a sex worker than that I was—well, whatever I was.
Hell, I’d happily sleep with Holden for free. Him paying me to do the same thing wouldn’t be such a bad deal. But please, don’t let him—
“It’s complicated,” Holden repeated, and I sagged in relief.
Daisy just nodded, like she understood that was all she was going to get. She transferred her gaze to me.
“Well, sorry about that. Now that I know you’re here, it won’t happen again.” She looked back at Holden. “Unless you need anything else from me, I ought to get back to the gatehouse. I just came in for coffee.”
Holden nodded, and after exchanging goodnights and waving Daisy off, he turned to me.
“I really am sorry. I should have warned you about Daisy. I just didn’t expect you to—well, what were you doing anyway?”
I opened my mouth to reply, then grimaced as I felt air move through my throat. Still fiery. So I just pointed back towards the kitchen and mimed drinking from a cup.
“Got it. Well, like she said, that shouldn’t happen again.” Holden made a face. “And you won’t be staying that long anyway.”
Right. Of course.
I gave him what I hoped was an ‘Of course I’m not staying, I’ll be gone before you know it, and I definitely haven’t been fantasizing about moving here to be your permanent sex slave’ kind of smile, then nodded and headed back up the stairs.
I wasn’t staying. I needed to remember that.
And more importantly, I needed to remember who I was.
I had nightmares again that night. A little clearer this time—I dreamt about being tied up, and trapped somewhere small, and someone’s hands around my neck—but it was still so fuzzy that the images faded the moment I woke up.
The headache they left behind lingered, though, and my mouth tasted like blood. I was pretty sure I’d bitten my tongue overnight. I tried to swallow the taste down and noticed, with pleasant surprise, that at least my throat felt a little better.
I sat up in bed and looked around the small room I had to remember not to think of as mine. I might be staying here for the moment, but it wasn’t permanent. Which meant it was time to figure out who I was.
I threw the covers back and walked over to the desk, body still stiff but my joints screaming a little less than they had yesterday. There was a stack of new clothes, a towel, and a note on the wooden surface.
I’ll be working in my office most of the day down in the south-west wing. You know where the kitchen is, obviously. There’s a computer in another office next to it if you want to use the internet. Knock if you need anything.
I felt a little like I was being brushed off, Holden leaving a note but not sticking around to talk to me in person, but I tried to convince myself he was being caring instead. After all, he hadn’t had to leave a note at all.
Besides, it’s not like it mattered. Holden wasn’t interested, and I couldn’t seriously be interested in him, not when I didn’t even know my own name. Obsessing over stupid little things like that wouldn’t do any good.
Still, the thought of Holden coming into the room while I was sleeping made me feel… something. My cheeks flushed at the image of him watching me as I slept. Vulnerable. That was what I felt. But not entirely in a bad way.
Maybe you should have been the one to sleep naked, suggested that ever-so-helpful voice in the back of my mind. If he’s kicking you out in a couple days, might as well shoot your shot while you can.
Shaking my head and telling that voice not to be an idiot, I grabbed the towel and headed for the shower.
I felt loads better once I was clean. The hot water scalded my cuts at first, but I figured it was better to clean them out anyway. And it felt amazing on my muscles. I found a fresh bottle of painkillers on the countertop and smiled.
Maybe Holden just wasn’t good at the face-to-face stuff.
After getting dressed in an oversized Birch Bay Ice Fishing Opener sweatshirt from 1994 and a pair of jeans I had to cuff three times, I headed down to the kitchen to grab some yogurt, then went in search of the office Holden had mentioned.
The computer I found was ancient. The monitor was boxy and probably weighed as much as I