There’s a throb in his voice, as though my pain has been hurting him too.

“Can I talk to my Zia Teresa or my mom?”

“Not yet. But we can make other arrangements.”

“What kind of arrangements?”

He reaches out a hand to mine. Sparks tingle up my arm and as much as I want to pull away, I don’t.

“JJ.” His soulful brown eyes lock on mine. “You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”

My heart slams against my chest. “But I don’t know how to do anything. I don’t know what seven times nine is.”

“That doesn’t matter. I waited my whole life to find someone like you.”

My head is pounding. I want so much to ask what he means if he’s saying what I think he is, but this isn’t the Trinity Grammar library. And in a corner of my mind, Kurt is begging for his life as Bobby walks toward him, holding Eli’s gun.

I imagine Zia Teresa smoking under the rangehood of my stepmom’s oven. Wake up, bella. You’re being lied to again.

I look down at my clean, tight shorts. “Did you make it so I could go upstairs and wash and eat?”

“I… yeah.”

“How come you didn’t take me yourself? You got Mr. Gretzky to do it?”

I try to sound sweet, non-threatening, but Bobby’s eyes narrow. “I’m not trying to manipulate you.”

“Of course not,” I say. But I know he is. He wanted me to be clean and comfortable, but he didn’t want to bag my head and steer me around Velvet House like a crash test dummy. He still wants me to see him as a sweet, gentle guy. My math tutor. My high school crush. The thought is more painful than Eli’s threats, Adriano’s gun in my mouth, Doc’s knife against my neck.

“January? What’s wrong?”

I pick up my pillow and hug it to my chest. “Um, like, everything?”

The corner of his mouth kicks up. “Yeah, I guess that’s about right, but we can make things better.”

I look away. Part of me wants to tell him anything is better than being locked in a basement, but I don’t want to waste Bobby’s niceness by making him mad. “Thank you for letting me wash and giving me food.”

“JJ… I’m still the guy who taught you trigonometry.”

I know what he really means. You can still like me. I’m still safe. But one thing might not be true and the other definitely isn’t.

“I know.”

There’s a long painful silence.

“How did you even become my math tutor?” I ask, needing to say something.

“It wasn’t too hard. I’ve got a master’s degree in computer science.”

“Oh.” I assumed he’d blackmailed his way into Trinity Grammar, like Doc posing as the priest or Adriano pretending to be a janitor. But then again Bobby did tutor people with math. People who weren’t me. “Do you… work in computer science?”

“Velvet provides surveillance services. I run our operations. They’re some of the best in the country.”