The Cocky Thief

Chapter 28

Something was happening. Melody could tell by the hushed voices of her two babysitters outside the door. She sat up, and her muscles immediately protested. Lying on the cold, hard floor for so long was going to require a week's worth of massages to get all these knots out.

She shuffled closer to the door and put her ear up to it, but she couldn't make out anything they were saying. She should've known better by now, but in the boredom of being cooped up, she kept on trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

If she really wanted to hear what they were saying, she'd need to get out of the room and she only knew one way to get out. Melody twisted around and knocked on the door with her feet. She could hear the men approaching but couldn't move out of the way fast enough to avoid the door swinging inward and banging against her feet.

"What?" snapped Blondie.

Her heart raced and she really wished that after all this time the fear would've died down. But the truth was, it was so hard to determine how much time had passed down here. There were no windows and every time she drifted into unconsciousness, she had no idea she'd been out.

Even though all she'd done was sleep and fall deeper into her own self-pitying thoughts, she was still always exhausted. But she hadn't lost sight of her goal. She still needed to get out and she needed to do it before the exchange went down.

Would Isobel give up the Dragon Heart necklace to get her back? Maybe. Melody didn't doubt that Isobel loved Melody in her own way. But love or no love, it didn't matter. Even if Isobel gave these guys the Dragon Heart, they were never going to let her get out of this alive. Which meant she needed to act soon. The guys had been taking turns watching her and now they were both there. That meant something.

It probably meant she should've made her escape attempt earlier, but considering her inability to move her arms or feet, any escape attempt was out of the question.

But she was getting desperate now and it was time to bring out all the tools in her toolbox. So even if she was dirty and exhausted and hadn't looked into a mirror in days, it was time to turn on the charm and get shit done.

"I, um..." Her voice was dry after a day of not speaking. "I have to go to the bathroom."

It was the one little freedom she got and she refused to be grateful about it. The only reason they would help her to the bathroom was so there would be less cleanup.

Ahh, the gross details of kidnapping no one liked to think about.

Except Blondie had never been the one to take her out. Only Baldie. Did that mean Blondie was the boss and he got to delegate out the tasks he didn't want?

"Hold it," snapped Blondie as he started to shut the door.

"I've been holding it!" she called with a raspy voice. "I wouldn't ask you for anything if I didn't have to," she added begrudgingly.

"Fine. Come on." He stepped inside and even though she knew that she had called him in, she still inched away as he approached.

He seemed annoyed at the added inconvenience, but it only took a fraction of a second for him to reach her and, with a hard grip on her upper arm, he pulled her up.

The pressure on her shoulder was painful, but Melody made sure to let out a moan with a little extra oompf.

"What?" he snapped.

"My arm. The floor is shockingly not the best place to sleep." She needed him to at least cut the ties around her feet, but the first rule of working a con was to not ask for anything up front. That was too suspicious. She needed to make Blondie think it was his idea to cut her loose.

He started to pull her forward and she gave one undignified hop before she crashed into him, "accidentally" shoving her elbow right into his kidney, scoring her an annoyed grunt from him.

"I'm so sorry," she said hastily. "I'm having a hard time... The room is spinning. It won't happen again," she lied.

He tightened his lips but once again they started toward the door. This time when she fell, she made a show of falling away from Blondie, instead slamming her other shoulder into the door before Blondie could pull her back to his side.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"It won't happen again! I swear."

He sighed and once again took her arm and started to half drag her down the hall to where she knew the dirty bathroom was. Her little act wasn't going to work. He wasn't going to cut her loose. But there was one other option. When she'd fallen against him, she'd taken the chance to feel what exactly was filling up those utility pockets.

Right as they were almost to the bathroom, she fell once more, this time fully body-slamming Blondie so they both fell into the wall.

"Oh my God!" she said loudly as they fell forward. Right after her bound hand slipped into his side pocket and picked out something small and metal, she made sure as much of her body was touching his as possible. If there were so many contact points, he wouldn't know what to focus on and, hopefully, wouldn't realize she just made a lift.

Except when her hips pressed against his, there was a noticeable bulge that was definitely not a gun.

She immediately jerked away and averted her gaze to the floor. Shit, that wasn't supposed to—

His hand was back on her arm as he practically shoved her into the bathroom. "You have thirty seconds." Then the door was slammed shut and she was left dumbstruck.

He had a hard-on for her but was distinctly not threatening her, at least not sexually. Which was surprising considering he had no problem threatening her every other way.

But she didn't have time to focus on it now. Thirty seconds wasn't a lot of time with the knife she'd gotten. The small blade was barely two inches long, but at least it appeared sharp.

She couldn't angle the knife right to work at her wrists, but she was able to sit down and get a good rhythm at the ties on her ankles. Right as she heard footsteps approaching, she was able to finally get through the thick plastic of the zip tie and she heard the satisfying crack as it finally gave way. Before she could even think about how to get her wrists, the doorknob started to turn.

Melody scrambled up and gripped the tiny knife in her hand. No matter what came through that door, she was going to have to make her move now.

But she'd rather die trying to survive than doing anything they wanted. This would be a good way to go. This would make her family proud. This would make her proud.

She took one deep breath. When the door was open far enough, she ran through, the knife aimed right at the man who'd opened the door. Except it wasn't Blondie. It was the bald one. His eyes widened in shock as he fell back. She knew the two-inch blade wouldn't slow him down long and she needed all the help she could get. As he started to get up, she kicked him fiercely in the crotch. Once he fell, she kicked him again, aiming right for the windpipe, leaving him gasping for air as she took off running.

Fair fighting had never been her style anyway.