Putting her hands by her sides, straightening her shoulders, she walked to her closet and flung open the door. A large Giovanni purse was leaning against the wall, on the floor, surrounded by shoes. A little laugh burst from her, edging near hysteria, as she pulled reached for the handles and put it on the bed.
So much déjà vu. It was just like it had been a week or so ago. God, had it really been that short of time since she had been…what, kidnapped? It seemed like a millennia, except this time, she had a man to go to. One that wouldn’t hurt her.
Nervous, anxious tears burned her eyes. She couldn’t be here any longer; it was too much like it had been before. Every piece of clothing that she grabbed onto felt like it weighed a ton, and it was so hard to put it inside the large purse. By the time she had her second outfit in there, Jamie thought her arms were going to fall off.
And then the sound of a door opening shot through the room and right to her head.
Jamie froze like a deer caught in headlights. For a brief instant, she tried telling herself that it was Talon, and that Jessica had told him where she had went. But Talon moved with a silent grace. Chris liked to slam things around.
Just as he was now.
“Oh god,” she whispered, grabbing onto the purse and closing it shut as quietly as she could. The metallic clasp was like a bomb in her eardrum.
Large, thundering footsteps came closer to the door, and then — they stopped.
Taking a shuddering breath, and praying that her heart wouldn’t explode out of her chest, Jamie pushed the shoes back into the closet and did the smartest thing she could think of — she climbed into the closet and pulled the door shut.
Hopefully he would make a beeline for the bathroom and she would be able to sneak out while he was in there. When his footsteps sounded close to her ear, she almost died of a heart attack. There was no way she was going to get out of it. Chris would find her and she would die and Talon would…most likely go insane.
It took all of her willpower to not slam the door into his face before she could open it. After meeting Talon, so much had changed about her. Just thinking about him had her blood boiling, strength from memories of him making her courageous, and a new resolution to face her fears.
It figures that her thoughts would vanish the second the door was open.
Now she was close to whimpering and crying and shaking from head to foot. Great.
Jamie raised her hands to her face, preparing to be hit. She flinched against the wall, tears already welling in her eyes. She had been so stupid to come here, to think that by getting clothes she wouldn’t be a burden. What if this were Talon, and she lost him somehow?
At the thought, her heart broke and the first tear fell. Even though Talon would never let himself die, it still tore her at the soul to even think about it and knowing that he would be hurt by her death…
“Jamie, what are you doing.”
The bored, almost condescending tone had her head snapping up. It wasn’t Chris, coming to beat the ever-living crap out of her. No, it was the man that hadn’t had the time of day to talk to her for a whole week, who had ignored her and left her in the mornings, and now had the look of a completely irritated man.
The tears dried, replaced by shock.
“Talon?”
“Obviously. Now, what are you doing? Were you breaking into this house?” He looked around them slowly, taking in their surroundings with a sheen of disdain covering his eyes.
Her face turned a flaming red and she brought her hands to her cheeks, not knowing what else to do. He wasn’t moving from the doorway, nor was he making any move to.
“Actually, no…” she stuttered, wiping her cheeks. Talon stared down at her with mute concentration. She tried again. “I used to…well I do…live here…”
His eyes zeroed in on the pair of male loafers that were set next to her heels. An unreadable look clouded his eyes, and he looked at her with an even stonier silence. “Who lived here with you?” The abruptness of the question had her flinching.