The women all stared at them.

“We just need to pass through to get to Northgate,” Maisie said. “We—”

The girl barked out a laugh. “You’re not passing through shit. Ladies, put them in the truck.”

—

Lennon was handcuffed again.

This time, it was old-fashioned metal handcuffs instead of zip ties. He liked them better. More comfortable. The chain between the two cuffs let him move a little more freely than a zip tie.

He laughed. Maisie, also handcuffed and sitting beside him in the back of an ancient pickup truck, looked at him like he’d grown a second head.

“It’s my fourth time being kidnapped just in the last week,” he said over the wind blowing around them. They were lumbering down a dirt road, four women sitting across from them in the back of the pickup. They all appeared interested in him suddenly.

He’d been trying not to think about where they were taking him. If they were going to separate him from Maisie. If they had weapons like East Spencer. The weapons they had just strapped to their bodies seemed bad enough. He didn’t want any more deadly Tasers as well.

He needed to distract himself, and he needed to endear himself to these women so they didn’t kill him or Maisie.

“Fourth?” Maisie repeated in disbelief.

“The guys in Georgia, and then the cannibals, and then you—”

“I did not kidnap you!”

“I wasn’t exactly willing, so I’m counting it.”

“I helped you—”

“Still counts!”

Across from him, one of the women pressed her lips together like she was trying not to laugh.

He was good at this. He’d always been good at this.

“And now this time,” he continued. “So, four just this week. Five total.”

“Five total?” Maisie repeated.

“A woman grabbed me at a fair when I was four. She didn’t make it very far, though.”

“Jesus Christ, man, maybe you should reconsider your life choices,” the woman across from him said.

Maisie threw her head back with a laugh.

“Coming from my fifth kidnappers, I feel like I should really take that into consideration.”

The woman snorted.

He felt Maisie’s arm brush against his, sending a jolt of warmth through him. He didn’t move, hoping she wouldn’t, either.

She didn’t. In fact, she leaned into him, her cheek pressing against his shoulder. He suddenly hated these stupid handcuffs. He wanted to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her against him.

“I saved you from getting kidnapped by Declan, so I think that should cancel mine out,” she murmured.

He chuckled, turning so he could rest his chin on her head. “Deal.”

—

The truck stopped outside a large building a few minutes later. The exterior was like one of those huge department stores that barely existed anymore. The sign had long been taken down, and the windows at the front were covered in colorful artwork, obscuring what was inside.

Lennon jumped out of the truck after Maisie, his heart thumping as the women marched them inside. If Maisie was nervous, she didn’t look it. He found that oddly comforting.