the room was quiet. The only sound I could make out was the light breathing of the dog lying next to me on the bed. I took a gamble that Gideon had left.
My legs felt shaky as I stood. They also felt cold. At least I still had my underwear on. The sweatshirt I was wearing brushed against my thighs. Since it wasn't my shirt, I had to assume it was Gideon's, which meant that the man was at least a few inches taller than me. He was also more heavily built if the roomy fabric was anything to go by. I wasn't keen on walking around in my underwear, but I was even less keen on being stuck in a place with a complete stranger. I put my hands up in front of me and began taking baby steps. My hope was to find a wall which I could then follow to the door. I had no clue what I would do after that, but if I was lucky, I could figure out a way to get my clothes back. That, at least, would maybe put me on a more even playing field with the mysterious man.
"Careful, there's a chair about four steps in front of you."
I stopped abruptly at the sound of Gideon's voice. So the jerk was still in the room. I felt tears prick the backs of my eyes as I realized how much amusement he must be getting from watching me wander around like a helpless infant. I tried to remember my brother Con's breathing techniques to bring my emotions under control, but all I could consider was that I was trapped in a place I had no hope of escaping without asking for help. And worse, I was now completely disoriented and had no clue in which direction the bed lay. So I was stuck standing before a complete stranger in my underwear and his shirt.
Point to Gideon. He’d played me perfectly. Not that it was too difficult since I couldn't exactly see any of the moves coming my way.
"Where are my clothes?" I snapped impatiently as my panic began to increase. I'd spent years and years working to overcome the anxiety attacks I'd had as a kid. In my professional life, my love of the business I'd been building had seen me through moments exactly like this. There had been a million things I'd been terrible at when I'd been a kid, but video games and strategy hadn't been among them. So it hadn’t mattered if it was some cocky developer or arrogant business associate I’d been dealing with; I'd instinctively known how to play the hand I’d been dealt. But in this kind of situation, I might as well have still been that little kid standing in front of whatever foster family had deigned to take me in and listening quietly while someone else made all the rules and I was given the ultimate ultimatum.
Fall in line or pay the price.
I hadn't had the physical strength or the courage that King and Con had shown every time they'd had to deal with the ins and outs of the foster care system, so I'd always fallen in line. And even when I'd followed every rule, I’d still paid the price. I'd learned then what an unfair place the world was and I'd sworn long before I’d turned eighteen that I would never let anyone put me in that kind of position again.
But here I was, letting someone do exactly that. I wanted to believe it was just because of my failing vision that I couldn't find the courage to tell Gideon to fuck off, but deep down I knew it wasn't true. I was at his mercy. He knew it and I knew it. Even if by some miracle I could get my clothes back, then what? I couldn't make out the individual fingers on my hand, so how the hell would I be able to find my way back to my cabin? Maybe I could get lucky and find a phone, but who would I call besides my brothers? It would take King or Con or Luca hours to get to me. And I didn't really believe Gideon wanted to hurt me. At most, I figured he wanted a little bit of payback for my rude treatment of him the day before.
So I made myself stand there and accept whatever he would throw my way. I went into my head and tried