Insatiable (Steel Brothers Saga #12) - Helen Hardt Page 0,16

no idea where else to turn.

I logged in to the account Joe had created to communicate with the Spider.

And jolted in surprise.

An email was waiting.

Chapter Twelve

Marjorie

I couldn’t reach the phone, but I could create a diversion. I shoved the rest of the piece of pizza in my mouth and chewed ferociously. Then I made the best gagging sound I could and spat the contents onto the table in front of me.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Alex spat out. “More puke?”

I kept choking and coughing, feigning gagging. I waved my hands around, clutching my throat. I said nothing, continued to gasp.

Someone had told me a long time ago that if you could ask for the Heimlich maneuver, you didn’t need it. What I needed now was for them to think I needed it.

Dominic ran into the room. “Shit. What now?”

“The dumb bitch shoved a whole piece of pizza into her mouth and now she’s choking.”

“Help her!” Dominic yelled. “We need her!”

“I no longer care, Dom.”

“I do.” Dominic grabbed me around the chest.

I looked quickly at the table. The cell phone was gone. Colin had pocketed it. Before Dominic could break my ribs, I spat a chunk onto the floor and then inhaled a deep gasp. “I’m good. I’m good.”

Dominic let me go. “Thank God.”

I turned to Alex. “Thanks for your help.”

Again the eye roll. What was up with her? Then I rolled my own eyes. Stupid question. She drugged and kidnapped people for a living. I really didn’t need to know anything else to explain her behavior.

I looked quickly at Colin, and he nodded ever so slightly at me. Good. He had the phone. Now to figure out how to get alone and make a call.

First things first. “Thank you,” I said to Dominic.

“She shoved a whole piece in her mouth, Dom. What was that about?”

“I’m hungry,” I said. “How the heck do I know when we’ll get food again?”

“I told you you’d get breakfast,” Dominic said.

“Pardon me for not taking you at your word.”

“I need to use the bathroom,” Colin said.

“You didn’t eat hardly anything,” Alex said.

“I still have to piss,” he said.

“I have to go too,” I said. “Where’s the can?”

“You want to go with him?”

“No thanks. I’ll wait outside the door while he goes.”

“I don’t think so,” Alex said. “Not happening.”

“Fine. Whatever. But I might upchuck again.”

“There can’t possibly be anything left in you,” she groused.

“I’ll take him to the bathroom,” Dominic said. “You stay here with her.”

Colin would be alone with the phone. A good thing, but did he know the right number to text?

Yes! He might not have my brothers’ numbers, but he did have Jade’s.

Perfect.

He’d send a text— No, better yet, he should call and leave the line open so Jade could have it traced. Would he know to do that? We didn’t have a lot of time. Dave could come back and realize his phone was missing any minute.

At least Colin would do something. I just wasn’t sure what.

Damn. I should have gotten the phone from him somehow. But could I have? Dave had left it next to Colin, far from my reach.

I inhaled slowly and then let the air out. Trust. I had to trust Colin to do this right.

Each second he was gone in the bathroom felt like hours. Pretty soon, Dominic would be pounding on the door telling him to hurry. Colin was a nervous wreck as it was.

Please, please, Colin. Keep it together and get this done.

I looked at my watch, which, oddly, they hadn’t taken from me. In fact, they hadn’t taken anything, really. My purse was here somewhere. It had been next to me when they removed my blindfold on the couch in what appeared to be the living room.

I suppressed a surprised shudder.

My purse.

Had they gone through it?

I had no idea.

But in my purse…

My security blanket.

I hadn’t gotten rid of the blade. It was still there, nestled in its zippered cavern, waiting for me. The little pouch was invisible unless you knew to look for it, and no one except Mel and now Bryce knew my secret.

Guilt had consumed me after I told them both I’d dumped the blade for good. Thank God I’d kept it for a very good reason—a reason I hadn’t known at the time.

Ten minutes had passed since Colin had entered the bathroom. Ten very long minutes. If he took much longer, Dominic would get suspicious.

Come on, Colin. Come on.

As if on cue, he walked back into the kitchen, Dominic following him. Alex