not, you should be!” she snapped. “I’m done with my life hinging on your family! I am done with your family, and if you think for one moment that David’s little meat didn’t swell when I said that he was mine to play with, you weren’t watching.”
“That’s my brother you’re talking about!” Dani cried from the floor.
Katie bounced to her feet and stepped over the trussed-up Dani. “Whatever.” She waved her hand, dismissing the entire topic. “I just thought you should know. Don’t you hate it when the villains in books and movies just go on forever in the middle of the battle to explain everything? It so ruins the tension of the moment. So, since you’re getting married tomorrow, I thought you should know all the details. You know. Before the end.” She smiled and stretched, her smile satisfied and somewhat... predatory? “Anyway, I should get back. Benny-ben gets all needy without me.” She smiled, and opened the door. “I suppose you have to untie her, huh?” she asked the guard. “That’s a shame. I like boys better, but she’s kinda cute.”
Dani’s eyes opened wide in horror as that particular thought kicked in.
No. Way. In. Hell.
The guard knelt beside Dani. “I’ll cut you free if you promise to be nice about it. Or I can leave you tied. Your choice.”
Dani lifted her head and looked at him. His face was swelling around his eye socket. Dani suppressed a laugh. “Yeah, I really am sorry about that.” She turned a barked laugh into a cough. “Really.”
The man stood and walked out, leaving her trussed on the floor.
It was an hour before someone came and finally set her free. By then, all she wanted was to rest. And that was why she was working out. Because Katie was a monster, David was... it was an image she didn’t want and couldn’t get rid of. And because Luke... no telling how Luke was right now. She’d seen the dogpile. He had to be hurting.
The catch in her side eased up enough for her stretch again.
That meant it was time for push-ups.
EXCEPT FOR A FEW BRUISED ribs and the split lip, Luke was pretty sure he wasn’t doing too badly. Okay, well, that and it hurt to breathe. He studied the split on his fist where the goon’s chin had taken the punch. Or maybe it was his tooth. Luke wasn’t exactly sure. It could probably use a stitch or two. Otherwise, he was fine. Mostly.
Of course, the dresser he landed on when they bodily threw him in the room was going to require some work. That, though, had been a foolish move on their part. They’d given him a weapon now, lots of pointy shattered boards which would hurt like blazes the next time someone came in there. Only it had been a few hours now, and he was starting to think he wasn’t loved anymore; no one had so much as come near his door since they’d bounced him.
Still, he kept the best piece handy as he attempted for the forty-third time to circle the room. Pacing helped, even if walking was vastly overrated. Eventually he was limping too much for even that, and half crawled, half stumbled to the bed. Oh, yeah, that was better. Somewhat. He rolled over onto the mattress and tried to straighten. His ribs advised against it, so he lay in the fetal position to wait for the pain to hit.
He was no stranger to the process. During an adrenaline rush pain was often reduced, usually suppressed for up to hours afterwards. Taking a hit while in a fight always hurt worse when the fight was over, and you had time to truly appreciate the broken nose, or black eye. In this case, they did try to leave him picture-perfect for the big day so, other than the split lip, his face had been pretty much left alone. It was the places it wouldn’t show that really hurt. In truth, the busted lip was mostly due to him hitting the floor—it was as much his fault as theirs.
The only consolation he had was that he’d given as good as he’d gotten. At least he hoped so. He damn well hoped so. He hated to think they’d gotten into that little melee for no purpose whatsoever.
He wondered if they’d had the guts to beat on Dani after they had taken her prisoner. He hadn’t been able to see her very well as they’d said goodnight. But then they’d been hung up and tied at the time. He suspected they’d gone easier on her. At least she hadn’t seemed overtly bloodied and bruised when they’d hauled her away. He supposed it was a bit sexist of them, but here at least he would bow to old-world thinking. It killed him to think of someone hurting her. And he hoped like hell she’d done as much damage to them, if not more than what he’d been able to see before they’d rushed him out. From the look of it, she’d disported herself amazingly well. But then he’d never doubted for a minute that she had the capability. She only needed to be mad enough.