She couldn’t help a smile to match his. It was so easy to see why he and LJ were friends: they both started at a thousand watts and only dialed up from there.

“Remember that family we helped move last week? They called me to haul off a load to the thrift store, because they knew I’d do it cheaper than the moving company. They had a bed that wouldn’t fit in their new spare bedroom, and it happens to be the size of frame you’ve been looking for.” He reached over to the wall and hauled a headboard over in front of the door. “See? California-king-sized.”

Black metal headboard. The scrape of handcuffs jerking against the post.

Andra jolted backward, the sight a battering ram straight to her chest. Her bare foot skidded on the linoleum, her ass smacked the floor with a bruising thud, and she skittered backward.

“Andra?” Rose asked. “What’s the matter?”

She tried to go faster, get farther away from that bed frame. Her legs stopped working. At the same time, her arms went weak and she was helpless. Stuck there for whatever came next.

“Shit.” LJ hit his knees beside her, turning her face toward him. “Look at me, sweet girl. You’re safe. You’re okay.”

Blood, dried on her fingertips as she crept off the bed, digging at the screws with cracked nails as she tried to gauge how long she had to try to get loose before he came back.

LJ exploded up. “Get that thing out of here.”

Ty’s voice sounded closer now. “What? What’d I do? Is she okay?”

The cotton of the gag expanded, stuck in her throat so she couldn’t pull air around it or even get enough to cough it out.

“Go.” LJ stuffed him outside and slammed the door to hide the bed frame. He was back with her in a second. “Breathe, Andra. It’s gone. You’re safe.” His voice shook, and his eyes were fastened on her lips. They felt the numb kind of cold they got when they started to turn blue. LJ must be scared, too, because he knew she was dying. He knew her body was broken and it would turn on her, kill her before it would let her be stuck in that place again.

“LJ, you leave her be,” Rose said. “See to dinner.”

He threw a wild glance over his shoulder. “No, she—”

“Mind your mama, now.”

He stood up, slowly, and Andra couldn’t even get her eyes to move to follow him. Tears blurred everything, and she couldn’t blink. The burn started in her chest, sending urgent fingers upward. Cells dying, begging for oxygen she couldn’t give them.