He grimaces at that and turns the bed around. The muscles in my body only start to relax once we get to the blue hallways. As we pass the windows, it’s dark outside. It must be the middle of the night.
“What time and day is it?” I ask him.
Roberts lets out a grunt as he forces the bed into one of the rooms. “It’s 2 a.m. Saturday morning.”
I nod. I’ve lost a day and a half. Not as much as I thought.
The room he’s wheeled me into is very much like the one I was in before, except the desk is on the back wall, and the bed is on the right. Roberts wheels me in but doesn’t uncuff me. Instead, he reaches for his phone.
“Who am I calling?”
I glare at him. He wants a number for someone to call to make the transaction. Clever, clever guy. I reel off Lorcan’s number. Roberts dials it.
“Let me speak to him,” I demand. When he doesn’t make a move to do that, I add, “He won’t talk to you.”
Roberts’s mouth becomes a grim line as he comes over to where my head is and places the phone to my ear.
“Hello? Who the fuck is this?” Lor’s voice seethes down the phone. It’s music to my ears after all this time.
“Is that any way to greet your girlfriend?”
“V?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Oh, thank fucking God. Where the hell have you been?”
“With Jude.” There’s no time to explain, so that’s all I’m giving him for now.
I hear him let out a breath. “I thought….fuck, I’m glad you’re okay. Do not disappear like that ever again, you hear me?”
Roberts is scowling at me, mouthing at me to hurry up. I shoot a shitty look at him and carry on with what I have to say to lor.
“No time to talk. I need one hundred—”
“Two hundred,” Roberts says, tilting his head. He has me where he wants me, so all I can do is glower back and correct my request to Lorcan.
“—two hundred pounds in this guy’s account. Can you do that?”
“Is he blackmailing you?” Lor spits.
“No, I’m bribing him.”
There’s another long, drawn-out sigh from the other end of the line. “Fine, let me grab my laptop.”
There’s a rustling sound as Lorcan does just that. He must be in bed. My mind flies to who with, but immediately I shut it down. Lorcan needs someone to spoon him in bed at night, or he can’t sleep. That means there’s someone there with him, and for some fucking reason, I’m rabid at the thought.
“Okay, I’ve got it. I’m just logging into the offshore account now.”
“Switch on Quinn’s rerouting software,” I say to Lorcan, efficiently resisting the need to interrogate him on his sleeping arrangements these days.
“I already have done.”
“Good,” I snap. I switch my blank gaze to Roberts. “Now untie me, and then you can give him your details.”
He frowns and moves slowly to undo the velcro binds around my wrists and ankles. Then, after a nod from me, he reels off some numbers down the phone. I wait, massaging my wrists and ankles.
Finally, Roberts shakes his head, handing me the phone “Your boyfriend wants to talk to you.”