Caught Up

Ch. 10

I tilt my head at myself in the mirror, examining myself. I'm wearing a black dress that hugs my waist, as well as black heels that I found in 'my' wardrobe. My straight, black hair falls loosely at my waist.

I'm still not certain as to what this organization is, let alone how much freedom I'm going to actually have once I get there. Salix said it was for 'anonymous,' but I'm assuming they will all recognize me if their target is the government and my father.

I sigh softly, sitting down on the edge of my bed. After a few minutes, the doorknob rattles and Salix comes in with a small bottle in his hand. He approaches me and shakes the bottle slightly, "for your wrist." He says.

He stops in front of me and eyes me up and down. I blush intensely and clear my throat, breaking the silence. He chuckles softly, looking off to the side and opening the cap from the bottle.

I hold my wrists out and rest them both on his hand. The cold creme touches my raw wrists, causing me to wince in pain. "Almost done, I just need to get the other one." He says softly.

Once that is over with I roll my eyes up at him, "I'm not a child, you don't have to console me." I state as I get up from my bed to walk out the door. I hear him scoff behind me, "I believe the words you are thinking of are thank you."

I raise my eyebrow as we walk downstairs with the others. "thank you?" I begin, "for what? Putting the places on them in the first place." I question. I hear him cough behind me, "it's not like I meant to make them that tight." He says, causing me to scoff.

Once we are downstairs I see Jace and Thomas laughing. Jace's face scrunches up and his smile lines are prominent. They glance over towards us and their laugher calms down.

Salix clears his throat and grabs his car keys from the coffee table. He turns his head to look at me and says impassively, "Bella, you ride with Jace. Thomas and I have to pick up Asteria." I nod and twiddle with my fingers.

He always has this careless, cold tone to his voice. Does this man ever care?

When out the door, we all part separate ways except for Jace and I. He unlocks his car door and I quickly sit in the passenger side. My eyes follow him as he walks around the car to get in.

The first few minutes of the ride was filled with awkward silence. I shift awkwardly in my seat and look out the window to focus on something other than the quiet.

The silence is broke when Jace decides to speak up, "So.. how is it going?" He asks in a miserable attempt to start conversation.

I raise my eyebrow and chuckle softly, "really? Other than being kidnapped and forced to live with this.. sadistic maniac, pretty good." I say, smiling sarcastically at the end.

He laughs and looks over to me for a split second before focusing his attention back to the road, "Honestly, you could have ended up with someone worse." He states, resulting in me lowering my eyebrows. "How so?" I question. He lets out a deep chuckle and shakes his head, "Some of us would go far enough as to kill someone just for answers."

I bite my lip and once again, we are surrounded with silence.

"Screw this," Jace says, cranking the radio up as loud as it will go. I look over at him in shock. He taps the palm of his hand to the beat on his steering wheel.

I helplessly laugh, "are you stupid?" I yell over top of the music. He flashes me a grin and bobs his head to the music.

The rest of the ride was easy and fun. Unexpectedly, Of course. I did not expect Jace to be the fun type. He reminds me of collin in a way.