Reluctant thief Baz Barret is tasked with stealing from the formidable archaeologist Rei Collingwood--who happens to also be his college crush and rival--but when Rei goes missing after the burglary, Baz must find her before he's blamed for her disa...
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The trunk made Baz long for the roomy hiding place that had been Rei's closet from what felt like a decade earlier. It hadn't been that long, of course. It had hardly been a week and Baz had gone from willfully ignorant outside contractor to being shoved into a trunk in an alleyway. If only his father could see him now, so successful and in no way a disappointment.
Baz blinked in the dark, listening to the dull hum of the radio that the driver turned on after everyone else left the car. His hands had gone cold, blood struggling to find its way beneath the plastic zip ties. Bruises would blossom from Jasper's gentle handling as he shoved Baz hard into the trunk, discretely pressing the muzzle of his gun into Baz's side when Cheng wasn't looking. With a little more effort, Baz could turn himself into one large bruise, mottled in a dazzling array of purples and greens, healing and bruising, healing and bruising...
The truth was, it was easier to dwell on that than to think of a way out. Baz feared there wasn't one and trying to seek out a solution would only end in frustration in failure. His thoughts spun in circles until he closed his eyes, making little difference in the darkness of the trunk, and took a deep breath. One hard kick upward only resulted in the radio droning louder, not quite loud enough to hear the lyrics, but enough to get distorted bass and drums clearly.
Maybe banging his head repeatedly against the trunk would do the trick. If not, maybe he could successfully knock himself out.
Everything was not horrible. Rei bargained his life back. She traded millions in assets for his freedom. No more blackmail. That had to count for something. He meant something to Rei. The thought bolstered him a little.
He groped in the tiny space, cold fingers searching for anything that might help. A hard edge or an opening. How did he escape? If he could get into a secure building, surely there was a way to get out of a secure trunk. It was the opposite of what he was already good at and there had to be hope. His finger run over the rough carpeting of the trunk, over the odd shapes that accommodated essential elements of the car. The metal was smooth and cool and useless. Baz needed something sharp, something that could cut through his restraints.
Baz reached for his neck, the comforting gesture more obvious and difficult while his wrists were bound together. He rolled the signet ring around between his fingers, feeling the crest embossed in it as he tugged it across the chain like it might help him think.
The sound seemed to echo, like the trunk was a cave sending the ominous sawing sound back at him. Back and forth, back and forth.
Weren't there manual chain saws, just teeth pulled back and forth to cut down entire trees? Maybe. Maybe that could work. The worst thing that could happen was it wouldn't work and that would only leave Baz in the same position: trapped in a trunk.
Almost anything was an improvement on that.
He brought the ring to his mouth, using his teeth to wedge it between his wrists. The ties and the ring pressed into his skin. Baz needed it to fit, needed to thread the ring underneath the plastic. Jasper tried to tighten the restraints as tight as he could, but flesh was malleable. There had to be enough give to work a ring through.
