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into fists resting on his thighs. And she had to admit, he looked more human in street clothes. A lot more like one of those intriguing bad boys. But she’d already seen the tattoos. She knew where he’d come from. He was not the typical good-looking, rough-around-the-edges man she liked. He had hurt her. Would hurt her again if he deemed it necessary. Had told her so himself. Yet ... something about him suggested that wasn’t entirely true. Maybe his attempts to ease her pain. Maybe his efforts to shield her from Taz. Of course, maybe it was just her own warped psyche bending reality.
    She lifted her cuffed hands and gingerly peeled the tape off her lips, grimacing as it pulled at the tender skin. Creek made no move to stop her, only watched with a guarded expression.
    She looked directly at him, meeting those very light, intense blue eyes. “I’m car sick, I’m hungry and I have to pee.”
    One brow lifted. His mouth quirked. “You’re sick and hungry?”
    With that one look, Creek turned into a regular guy off the street. But more. He was a guy who would stop traffic. A guy who would warrant double takes. A guy she would have tripped over herself to meet under normal circumstances. She had to glance down at her cuffed hands to get her head on straight. In less than a second her anger and fear swung back around full force.
    “I always get sick in the backseat of a car,” she lied, “I haven’t eaten since midnight, and my bladder is going to burst if we don’t stop for a bathroom.”
    Creek heaved a sigh and rubbed his eyes. “Stop somewhere, Taz. A quiet gas station with a bathroom in the back would be good.”
    “Screw that,” Taz said. “Why should we give a shit about what she needs?”
    “Because it was your decision to kidnap me, and it was your decision to keep me.” She’d had enough. The tension, the bizarre emotions, the uncertainty had turned her into someone she didn’t recognize. “Now you have to deal with the consequences. As opposed to you, I’m human. I have human bodily needs. If you don’t address them, we’ll all be very uncomfortable, very soon.”
    “Put the tape back on that big mouth of hers, Creek, or I’ll stuff it with something that’s sure to shut her up.”
    Alyssa’s back went up. Her mouth opened to spew something fierce and foolish, but someone touched her first. She jumped and turned toward Creek. His big, warm hand closed over her forearm with just enough force to send a message. The same message he delivered with that potent stare: Don’t antagonize him.
    He didn’t look away from Alyssa as he talked to Taz. “You find me a private bathroom, and I’ll make sure I tire her out good.”
    Alyssa jerked her arm back. Why she’d thought for a flicker of an instant they were on the same side she didn’t know, but his nasty retort put everything in perspective. When would she learn men were all the same? Crude. Selfish. Controlling. Competitive. Self-serving.
    And these men were the worst of the worst.
    “What’s wrong with what you got, Creek? If I’d known you were gonna waste all this time, I’d have made you drive. I know just how to fill a couple hours with a dink like that.”
    Alyssa’s throat convulsed. The thought of rape pushed at the edges of her mind, but she shoved it right back out. Someone would die first. And it wouldn’t be her. She’d already catalogued every possible way she could use her own body to end another’s life, because her body was her only weapon.
    “Just take the first exit with a gas station once you hit Highway Five,” Creek said. “Pick the lousiest dive you can find.”
    “This is a shit hole, man, everything is a dive. Nothing but niggers and spics live here.”
    “Just find something and stop.”
    They slowed and traveled down the ramp. Taz hummed, low and troubled. “I don’t like it.”
    Alyssa shifted in her seat to relieve the pressure on her bladder. She did have to pee—bad—but, more, she needed to