Free Burn by R.J. Lewis Page B

were two men passed out on one couch and a half naked woman asleep on the plush rug on the floor beside them. Classy. Alcohol bottles littered the area around them.
                  A pool table and several other round tables sat on the other side. Gambling chips and cards were crowded on the tables along with empty beer bottles and left-over foods. This entire room seemed to be the entertainment area, and it stunk badly of cigarettes and alcohol.
                  Once we were out of the room and into a wide corridor, we passed offices and closed rooms. Remy took me up a long staircase to a second level where more endless closed doors sat. I distinctly heard the muffled sounds of moaning and the creaking of a bed spring from a room. I looked at Remy from the corner of my eye. The sounds didn’t seem to faze him at all.
                  He opened the last door and took me in. The smell of his cologne hit me hard. We were in his bedroom and it was huge. There was nothing interesting about it, mind you, just the essentials of a man who went to his bedroom solely to sleep and change clothes.
                  “Get in bed, Birdy,” he said, nudging me to his king sized bed. “You need to get some rest after this morning.”
                  He went to let go of my hand but I held it tighter. I looked at him with fretful eyes and said, “You’re leaving me here, aren’t you?”
                  He stared back, taking in my anxiety with bunched brows and flattened lips. “Sit down, Sara.”
                  I noticed that he only ever said my name in serious moments. The rest of the time it was Birdy. I did as I was told and sat down on the edge of his bed. He kneeled down in front of me until we were face to face. There was conflict in those eyes.
                  “I let you down,” he started, eyeing my throat as he spoke. “I was meant to keep you safe in that bunker, not have you in the hands of a man that was going to strangle you to death.”
                  “But you stopped it. You saved me.”
                  “And had I not gotten out of that shower, I wouldn’t have. I don’t even fuckin’ know why I did either.” He shook his head bitterly. “If I’d even been a minute late—”
                  “But you weren’t,” I interrupted. “So what’s the point of ‘ifs’?”
                  “Point is there should never be ‘ifs’, Sara. I should have taken you here instead. At least here you’re under the protection of all the Jackals and not just me. I was being selfish. I wanted you for myself and I shouldn’t have. Really fuckin’ stupid of me.”
                  “The attack wasn’t your fault. Stop making it out to be. You weren’t responsible for what happened.”
                  Though he didn’t believe my words, he nodded. “Yeah, well, now it’s my responsibility to find out who did this to you. This means I need you in here. I need you to rest so I can go and talk with the boys. I gotta figure this shit out with ‘em. Understand?”
                  I didn’t respond. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. “Birdy, I gotta go do this.”
                  “Then let me go, too. I don’t want to be alone.”
                  “You can’t. This shit’s club business. You gotta respect that now that you’re here.”
                  With a heavy heart and a burdened gulp, I eventually nodded. “Fine.”
                  “Okay. I’ll be back soon. That’s a promise.”
                  When he let go of my hand, he stood up straight and motioned me up the bed. I obliged, moving up to rest my head on the pillows. He grabbed the covers and threw them over me.
                  “Get some rest, Birdy.”
                  I