“Oh!”
Kaden’s lips tightened at her response. “You fucking bitch.” Kaden strode forward. “Seven people are being sent to the hospital because of your stunt.” Jerking her to her feet, he propelled her into the bathroom, slamming the door closed behind them.
“I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.” Sawyer fought back the tears threatening to escape. She bit back a sob when she saw that several of the scratches were deep.
“You don’t care about anybody but yourself, Sawyer,” Kaden said harshly, pulling out a first aid kit from the small closet, slamming it down on the bathroom counter.
“That’s not true,” Sawyer protested.
“Yes, it is. Alec saw one of Redman’s men in the crowd. Even if you had managed to get outside the arena, he would have had you within minutes.”
Sawyer paled. She had been so focused on escaping Alec’s security; she hadn’t given a thought to Rick’s men possibly being so close.
Kaden closed the lid to the toilet, taking a seat. “You can clean me up since you’re the reason I got hurt.” She started to refuse, but thought for her own safety that it was better to concede to his demands.
Going to the counter, she pulled out some antiseptic and cotton balls, which she dabbed with the antiseptic before hesitantly moving closer to him. He had flung the remains of his t-shirt into the laundry basket before glaring up at her. Gently she cleaned the scratches on his face and then got a clean one to do his chest. She winced when she saw how deep it was, taking her time to make sure that it was clean. She smeared antibiotic ointment onto each of the scratches. Tilting his head back, she then cleaned his bloody nose with a wet cloth, forcing herself to continue when more blood oozed out. Finally, the bleeding stopped and she began to sanitize the cuts on his head, which took several minutes to clean as she realized several handfuls of his hair had been pulled out by the roots.
“I—I g—guess you’re more popular than I realized,” she tried to wisecrack, inwardly sickened by the sight of his scalp.
“Sawyer, I don’t know how, but in some way you have mistakenly come to the conclusion that I’m a nice guy,” Kaden spoke from between his clenched teeth.
“N—no I didn’t,” Sawyer interrupted.
“You do or you wouldn’t be standing there, making lame ass jokes at my expense.”
Kaden stood up and Sawyer took a step back, going to the first aid kit and putting everything back in order. She glanced up to see that Kaden was undressing behind her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to take a shower,” Kaden replied, unsnapping his jeans. With a gasp, Sawyer fled the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
She turned on the television and took a seat in the chair by the window. She had made the mistake in trying to escape before thinking it through. Not only her safety was at stake; Vida’s was as well. She stared out the dark window, thinking about her friend, wishing she was there to talk to. They had always confided everything with each other, ever since they were little.
The bathroom door opening drew her attention as Kaden came out with just a towel wrapped around his hips. His dark hair was wet and his lean body still had droplets of water sliding down his chest to be caught by the towel. Sawyer swallowed at the man’s overt sensuality and lack of modesty, while he ignored her, going to the closet to pull out his bag, taking out fresh clothes.
“I’m sorry.”
Her husky voice had him pausing before he zipped his bag closed. Tossing the towel to the floor, he unconcernedly put on his jeans. Sawyer turned her head away, listening to the rustle of his clothes as he dressed.
“Come here.”
Sawyer’s head turned to see that he was standing in the middle of the floor with his hands tucked into his pockets. She was determined to stay seated, but felt herself rising to her feet, moving to stand a few feet in front of him.
“Say that again. This time while looking me in the eyes.” Sawyer’s hand went to her hair, unconsciously twining a curl around her finger.
“I’m s—sorry.I never meant for anyone to be h—h—hurt.” It was hard to meet his eyes with a guilty conscience berating her.
“That’s better.” Kaden’s eyes studied her before he bent down to pick up the wet towel. Going into the bathroom, she saw him tossing it into the dirty clothes bin. He then leaned against the doorway.
“Tomorrow, we have one more concert before we take a week’s break at R.J.’s house. The security team is spending their resources trying to keep you contained, and are failing on keeping the fans and press out. It’s going to stop now, Sawyer. We are going to come to an agreement that’s going to keep everyone safe.”
“What do you mean? You’re going to let me go?” Hope lightened the dread in her chest.
“No.” Kaden’s voice softened, but not by much. “What I mean is, do we both agree that five thousand isn’t a drop in the bucket to what you actually need for you and your friend to disappear?”
She didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. Five thousand would maybe keep them hidden a couple of months if they were frugal and she wasn’t confident that with that amount of money they wouldn’t be found.
“Y—yes.”
“Then to secure your cooperation, I’m willing to give you three hundred thousand dollars for three months of your time.”
Sawyer’s mouth dropped open; she didn’t know what to say.
“That should give us enough time to figure out what to do to fix the situation.” Kaden wasn’t going to let her go regardless of her answer; however, she was fully aware that they needed a large sum of money if they were going to be safe from Redman.
“I can’t leave Vida without making sure she’s safe.”
“Vida is safe. Alec has checked it out, and she went to a man named King for protection.”
Kaden was going to have to give her some more information if she was going to quit trying to escape.
“K—King?” Surprised, Sawyer didn’t know what to think. King was certainly strong enough to keep Vida protected. He was also undoubtedly more capable than the police. He operated on his own ethical standards. Neither Vida nor she knew King very well, but King had never tried to harm them. In fact, from what she had found out after her mother’s death, he had been keeping an eye on them for a very long time.
“Do you know him?”
“Not very well. He would come by the apartment building Vida and I lived in when we were kids. I never knew who he visited or why he was there. Mom told me one time that he controlled Queen City. It was only when I got older that I realized how.”
“Is your friend safe with him?”
King ran several strip clubs, dealt in prostitution and drugs. Sawyer wanted to say no, but a memory from her childhood had her changing her opinion.
“Yes. I don’t know why, but he feels he owes us a favor.”
Kaden’s gaze sharpened on her. Sawyer felt it without understanding his interest in King.
“I—I really don’t know why. When we were little, Vida and another friend of mine and me were playing. To make a long story short, some boys in our neighborhood started messing with us and threw a doll out into the road. Callie ran out after it and Vida chased after her. I managed to save both from being hit by a car. King told me afterward that he owed me. Not long afterward, he put a protection order out in the neighborhood that we weren’t to be touched.”
“Why did he owe you? For saving Callie or Vida? Was he related to either of them?”
“N—no, C—Callie didn’t even know who he was, while Vida was like me; we knew who he was because our mothers warned us how dangerous he could be.”
“Could Vida be connected to King? Maybe that’s why she went to him for help?”
“I doubt it. She would have told me.”
“Okay. So do you believe that Vida will be safe with King?”
“Yes.” She was reluctant to admit it, yet it was the truth.
“So will you st
op your escape attempts now that you know Vida is safe?”
Unable to bear the scrutiny in his eyes, she turned away to sit on the side of the bed. It was a relief to know that Vida was safe.
“I can’t forget about those women kidnapped for the next three months.” How could he expect her to feel nothing for the women she had lain in a dark room with, hearing their cries for help every night?
She heard Kaden’s frustrated sigh before his words had her staring back at him in confusion. “Alec is taking care of it, Sawyer. That’s all I can tell you for now. You have to trust me. Did I let Rick take you and the other women? Haven’t I kept you safe? The other women who Rick sent to the hotel are safe and can’t be touched, either.”